Vonage Business Communications | ElevenLabs Documentation

Vonage Business Communications has no direct connection to Reception.ai, so you connect it with call forwarding. Your receptionist answers on its own Reception.ai number, and Vonage forwards calls to it. Callers keep dialing your Vonage number.

First, go to Receptionists, select the Phone tile, and get a number. See Phone numbers.

Then pick one of the setups below.

Setup	What happens
Forward an extension	Every call to the extension goes to the receptionist.
Forward from the Virtual Receptionist	After-hours calls, or callers who choose a menu option, go to the receptionist.

Forward an extension

Open the extension’s call forwarding

In the Vonage Admin Portal, select Phone System → Extensions. Hover over the extension, select the Pencil icon, and select Call Forwarding.

Forward to the receptionist

Turn on Forward Calls and select Send To Ext. or Number. Under Forward All My Calls To, select Add New Number and enter your receptionist’s number.

Pass the caller’s number

Under Use Caller ID, select Originating Caller ID, then select Save.

Users can set the same forwarding at app.vonage.com under their avatar → Settings → Call Forwarding → Forward All Calls.

Forward from the Virtual Receptionist

Open the schedule

In the Admin Portal, open the Virtual Receptionist page, hover over your Virtual Receptionist, and select the Pencil icon. Open Schedules and Call Flows.

Forward after-hours calls

Next to After Hours Schedule, select the three dots → Edit. On the Call Flow tab, choose Forward Calls to External Number, select the country code, and enter your receptionist’s number. Keep Originating Caller ID selected.

Save

Select Save, then Done, then Save.

After-hours routing applies only if your main schedule isn’t set to All Day. Use Specify Hours and Dates for your business hours.

To ring your team before the receptionist, forward all calls 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: With Originating Caller ID, your receptionist sees the caller’s number and can recognize returning callers. With Number on Account, every call looks like it comes from your Vonage number, and returning callers can’t be recognized by their number.
Costs: Vonage charges extra for calls forwarded to numbers outside your plan’s coverage area. Its Virtual Receptionist guide lists a per-minute charge for calls forwarded to an outside line, with higher international rates.

Test it

Call your Vonage 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.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
Every call shows your Vonage number	Set Use Caller ID to Originating Caller ID on the forwarding rule or Virtual Receptionist option.
After-hours calls don’t reach the receptionist	Make sure your main schedule isn’t set to All Day, and that the After Hours Schedule forwards to the receptionist’s number.
Calls never reach the receptionist	Call the receptionist’s number directly. If that works, check that Forward Calls is on and the number is saved under Forward All My Calls To.
Callers are asked to press a key before the receptionist answers	Spam protection asks callers whose number isn’t verified to press a key. Forwarded calls can arrive unverified. Turn it off if this affects real callers.