Get a new number or forward your existing one

Your AI Staff answers on a real phone number. There are two ways to set that up.

Option A — claim a new number

ReadyToTalk can provision a fresh local number for your business in the dashboard. Use it as your public business line, or as a dedicated line just for the AI Staff. New numbers are live within moments of being claimed.

Option B — keep your number, forward calls

Most businesses keep the number customers already know and forward it:

• Forward always: every call goes to your AI Staff first. Good when you want every call answered and summarized, with routing rules deciding what reaches you live.
• Forward when unanswered or busy: your phone rings first; if you don't pick up in a few rings, the AI Staff answers instead of voicemail. This is the most popular setup — nothing about your day changes except that missed calls stop being missed.
• Forward after hours: keep answering yourself during the day, let your AI Staff cover nights and weekends.

Carrier forwarding is set with a short dial code or in your carrier's app — the exact code depends on your carrier, and the dashboard shows the number to forward to.

Checking it works

After setup, call your business number from another phone. The call — with summary and transcript — should appear in your ReadyToTalk dashboard, and you'll get the new-call notification.

ReadyToTalk is the AI Staff for small businesses — it answers every call 24/7, learns your business from your website, and captures every lead so you never miss work while you're busy doing the job. Stop losing after-hours calls — get your AI Staff.