Phone (overview)
How AI phone answering works, who it is for, and what to expect.
Phone guide
BestAI can answer calls to your business phone using the same AI receptionist that handles chat on your website. The transcript lands in the same admin inbox as your text and web voice conversations, so your team manages everything from one place.
This guide is the customer’s-eye view of what the phone feature does and does not do. For the technical setup, see the Twilio setup guide.
In an emergency, callers should always dial 111. BestAI is not an emergency service. We recommend you tell callers in your AI prompt that for emergencies they should hang up and dial 111 directly.
What you can do
- Have an AI answer calls to your business number
- Use the same chatbot prompt and knowledge as your website
- See the call transcript and metadata in the inbox
- Track phone minutes alongside chat and web voice
- Capture leads from phone calls automatically
How phone fits with chat and web voice
Phone, web voice, and text chat are three channels that share one chatbot:
| Channel | Where it happens | Plans |
|---|---|---|
| Text chat | Your website widget | All plans |
| Web voice | Your website widget, microphone | Starter, Professional, Business |
| Phone | Your business number on Twilio | Starter, Professional, Business |
All three use the same prompt, knowledge, and inbox. Change the prompt once and all three channels update.
Step-by-step
1. Confirm you can use phone
You need:
- A plan of Starter, Professional, or Business.
- A Twilio sub-account with at least one E.164 phone number.
- Your Twilio credentials added in Integrations, then Twilio.
- A phone number bound to a chatbot in Phone numbers.
- The Twilio voice webhook pointed at BestAI.
If a caller hears “This number is currently unavailable”, points 4 or 5 are usually the cause. The full setup is in the Twilio setup guide.
2. Take a test call
- Call your Twilio number from a different phone.
- Speak normally. The AI listens and replies in real time.
- If you start speaking while the AI is talking, the AI pauses and listens — same as on web voice.
- Hang up.
3. View the call in the admin
- Open the admin and go to Conversations.
- Set the channel filter to Phone.
- Open the call. The detail page shows:
- Caller ID (with the last few digits visible)
- The phone number that was called
- Total call duration
- The reason the call ended (caller hung up, time limit, provider failure)
- Started at and ended at timestamps
- The full transcript of what was said by both sides
The audio recording itself is not stored. Only the transcript and metadata are saved, in line with the Privacy Act 2020 principle of data minimisation.
4. Triage like any other conversation
Phone conversations work with the same inbox features as chat:
- Move through open, pending, closed, and archived states
- Assign to a team member
- Mark as read or unread
- Auto summary when closed
- Lead capture and instant notification email
For details, see the inbox guide.
Plan limits
Each plan that includes phone has a monthly minute allowance:
| Plan | Included minutes per month |
|---|---|
| Starter ($49/month) | 100 |
| Professional ($99/month) | 300 |
| Business ($199/month) | 1000 |
When you go over the monthly minutes:
- Calls in progress are not interrupted.
- New calls still come through.
- The phone usage card in the admin turns red.
- The conversation is flagged as “over included minutes”.
- We do not automatically charge an overage. We will get in touch about an upgrade.
Twilio charges its own carriage rates for the inbound call and the Media Streams usage, separate from your BestAI bill.
Fair use
- One call is capped at 30 minutes. After that, BestAI ends the call cleanly.
- Up to 10 simultaneous calls per workspace.
- The audio stream token used during the call is valid for only 5 minutes, which is enough to start the call.
Compared with web voice
A quick reference:
| Setting | Web voice | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Where it happens | Website widget microphone | Twilio phone number |
| Browser required | Yes (HTTPS plus modern browser) | No |
| Maximum call length | 15 minutes | 30 minutes |
| Concurrent calls | Up to 5 per workspace | Up to 10 per workspace |
| Carriage fees | Included in BestAI plan | Billed by Twilio |
Privacy and compliance
- We do not record or store the call audio. Only the transcript and metadata are saved.
- The caller’s number appears in the admin with the last few digits visible. Treat caller IDs as personal information under the Privacy Act 2020.
- If you need to record calls for compliance reasons, enable Call Recording in Twilio Console and store recordings in your own location.
- Always include in your prompt that callers in an emergency should hang up and dial 111.
Common questions
Does the AI greet the caller first, or wait for the caller to speak?
By default, the caller speaks first and the AI responds. A fixed greeting is on the roadmap.
Can the AI speak Te Reo Maori?
Te Reo support is limited and depends on the speech provider. Contact us if this is important — we can help you choose a provider that fits your needs.
Can the AI transfer to a real person?
Live call transfer is not in the current release. The AI can capture the caller’s contact details, create a lead, and email your team straight away — usually faster than a transfer would be in practice.
Where does the caller’s phone number show up?
In the admin Conversations list (with the last few digits visible) and on the conversation detail page. Treat it as personal information.
Does BestAI bill me twice — once for the AI and once for Twilio?
No. BestAI counts the minutes for your plan, but Twilio bills you directly for carriage. We do not double-charge.
Can I record calls?
Not in BestAI. Enable Call Recording in Twilio Console if you need recordings.
Next steps
- Twilio setup — credentials, number binding, and webhook
- Inbox guide — triage phone conversations alongside chat and web voice
- Usage guide — phone minute tracking and overage rules
- Need a hand? Email hello@bestai.co.nz or call +64 21 133 4406