84
after-hours intakes captured this year
“When I'm in court I can't answer my phone. NextPhone handles the intake and books the consult. I come back to a calendar, not a voicemail box.”
Sarah Mitchell
Family Law Attorney (Seattle)
Switch answering services without missing a call
Leaving Ruby, PATLive, AnswerConnect or another answering service? Keep your number, run NextPhone next to your current service, then cancel on your notice date. NextPhone starts at $199 a month with unlimited inbound calls.
7-day free trialCancel anytime
What switching involves
Most owners forward their own business line to the answering service. Switching means pointing that forwarding at a new number, so the number your customers call does not change and no call goes unanswered in between.
The order matters: check your contract and who owns your number, set up NextPhone and test it, move your forwarding, and only then give notice. NextPhone Pro is $199 a month with unlimited inbound calls, so the overlap costs one flat month, not a second meter.
- Setup
- About 5 minutes on your own. On Growth our team builds and tests it for you in a few days.
- Your number
- Keep it. Forward your line, with codes for 94 carriers and phone systems, or port it to NextPhone for free.
- Overlap
- Run both until your notice date. Your old service answers until you move the forwarding.
- Your script
- Your questions, FAQs and transfer rules become NextPhone intake questions, knowledge and transfers.
- Help
- A free 30-minute onboarding call with our team on every plan, plus help forwarding or porting.
- Price
- From $199 a month, unlimited inbound calls, no per-minute fees, no setup fee.
- Going back
- Forward your line to the old number again. NextPhone is month to month.
Switch in six steps
Check your notice period
Find your contract's notice rule first. It decides your cancel date.
Find out who owns your number
Forward your own line and nothing changes. If the service gave you the number, port it before you cancel.
Set up NextPhone
Enter your website, add your script's questions and transfers, hear it on a test call. About 5 minutes.
Run both side by side
Your old service keeps your main line while you call your NextPhone number and read the transcripts.
Move your forwarding
Point your line at NextPhone: every call, missed calls only, or after a few rings. Going back takes a minute.
Give notice and cancel
After a few days of real calls, give notice on your contract date. Copy your scripts first.
What to check in your current contract
Two things decide when and how you can leave: the notice rule, and who owns the number.
AnswerConnect
90-day minimum
Then written notice. A partial month is billed in full.
PATLive
Port before you cancel
Numbers left on the account become PATLive's once you cancel.
Ruby
Renews every 30 days
Cancel before your next invoice date; it ends with that billing period.
Smith.ai
30 days' notice
Notice is due 30 days before the billing cycle ends.
Notice periods and number rules, service by service
| Provider | Contract and notice | A number they gave you | Refunds and trial |
|---|---|---|---|
Ruby Live answering service | 30-day contract that renews automatically | Port-out allowed while the account is in good standing. A Ruby-assigned number must be more than 21 days old. Numbers not ported out within 3 months of cancelling can be released | No trial; money-back within 21 days or 500 minutes |
Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists Live answering service | Cancel 30 days before the cycle ends or the next month is billed; annual plans prepaid and non-refundable | After cancelling, the Smith.ai number can be kept as a line for $10/month, at Smith.ai's discretion | No live trial; money-back within 14 or 30 days, capped at $1,000 |
PATLive Live answering service | Month-to-month | Yours while the account is open. Port out before you cancel, or it becomes PATLive's property. Porting in or out is free | 14 days, card required, converts automatically |
AnswerConnect Live answering service | 90-day minimum, then written notice; a partial month is billed in full | Not stated in the terms | None published |
Abby Connect Hybrid (human + AI) | Month-to-month; 30 days notice after the first 30 days; no refunds | Assigned numbers stay Abby's, with port-away allowed after 30 days in good standing. Numbers you ported in stay yours | 14 days or 500 minutes, card required; 22-day money-back |
Moneypenny (US) Live answering service | Month-to-month; one full calendar month notice by phone | Not stated in the terms | None on the current site |
Posh Live answering service | Month-to-month; cancels at the end of the cycle; non-refundable | You have no property rights in a number Posh assigns | 7 days or 250 minutes, no card |
AnswerForce Live answering service | 90-day minimum (the help center says month-by-month) | Not stated in the terms | None found |
Answering Legal Live answering service | Month-to-month; service runs to the next cycle after notice | Numbers Answering Legal assigns remain its property | Described as 7 days, 14 days or 400 minutes; the terms allow ending it after 100 minutes |
LEX Reception Live answering service | Month-to-month with written notice; a partial month is billed in full | Not stated in the terms | None |
MAP Communications Live answering service | Month-to-month; written notice one month before the next invoice | You have no property rights in a number MAP assigns | 7 days, no card |
Specialty Answering Service Live answering service | Three different cancellation rules on the site; no proration | Numbers it provides cannot be ported away after you cancel | 14 days or 200 minutes |
Read the version of the terms in your own account before you give notice. If a service owns the number you advertise, port it to NextPhone before you cancel, not after.
Keep your number
Two ways to keep the number your customers already call. Most owners forward. Port if you want to close the old line for good.
Forward your line
- Step-by-step codes for 94 carriers and phone systems, in your dashboard.
- Forward every call, only calls you miss, or calls after a set number of rings.
- Your carrier, your number and your bill stay as they are.
- Turn forwarding off any time and your line rings as before.
RingCentral
Nextiva
Grasshopper
Ooma
Vonage
DialpadPort your number
- Move the number itself to NextPhone, free.
- Send a porting request with a recent bill. Our team handles the transfer.
- We reply within one business day with the next steps.
- Useful when you want to close the old phone account.
On an iPhone, turn off Live Voicemail (Settings, then Apps, then Phone) before you forward only missed calls, or the phone picks up the call itself and forwarding never starts.
Your bill before and after
The same 100 calls a month on each service's cheapest published plan, and on NextPhone Pro.
- NextPhonePro$199
- PATLive300 minutes$479
- Posh200 minutes$630
- Moneypenny (US)200 minutes$661
- Abby ConnectProfessional (200 Abby Minutes)$898
- Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists90 calls$915
- Ruby200 minutes$1,160
The math line by line
| Provider and plan | Plan price | The math at 100 calls | Monthly bill |
|---|---|---|---|
NextPhone Pro | $199 | 100 calls, unlimited on the plan No overage: call volume and length never change the bill | $199 |
Ruby 200 minutes | $720 | 100 calls x 3 min = 300 minutes, 200 included 100 extra minutes x $4.40 = $440 | $1,160 |
Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists 90 calls | $810 | 100 calls, 90 included 10 extra calls x $10.50 = $105 | $915 |
PATLive 300 minutes | $479 | 100 calls x 3 min = 300 minutes, 300 included Within the plan, no overage | $479 |
Moneypenny (US) 200 minutes | $422 | 100 calls x 3 min = 300 minutes, 200 included 100 extra minutes x $2.39 = $239 | $661 |
Posh 200 minutes | $420 | 100 calls x 3 min = 300 minutes, 200 included 100 extra minutes x $2.10 = $210 | $630 |
Abby Connect Professional (200 Abby Minutes) | $599 | 100 calls x 3 min = 300 minutes, 200 included 100 extra minutes x $2.99 = $299 | $898 |
Why the flat price holds in a busy month: flat-rate answering service. Every plan and every source: answering service costs compared.
NextPhone
vs your answering service.
An answering service is a call center reading your script and passing on messages. NextPhone is trained on your business and gets the work done while the caller is still on the line.
Have a receptionist? Keep them. NextPhone takes the overflow and the after-hours calls.
| Feature | NextPhone | Answering service |
|---|---|---|
| Answers every call, 24/7 | ||
| Pricing | Flat monthly fee | |
| Knows your business | ||
| Books appointments into your calendar | ||
| Spam and wrong numbers never billed | ||
| Transcript, recording and summary of every call |
AI Receptionist Reviews
Their busiest weeks, handled.
4.9 average rating2M+ calls answered7,000+ businesses
47
tax-season client intakes
“Tax season my phone doesn't stop. NextPhone handles intake, qualifies prospects, and books discovery calls. I focused on returns, not phone tag.”
Jasmine Carter
Founder, Carter & Co. CPAs (Atlanta)
One flat price.
Never per call.
You set it up yourself
Pro
$199 / month
Live in 5 minutes. Unlimited calls, no overages.
- Answers every call, 24/7
- Trained on your business and website
- Asks your intake questions
- Books into Google Calendar or Outlook
- Transfers calls to your team
Cancel anytime
We set it up for you
Growth
$299 / month
We build it, test it and tune it. Live in days.
- Everything in Pro
- We build your agent for you
- You test it, we tune it
- Updates your CRM, including HubSpot and Clio
- Priority support
We set it up for you · Live in days
For complex call flows
Scale
$599 / month
Everything in Growth, set up for your team.
- Everything in Growth
- Custom call flows and routing
- Large directory: up to 500 contacts
- 2-way texting from your number
- Custom integrations for your stack
For multiple offices, lines and routing rules
Switching Answering Services FAQ
Before you forward
your line.
Notice periods, your number, setup time and what to copy before you cancel.
Still have questions? Contact our support team
Set up NextPhone first and test it on its own number. Then change your call forwarding from your old service's number to your NextPhone number. Your old service answers until the moment you switch, so no call goes unanswered. Keep the old account until its notice period ends.
Yes. If you forward your own line to your answering service today, point the forwarding at NextPhone and the number stays yours. To move the number itself, port it to NextPhone for free. If your answering service assigned the number, check its terms first, because several keep the number when you leave.
Ruby's contract runs 30 days and renews automatically. Its terms let you cancel by email or phone before your next invoice date, and the cancellation takes effect at the end of that billing period. At 100 calls a month, Ruby's cheapest published plan comes to $1,160 and NextPhone Pro to $199.
Port the number out before you cancel. PATLive's terms say numbers left on the account become PATLive's property once the cancellation is effective. The port starts with your new provider, which at NextPhone is a porting request, and PATLive does not charge to port out. Cancel once the port completes.
Yes. AnswerConnect's terms set a 90-day minimum, then written notice, and a partial month is billed in full. Time your notice so it lands before the next billing month starts.
About 5 minutes on Pro: NextPhone reads your website, you hear it on a test call, pick a number and forward your line. On Growth our team builds and tests it for you, and it goes live within a few days. Every plan includes a free 30-minute onboarding call.
Yes. NextPhone gives you its own number, so you can test it while your answering service keeps your main line. When you are ready, move the forwarding. If your phone system has business-hours rules, you can send NextPhone only your after-hours calls first.
Your greeting, the questions your script asks, your FAQ answers, who gets transferred and when, and who receives messages. These become your NextPhone greeting, intake questions, knowledge and transfer rules. Some services stop holding your setup once a number ports away, so copy it first.
NextPhone Pro is $199 a month with unlimited inbound calls, no per-minute fees and no setup fee. Growth adds done-for-you setup and CRM integrations. There is no overage, so a busy month costs the same as a quiet one.
Forward your line to your old service's number again. It takes the same minute as switching. NextPhone is month to month with no cancellation fee.
Run your business,
not your phone.
Unlimited calls. Cancel anytime.