Phone forwarding, transfers, and fallback routes

The AI Office Assistant can use a new phone number selected during setup. This creates a clean line for testing and launch without changing the number already printed on vehicles, listings, or advertising.

If customers should continue calling an established business number, forward those calls to the selected AI number or request to transfer the number. A transfer keeps the public number but requires carrier documentation and coordinated activation. Keep the existing service active until the transfer has been confirmed.

A transfer rule should be tied to a clear caller need. Examples include an urgent service request, a caller who explicitly asks for a person, or a request your team does not want the assistant to complete. Choose a destination that is monitored during the hours when transfers are enabled.

Avoid sending every uncertain call to the same person. First decide what information the assistant should collect, then transfer only when the caller and the team have enough context to make the handoff useful.

A fallback route is used when the assistant is unavailable, plan minutes are exhausted, or a transfer destination cannot accept the call. Configure a real employee, alternate number, or voicemail so the caller is not left without a next step.

The fallback should match the operational situation. A service business may send urgent calls to an on-call number, routine after-hours requests to message capture, and unsupported requests to a general office voicemail.

Set the correct time zone and business hours before choosing after-hours behavior. The assistant can collect a message, follow a configured transfer path, or use the same handling rules after hours, depending on the business workflow.

Keep the spoken expectation accurate. If an after-hours caller cannot receive a same-day response, the call flow should not imply otherwise. State what will happen next and collect the information the team needs to follow through.

Test from a phone that is not one of the configured destinations. Confirm caller audio, transfer ringing, caller ID behavior, fallback routing, and the notification or call record created afterward. Repeat the test during business hours and after hours.

When using an existing business number, test the carrier forwarding configuration as well as the AI configuration. A successful test call placed directly to the AI number does not prove that the public business number is forwarding correctly.