What does an AI receptionist do?
It answers your business calls in a natural voice and is open about being an AI. It answers common questions from the information you approve, takes messages and appointment requests, transfers callers who need a person to your staff, and gives your team a transcript, a summary and an outcome for each call it answers.
Will callers know they're talking to an AI?
Yes. You choose the AI disclosure's wording and when it's given: at the start of every call, or only when a caller asks, where the rules for you and your callers allow that. Either way, the receptionist answers honestly when asked and never claims to be human, and it adds a recording notice when you record calls. You remain responsible for the disclosure and consent rules where you and your callers are.
Is the receptionist better on a bigger plan?
No. Starter, Business and Pro get the same AI receptionist: the same natural premium voices, AI model, behavior and safeguards, with live transfers to your staff included. The plans differ in price and in the AI minutes included each month. Each includes one AI receptionist, one local phone number and one knowledge base.
Can it transfer a caller to someone on my team?
Yes, on every plan. When a caller asks for a person, or the call matches the transfer rules you set, the receptionist rings the staff number you choose. If nobody answers, the caller comes back to the AI, which takes a message. The staff number must be a different phone from the line you forward to Frontal Voice. Time your caller spends with your staff after a successful transfer doesn't use AI minutes.
What is a connected AI minute?
Time the AI receptionist spends on a live call. Calls are counted in seconds, and each billing period's total is rounded up to a whole minute once. Browser test calls count. Time your caller spends with your staff after a successful transfer doesn't. Plan call counts assume about 2 to 3 minutes per call, so they're estimates.
What happens if we use more minutes than the plan includes?
There are no overage charges: nothing is billed after the fact. Included minutes reset each month, and unused minutes don't roll over. Extra minutes are prepaid, at $1.05 a minute, in packs of $25 (about 23 minutes), $50 (about 47 minutes), $100 (about 95 minutes). You buy them in Billing before you use them. Automatic top-ups aren't available yet. Once a month's included minutes and your prepaid credit are used, new calls aren't answered by the AI receptionist until you add credit or the next billing period starts.
What if we need more than Pro's 350 minutes?
Talk to us. Custom plans are prepaid commitments from 1,500 AI minutes a month, quoted individually for your setup, capacity and onboarding. There's no fixed Custom price.
Can it book appointments?
There are three ways. It takes appointment requests today: the service, the caller's details and a preferred day and time, and it tells the caller it's a request, not a confirmed appointment, until your team confirms it. Pointing callers to your own online booking page is built but not yet available, and a link alone never lets it see your openings or book there for the caller. Direct booking into Google or Outlook calendars is built but not yet available: we open it to customers after testing it with the real calendar services.
Can I keep my business number?
Yes, by forwarding it. Your plan includes a Frontal Voice number. At your phone carrier or phone system, forward your business line to that number: every call, or only unanswered or after-hours calls if your carrier offers those options. Your carrier account stays active and keeps billing you for the line, and some carriers charge for forwarded calls. Whether the caller's own number comes through on a forwarded call depends on your carrier, and texts to your business number aren't forwarded. Moving (porting) a number to us isn't offered.
Does it speak Spanish?
Yes, on every plan at no extra cost. Turn on Spanish in your receptionist's language settings and it answers in English or Spanish, switching when a caller speaks Spanish or asks for it.
Do I need to write prompts?
No. You describe your business with plain-language controls, pick a voice, and call your receptionist from your browser before you publish it.
What is the Extended knowledge add-on?
Very large setups cost more to run on every call. If your receptionist's instructions exceed your plan's size after we move details into its knowledge base, the Extended knowledge add-on ($29/month) applies. We'll always ask before adding it.
Can it send text messages?
Texting is launching soon. Business includes 300 and Pro includes 750 text segments a month, sent from your business's own toll-free texting number registered with the carriers under your business name. Starter doesn't include texting. A text is billed in segments: up to 160 standard characters fit in one segment, or 70 when the text contains an emoji or another special character, so one longer text can use several segments. Your included text segments cover the texts your business and your AI receptionist send each month. Once they're used, extra texts are paid from your prepaid credit at 6¢ a segment; with no credit left, further texts are held back until next month and nothing is billed afterwards. Replies from callers, and STOP and HELP messages, are always handled and never count. Your AI receptionist texts a caller only after the caller agrees on the call. Texting isn't available yet.
Does it work for medical or dental practices?
Only with a signed agreement. Healthcare businesses can review and sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Frontal Web in the app, under Settings. Features that handle patient information stay off until the BAA is signed and we approve the account. We don't claim HIPAA compliance or any certification. If you run a healthcare practice, talk to us before using it with patients.
How do I get started?
Create your account and build your receptionist before you pay. Test calls, publishing and your phone number start when you activate a paid plan, because every call has a real cost. To hear the product first, call Ava, our own AI receptionist.