Phone talk, in plain English.

The star codes many landlines, Verizon, and some business lines use to turn forwarding on and off. Dial *72 followed by the number to forward every call there, and dial *73 to turn it off. Some lines use *72, a second dial tone, then the number.

Forward calls from Verizon

Also called 10DLC registration

The registration US carriers require before a business texts from a regular 10-digit local number. The business registers itself as a brand and describes what it will send as a campaign, and carriers review both. Texts from unregistered numbers can be filtered or blocked.

Texting registration

Also called application-to-person

Texts sent by a business system to people, like reminders, confirmations, and replies from a business inbox, as opposed to person-to-person texts between friends. US carriers hold A2P texts to stricter rules and require the sender to register.

Texting registration

Also called abandonment rate

A call where the caller hangs up before anyone answers, often while on hold or listening to a menu. The abandonment rate is the share of calls that end this way.

Missed call calculator

Answering calls that come in when the business is closed: nights, weekends, and holidays. It can mean taking messages, booking for the next open day, or reaching someone on call for real emergencies.

After-hours call calculator

Software that answers a business phone line and holds a real conversation with the caller. It understands what people say instead of asking them to press keys, answers questions from what the business tells it, takes messages, and can book appointments or transfer urgent calls to a person.

What an AI receptionist does

A company whose staff answer calls for many businesses at once. Agents usually take a message and pass it on, and the service bills by the minute, by the call, or by a monthly bundle.

Answering service cost calculator

A text, email, or call sent before an appointment with the date, time, and a way to confirm or change it. A reminder gives people an easy way to cancel or move instead of just not showing up.

Appointment reminder text generator

The first three digits of a 10-digit North American number. It points to a region, so a local area code tells callers you’re nearby, though a mobile number can move anywhere with its owner.

Area code lookup

A second area code added to the same region when the first one runs out of numbers. Overlays are why many places need 10-digit dialing even for local calls.

Area code lookup

Also called automated attendant, digital receptionist

A recorded greeting with a menu that sends callers to the right person or department, like “press 1 for sales.” It routes calls but can’t answer questions on its own. Most business phone systems include one.

Phone tree script generator

Also called AHT

The average length of a call from answer to finish, including time on hold and the notes or booking done right after. It’s the call length to use when you estimate minutes or staff.

Talk Time calculator

Also called business associate agreement

A contract HIPAA requires between a healthcare provider and a company that handles patient information for it, like an answering service. It says how that company protects the information. FrontDesk Talk signs one.

Business Associate Agreement

A phone line feature that sends calls for your number to a different number. The number stays with your phone company, and you can turn forwarding on or off with a code or a setting.

Call forwarding guides

Also called one-party consent, all-party consent

The rules on who has to agree before a call is recorded. Some US states let one person on the call agree for everyone, and others require everyone on the call to agree. This is general information, not legal advice.

Call recordings and transcripts

A written, word-for-word record of what was said on a call. It lets you check a detail, like an address or a time, without playing the recording.

Call history and transcripts

Also called CNAM

The number, and sometimes a name, shown when a call comes in. The name part is called CNAM and comes from a database the caller’s phone company keeps, so it isn’t always there or up to date.

Area code lookup

Also called tel link

A link on a website or in an email that dials a number when someone taps it, written as tel: followed by the number. On a phone it saves the caller from copying digits by hand.

Click-to-call link generator

Also called simultaneous calls

How many calls a phone line or service can handle at the same moment. A single person can take one call at a time, so the next caller hears a busy signal or voicemail. FrontDesk Talk answers up to 10 calls at once for each business.

Call staffing calculator

Also called no-answer forwarding, busy forwarding

Forwarding that only kicks in when something happens: you don’t answer, you’re already on a call, or your phone is off or out of signal. Your phone rings first, and the calls you can’t take go to the other number.

Call forwarding codes

Also called customer service record

Your current phone company’s record of your account: the name, the service address, and the numbers on it. A port goes through only when the details on your LOA match the CSR, so a mismatched name or address is a usual reason a port is rejected.

How to port your number

Two appointments in the same slot for the same person or room. It usually happens when bookings are taken in more than one place, which is why booking straight into one live calendar matters.

Connect your calendar

The international standard for writing a phone number: a plus sign, the country code, then the number, with no spaces or punctuation. A US number becomes +1 followed by its 10 digits, like +15125550142. Texting and phone systems use it so every number means exactly one phone.

Phone number formatter

A formula call centers use to work out how many people they need on the phone. It takes the calls in an hour, how long each lasts, and your answer time target, and gives the chance a caller waits and for how long. One erlang is one person on the phone for a full hour.

Call staffing calculator

Also called firm order commitment

The date your current phone company confirms a port will happen. On that day your number switches to the new company, usually within a few minutes, and calls start ringing there.

How to port your number

Your free business listing on Google Search and Maps, with your hours, phone number, and reviews. Its Call button dials the number listed there, so that number has to be one that gets answered.

Check your Google Business Profile number

The basic alphabet for text messages: letters, numbers, and common punctuation, packed so 160 fit in one segment. A few symbols, like € and the square brackets, take two spots each.

SMS character counter

The US law that sets rules for protecting health information. It applies to healthcare providers, health plans, and the companies that handle health information for them.

How FrontDesk Talk handles health information

Also called interactive voice response, phone tree, phone menu

A phone system that lets callers get around by pressing keys or saying short words, then routes the call or reads back information like a balance or an order status. An auto attendant is the simplest kind of IVR.

Phone tree script generator

Also called PSTN line, POTS line

A phone line from a traditional or cable phone company that rings a phone at a fixed address. The wider network these lines connect to is called the PSTN, the public switched telephone network.

Forward calls from a landline

Also called letter of authorization

The form you sign to let a new phone company move your number. It lists the name, address, and account details exactly as your current company has them, so they can confirm the request is really yours.

How to port your number

A regular 10-digit number with an area code from a particular place. Customers tend to recognize and answer local numbers, and local numbers can send business texts once they’re registered.

Your FrontDesk Talk number

An automatic text sent to someone whose call wasn’t answered, so they know they were heard and can reply instead of calling the next business. At FrontDesk Talk this feature is called Talk Back.

Missed call text generator

Also called GSM forwarding code

The short dial codes most mobile networks use for settings like forwarding, such as **61* plus a number and # for calls you don’t answer, or ##002# to turn all forwarding off. An “invalid MMI code” message usually means a mistyped star or pound sign.

Forward calls from AT&T

Also called North American Numbering Plan

The shared numbering system for the US, Canada, and many Caribbean countries and territories. Every number in it has country code 1, a three-digit area code, and a seven-digit local number.

Area code lookup

Also called ring time

How long your phone rings before no-answer forwarding sends the call on. On many mobile networks you can set it in seconds as part of the forwarding code.

Forward calls from T-Mobile

An appointment the customer misses without canceling. The time can’t be sold to anyone else, which is why many businesses send reminders and make it easy to cancel or move.

No-show cost calculator

Also called STOP, HELP

Opt-in is a person agreeing to get texts from you. Opt-out is them asking to stop, usually by replying STOP, and after that you must not text them until they opt back in. Replying HELP should get a short message saying who you are and how to stop.

SMS Terms

Also called extra Talk Time

Minutes used past what your plan includes in a month. At FrontDesk Talk, extra Talk Time is $0.45 a minute on every plan, and moving up a plan can cost less if you go over often.

Talk Time calculator

Calls that come in while everyone who could answer is already busy. Overflow routing sends them somewhere else, like a second team or an answering service, instead of to hold music or voicemail.

Overflow call answering

Also called call script

The words a receptionist uses on common calls: the greeting, the questions to ask, how to answer prices and hours, and how to close. A good script sounds like a person, not a form.

Receptionist script generator

Also called transfer PIN, number transfer PIN

A code your current phone company gives you, or lets you create, to approve moving your number to another company. Mobile carriers usually let you make one in their app or online account. A port request without the right PIN is rejected.

How to port your number

Also called number porting, port-in

Moving a phone number from one phone company to another so it rings on the new service. Your number keeps working on the old company until the moment it switches. Forwarding is the quicker alternative when you want to keep the old service.

How to port your number

The share of calls answered within a target time, written as two numbers, like 80/20 for 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds. It’s the goal you plug into Erlang C.

Call staffing calculator

Paid time when a person scheduled to answer the phone can’t, because of breaks, lunch, meetings, training, or other front desk work. Planning for it means scheduling more people than the calls alone call for.

Call staffing calculator

Also called text message

A plain text message sent over the phone network. Long messages are split into segments behind the scenes, and phones join them back together for the reader.

SMS character counter

The unit texts are sent and billed in. One segment holds 160 plain characters, or 70 if the message has an emoji or another special character. A longer message is split into segments of 153 or 67 characters, and each one counts as a message.

SMS character counter

FrontDesk Talk’s missed call text back. When a caller hangs up before they’re helped, Talk Back texts them from your business number so the conversation keeps going. It’s on Real Talk and Big Talk.

Set up Talk Back

The summary FrontDesk Talk sends you by text and email after each call: who called, their number, what they needed, and what happened next. Talk Notes are on every plan.

Talk Notes

The minutes your FrontDesk Talk receptionist spends on the phone. Each plan includes a set amount each month (200 on Small Talk, 450 on Real Talk, 1,000 on Big Talk), and extra Talk Time is $0.45 a minute. Calls that ring your own phone (while the receptionist is paused, or when it rings you first) don’t use Talk Time.

How Talk Time works

Also called Telephone Consumer Protection Act

The US federal law that limits automated calls and texts and sets when a business needs a person’s consent to contact them. Marketing texts need stronger consent than replies to someone who contacted you first. This is general information, not legal advice.

SMS Terms

A number with a toll-free prefix like 800 or 888 that’s free for the caller and not tied to one area. Texting from one needs toll-free verification first.

Phone number formatter

The review a toll-free number must pass before it can send texts. The business describes who it is, what it sends, and how people opt in, and carriers block texts from toll-free numbers that haven’t been verified.

Texting registration

The text encoding a phone switches to when a message has any character outside GSM-7, such as an emoji, a curly apostrophe, or an accented letter outside the basic set. It fits only 70 characters per segment, so the same message can cost two or three times as much to send.

SMS character counter

Also called forward all calls, always forwarding

Forwarding that sends every call to the other number, so your own phone never rings. It’s the right setup when you want someone else, or an AI receptionist, to answer everything.

Call forwarding codes

A receptionist who answers your calls from somewhere else instead of at a desk in your office. It can be a person working remotely, a shared service, or an AI receptionist.

Virtual receptionist

A recorded message a caller leaves when nobody answers. Many callers hang up instead of leaving one, and the ones who do wait until someone listens and calls back.

Voicemail greeting generator

Also called voice over internet protocol

Phone calls carried over the internet instead of traditional phone wires. Most business and cloud phone systems, like RingCentral, Ooma, and Nextiva, are VoIP, and they usually set up forwarding in an app or web portal instead of with dial codes.

Forwarding guides by provider

Also called attended transfer

Passing a call to someone after first telling them who is calling and why, so the caller doesn’t have to start over. The opposite is a cold or blind transfer, which puts the call straight through with no introduction.

Urgent call transfers