Create an AI Receptionist

This page walks you through creating an AI receptionist and filling in the settings it needs before it can start answering calls.

Before you begin

Confirm that your Cloud Voice system meets the following conditions.

Firmware

The system must be running firmware 84.23.0.123 or later.

Subscription

Your plan comes with 60 one-time free minutes so you can try the feature right away. To add more capacity, ask your service provider to enable one or both of the following add-on services under Plan > Add-on Subscription:

• AI Receptionist (One-Time Capacity): a one-off block of minutes. When it runs out, buy more capacity to continue.
• AI Receptionist (Monthly Quota Pack): a recurring pack of 200 minutes that refreshes each month. Leftover minutes are not carried into the following month.

Note

If you hold both add-ons, the system spends the monthly quota pack first and only draws on one-time capacity once the quota is gone.

Network

The PBX (Private Branch Exchange, the phone system that routes your calls) must have a valid domain certificate installed from a trusted certificate authority (CA).

SIP settings

Turn on the SIP TCP port so AI receptionist calls can connect, under PBX Settings > SIP Settings > General > Basic. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is the signaling that sets up and ends voice calls, and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is the network transport the receptionist uses to reach the AI service.

Caution

This change takes effect only after a system reboot, so plan to restart the PBX once you enable it.

Limitations

• There is no cap on how many AI receptionists you can create.
• A single AI receptionist handles up to 10 concurrent calls.

Create the receptionist

1. Sign in to the PBX web portal and go to AI > AI Receptionist.
2. Click Add.
3. Work through the five setup stages in order: Personalization, Company Information, Greeting, Dial By Name, and Failover Destination.
4. Click Save, then Apply.

The sections below explain each stage.

Personalization

On the Personalization page, set the receptionist’s basic details, its language, and its voice.

1. Fill in the basic information.

   

   • Name: a label that helps you recognize this receptionist.

   • Number: the number the receptionist answers. Calls placed to it are picked up by the receptionist.

     Tip

     To see which numbers are available, check PBX Settings > Preferences > Extension Preferences > AI Receptionist.

   • LLM: the large language model that drives how the receptionist understands callers and forms its replies. Pick a model that fits your needs, weighing factors such as task complexity, response latency, context window size, and compliance requirements. For instance, choose Claude Sonnet 4 when calls call for deeper reasoning, or Gemini Flash when speed matters most.

     Note

     You can switch models and tailor the system prompts afterward from the AI receptionist settings if needed.

2. Choose the primary language and its voice.

   

   • Primary Language: the main language the receptionist speaks with callers.

   • Receptionist: the voice profile used for that language.

     Tip

     • To hear a voice before choosing it, click the preview icon () next to a profile.

       

     • To change how quickly the receptionist speaks, click Speed in the top-right corner of the Receptionist section. The speech rate you set applies to every language the receptionist uses.

       

3. (Optional) To let the receptionist speak more than one language, click Add in the Additional Languages section and configure each entry.

   

   • Language: an extra language the receptionist can use with callers.
   • Receptionist Type: the voice for that language:

     • Follow Primary Language: reuse the primary language’s voice profile.

     • Custom: use a different voice. Pick one from the Receptionist drop-down list.

       Tip

       Click the preview icon () beside a profile to hear it first.

       

4. Click Next.

Company Information

On the Company Information page, provide the business details the receptionist draws on to answer company-related questions.

1. In Company Core Services, describe what your company offers. The description can be up to 5,000 characters.
2. In Company Address, enter your company’s address, up to 255 characters.
3. In the Business Hours drop-down list, select the time zone or zones where your company operates. The receptionist relies on the business hours you have configured for those time zones when callers ask about your opening times.
4. Click Next.

Greeting

On the Greeting page, set the message the caller hears as soon as the receptionist answers.

Note

If you would rather skip the greeting, leave the switch off. The receptionist will then answer the call and wait for the caller to speak first.

1. Turn on the Greeting switch.

2. In the Greeting field, type a welcome message in the receptionist’s primary language.

   Note

   • Recorded prompts do not play during AI receptionist calls, so use the greeting to deliver a spoken welcome.
   • To vary the greeting by time of day, set that up after the receptionist exists. See Configure Time-Based Greetings.

3. (Optional) Select Do Not Interrupt Greeting to stop callers from talking over the greeting.

4. Click Next.

Dial By Name

On the Dial By Name page, enable this option if you want the receptionist to connect a caller to a specific extension when the caller says that user’s name.

Note

If you don’t need this behavior, leave the switch off.

1. Turn on the Dial By Name switch.
2. Under Extensions allowed to be dialed, choose which extensions are in scope:
   • All Extensions: every extension can be reached.
   • Allowed Extensions: only the extensions you pick can be reached. Move them from the Available box to the Selected box.
   • Restricted Extensions: the extensions you pick cannot be reached, and every other extension can. Move the ones to block from the Available box to the Selected box.
3. Click Next.

Failover Destination

On the Failover Destination page, decide where a call should go when the receptionist can’t resolve the caller’s request or match one of your transfer rules.

1. In the Failover Destination drop-down list, choose a destination type:

   • Extension

   • Inbound Queue

   • Ring Group

   • Conference

   • Call Flow

   • IVR (Interactive Voice Response, an automated menu callers navigate with their keypad)

   • Group Voicemail

     Note

     Before routing to a group voicemail, make sure the Leave a Voicemail for an Extension/Group Voicemail feature is enabled under Call Features > Feature Code > Voicemail.

     

2. In the field that appears, select the exact destination.

Result

• The AI receptionist is created.

  

• Back on the AI receptionist list, the feature’s global status reads Online, which means it has connected successfully and is ready to take calls.

  

  Note

  • If the status shows Abnormal, the system raises an AI Receptionist Call Line Abnormal event notification and alerts the relevant contacts.

  • Hover over the status to see the reason.

    

What to do next

Manage Skills for an AI Receptionist