Questions people ask before buying.

What is an auto attendant?

It is the recorded menu that answers a business line and sends each caller where they need to go — the "press 1 for sales, press 2 for service" you have heard a thousand times. The industry also calls it an automated attendant, a virtual receptionist or a phone tree. The full definition covers how it differs from an IVR and an ACD, which are three different things that get used as synonyms.

Do I need a desk phone, an app, or new hardware?

No. Everyone on your team keeps using the phone already in their pocket, with their normal dialler and their normal mobile plan. There is nothing to install, nothing to log into and nothing to charge overnight. Calls arrive as ordinary incoming calls.

Can I keep the number I already have?

Yes, and it is the default path in the app. After you sign in, the first question is "Which number do your customers call today?"; an instant check runs on the number and the form asks only what that number needs: for a US landline or internet number, the name on the account, your name and email, the account number, the billing address and a recent bill; for a US mobile, the same plus the carrier's transfer PIN; for toll-free and Canadian numbers, only who holds the account, and our team moves those. The one signature is the transfer authorization, signed online from an email. Nothing is charged until the number has moved, and you follow the status in the app.

Your old line keeps carrying calls while the transfer runs, so nothing breaks while you wait. Do not cancel it until we confirm the number has moved; we email you when you can. The carriers set the transfer date, and the earliest you can request is 8 days out.

In the United States the FCC requires simple wireline-to-wireline and simple intermodal ports to complete within one business day, with four business days for non-simple requests.1 Porting your existing number covers what makes a port non-simple, why ports get rejected, and the one mistake that loses a number permanently.

Will my personal mobile number show up to callers?

No. Callers dial your business number and that is the only number involved on their side. Your mobile number is never displayed, never published and never given out.

That is the main reason most people buy this: you can put a number on your website, your van and your Google Business Profile without handing your personal line to the entire internet. When a call is forwarded to you, your phone shows the business number as the caller ID, so you know it is a business call. When someone on your team calls a customer back from their own handset, that is an ordinary mobile call with their own caller ID.

If a business number is being labelled Spam Likely on outgoing calls, two guides cover it: why a number shows as Spam Likely and how to get a spam label corrected. Whether each person should also have a direct number is its own decision: one business number vs individual numbers.

How many people can it ring?

The menu has up to seven options and each option can ring up to three phones one after another, each for 10 to 60 seconds, so a menu can reach many more than seven people, with no per-person charge. If nobody answers, the caller leaves a voicemail. Phones ring in turn, never several at once. Designing your menu explains how to choose the options, and how many phone lines you need covers simultaneous calls.

What happens after hours?

You set business hours for each day, in your time zone. Outside them, and all day on the holidays you add, callers hear your closed message and then either leave a voicemail or the call ends after the message. Calls are not forwarded to a mobile or an on-call person after hours. Voicemails arrive by email, with the recording attached and a transcript in a second email, in the language you chose.

Planning night cover? An after-hours on-call plan covers what one involves, and missed calls and after hours covers what the calls you miss are worth.

Is this an answering service?

No. With an auto attendant your callers reach your own team: the menu routes each call and the right person picks it up on their own mobile, so customers talk to the people who know the work. Auto attendant vs answering service sets out the difference, and AI receptionist vs answering service vs auto attendant adds the AI option.

How is this different from Google Voice?

The short version: Google Voice's standalone plan supports a maximum of one user and is US only,2 and an auto attendant and ring groups require the Standard or Premier tier,3 which for a team means a Google Workspace subscription as well.

Auto Attendant is built for a team that shares one number: the caller is asked who they need and that person's phone rings, at one flat price with no per-person charge. The full comparison sets the two side by side.

Do you serve businesses in Canada?

Yes. The service is for the United States and Canada on the same terms: local numbers by area code (availability varies), toll-free numbers, porting of an eligible Canadian number, and the same $29 a month, billed in US dollars. Whether Canadian sales taxes are added is confirmed before the first charge. Business hours can be set in the Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific or Atlantic zone, which covers Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, Vancouver and Halifax; there is no Newfoundland time zone. Serving Canada covers 9-1-1, porting, privacy and billing, and the core pages are available in French.

Can the menu be in French, Spanish or several languages?

Yes. The greeting and menu can be in English, Canadian French and US Spanish, up to all three on one line, and the customer app is in all three languages too. When a line has more than one language, callers either choose first ("For English, press 1. Para español, oprima el 2.") or use a key at the end of the menu: 7 Spanish, 8 French, 9 English. Callers from Quebec area codes still start in French in that mode. The business hours are spoken in the menu's language, and voicemail emails come in the language you chose. Multilingual menus explains the layout.

What about 911 and emergency calls?

We route incoming calls to ordinary mobile phones. We do not place outbound calls and do not provide 911, E911 or any emergency calling service. To reach emergency services, dial your local emergency number directly from a phone that supports emergency calling on its own network.

Because everyone keeps their own mobile on their own carrier, emergency calls from those handsets work exactly as they did before. Emergency calling sets out what Kari's Law and the FCC's dispatchable-location rules require of multi-line telephone systems, and the CRTC's 9-1-1 rules for Canada, with the rules linked.

Can I have sub-menus, ring groups or a line without a menu?

There is one menu of up to seven options, and each option does one thing: ring up to three phones in turn, take a voicemail, or play a message and hang up. A line can also skip the menu and go straight to one action (ring phones in turn, voicemail, or a message), after the language choice if there is one. There are no sub-menus, no ringing several phones at once and no per-option schedules. Most businesses need three or four options, and a one-level menu gets every caller to the right place in a single key press.

Can I record the greeting in my own voice?

No. The greeting and menu are generated by text-to-speech from the text you type, in English or Canadian French. Uploading your own recording is not offered. If a prompt needs different wording than the app gives you, our team can adjust it on request.

Can customers text the business number?

No. The number does not send or receive text messages, and it places no outgoing calls. It is a voice line for incoming calls, so do not print "text us" next to it.

What if nobody answers?

The call takes a voicemail. The recording arrives by email as an MP3 attachment, and the written transcript follows in a second email when transcription produces text. Voicemails are also kept in your dashboard for 365 days. Send the emails to more than one person, or to an address more than one person reads — a voicemail sitting in one person's inbox while they are on holiday is a lost customer.

For what an unanswered call costs, see the missed call cost calculator; for missed-call text-back tools, see the text-back checklist.

Can I get a toll-free number?

Yes. Toll-free numbers use the 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 and 833 codes4 and behave differently from geographic numbers, including when you move providers — they move by a change of Responsible Organization rather than an ordinary port.5 Local vs toll-free covers which one your business actually wants.

Is there a contract?

No contract and no notice period. The price is $29 a month, flat, and you can cancel in any month through the billing portal; service runs to the end of the period already paid. There is no free trial on a new number, and no annual commitment discount because there is no annual commitment. When a subscription ends, the number keeps answering until the end of the period already paid for and is then released straight away. If a payment fails, callers hear that the number is temporarily unavailable until the payment goes through. You pay online at the end of setup, and a new number goes live as soon as payment completes. A number you bring with you is not charged until it has moved.

How long does setup take?

Setup is done in the app: enter your email, business name and country, sign in with the link we email you, enter the number your customers call today (or get a new one) and build the menu. The decisions take about ten minutes: the number, the greeting, and what each option does. You pay online at the end of setup, and a new number goes live as soon as payment completes. A number you bring with you is not charged until it has moved. A number you bring with you goes live on the day the transfer completes; the carriers set that date, the earliest you can request is 8 days out, and your old line keeps working throughout. How long porting takes gives the regulated timelines.

Starting from nothing? How to get a business phone number and which area code to use cover the choices first.