Phone.com
Phone.com has no direct connection to Reception.ai, so you connect it with call forwarding. Your receptionist answers on its own Reception.ai number, and Phone.com forwards calls to it. Callers keep dialing your Phone.com number.
First, go to Receptionists, select the Phone tile, and get a number. See Phone numbers.
Leave Call Screening off on the forward to your receptionist. With screening on, whoever answers must press 1 to connect the call, and your receptionist can’t press keys.
Phone.com has two admin consoles. Follow the one your account uses.
Forward in My.Phone.com
You need to be a Phone.com administrator.
Open the number
Sign in to My.Phone.com. Select Administration → Numbers, then select edit next to your number.
To send only calls outside your hours, set your hours under Administration → Business Hours. Then edit your main number, choose Main company number, and set After hours to forward to your receptionist’s number. Holidays and lunch breaks follow After hours unless you turn off Same as after hours.
Forward in the Control Panel
Open the number’s rules
Sign in to Control.Phone.com. Hover over Configure, select Manage Numbers, and select Edit next to your number. Next to Number Action, select Edit.
Add a forward
Set Select Operation to Forward Call and enter your receptionist’s number. To forward only at certain times, change All Calls to Received During and pick a schedule (create one with Configure → Add a Schedule), then add a second rule for all other calls.
Rules set on an extension (Configure → Manage Users & Extensions → Call Handling Rules) work the same way and apply to calls that reach that extension.
You can also forward every call to the receptionist and turn on Who answers first in Reception.ai. It rings a staff phone first and hands the call to the receptionist if nobody answers. The staff phone must be a different number from the one callers dial. See Who answers first.
What to know
- Caller ID: Phone.com lets you show the caller’s number or your Phone.com number on forwarded calls. Choose the caller’s number, or every call looks like it comes from the same number, and your receptionist can’t recognize returning callers by their number.
- Voice tag: A voice tag is read aloud to whoever answers before the call connects. Your receptionist would hear it as the start of the call, so leave it empty.
- Costs: Check your Phone.com plan for how forwarded minutes are billed.
Test it
Call your Phone.com number from another phone at a time when the routing you set applies. Check that your receptionist answers, then open Inbox and confirm the conversation shows your phone’s number. See Testing.