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Guides

Everything worth knowing before you buy.

Straight answers on AI phone answering for service businesses: what it is, what it costs, what an unanswered call really costs you, and the recording and texting rules that decide how any of it can be set up. Sourced, dated, and written to be useful whether or not you buy anything.

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What is an AI receptionist?

What is an AI receptionist?

An AI receptionist is software that answers a business phone line with a synthetic voice, understands what the caller wants in natural conversation, and then takes an action — booking an appointment, capturing the lead's details, routing an emergency to a human, or texting a follow-up.

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How much does an AI receptionist cost?

How much does an AI receptionist cost?

An AI receptionist typically costs between $50 and $500 per month in 2026, depending on call volume and whether the system only answers calls or also books jobs and sends texts.

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The missed-call problem
How much does a missed call cost a small business?

What does a missed call actually cost?

A missed call costs a service business its average job value multiplied by its close rate — for a typical home-services company with a $400 average ticket and a 50% close rate, roughly $200 in expected revenue per missed call.

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How do small businesses answer calls after hours?

How to cover after-hours calls

After-hours call coverage is any arrangement that answers a business line outside normal operating hours — an on-call rota, a forwarded mobile, a live answering service, or an automated system.

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How it works
What is missed call text back?

Missed call text back, explained

Missed-call text-back is an automation that sends the caller an SMS within seconds of a call going unanswered, typically acknowledging the miss and inviting a reply.

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Legal & compliance
Does an AI receptionist have to tell callers it is AI?

Does an AI receptionist have to tell callers it is AI?

As of July 2026 there is no single United States law that requires a business to tell inbound callers that its phone is answered by AI.

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Which states require all-party consent to record a call?

Call recording consent laws, state by state

Twelve US states require the consent of every party before a phone call may be recorded: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington.

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What is A2P 10DLC and why is my business texting blocked?

A2P 10DLC, explained

A2P 10DLC is the US mobile carriers' registration system for application-to-person text messages sent from ordinary ten-digit long-code phone numbers.

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Before you rely on any of this

About these guides

Is anything on these pages legal advice?

No. The compliance guides summarise publicly available rules as of their last-verified date and link every source so you can read the original. Telephony, recording and AI-disclosure law varies by state and changes quickly — confirm your own position with a lawyer.

How often are these guides updated?

Each page carries a visible last-verified date. Compliance pages are reviewed whenever a cited rule changes; cost and market pages are reviewed on a regular cadence because competitor pricing moves.