frontdesqVirtual receptionist
A virtual receptionist without the per-call bill
What a virtual receptionist does
A virtual receptionist is a receptionist who is not at your front desk. They answer your business line remotely: greeting the caller, answering the questions you hear every day, taking down the enquiry and booking the appointment. For a small business, it is the difference between a phone that gets answered properly and a phone that rings out whenever you are busy. If what you are really after is a virtual assistant to answer phones while you work, this is that, with the qualifying and the bookings handled too.
The traditional version relies on human virtual receptionists, teams of operators answering for many businesses at once. frontdesq is the newer kind, a virtual receptionist service powered by conversational AI. Same job, done instantly, at every hour of the day.
Human virtual receptionist services vs frontdesq
With a human virtual receptionist service you share a team of operators with hundreds of other businesses. When their board lights up, your caller waits in a queue. You pay per call or per minute, so the bill grows in exactly the month you needed the help most, and after-hours cover usually costs extra, if it is offered at all. With frontdesq, nights and weekends are standard: our after hours answering service page covers exactly how that works.
frontdesq answers every call in seconds, no matter how many arrive at once, and treats 10 pm on a Sunday the same as 10 am on a Tuesday. It asks the caller what they need and how soon, answers the common questions about your business, books the appointment, and texts you a summary the moment the call ends. Urgent calls get put straight through to you.
A virtual receptionist for small business
frontdesq is built for Australian small businesses: the clinic in Melbourne whose front desk is flat out first thing, the salon in Sydney that cannot answer mid-appointment, the tradie in Brisbane with both hands full, the accountant in Perth deep in a client meeting, the property manager in Adelaide whose phone runs hot after five. Wherever you are, the person who answers the phone is usually the person doing the work, and that is exactly the gap virtual reception fills.
You set the greeting, the questions it asks and the rules it follows, so it handles calls the way you would rather than reading a generic script. If you have been weighing an answering service for small business against putting someone on the desk part-time, the honest answer is that they solve different problems, which brings us to the next question.
Compared with hiring a receptionist
A person at the front desk does far more than answer a phone: they greet walk-ins, chase paperwork and hold the place together. If you need those hands, hire them.
But if the problem is purely that the phone rings when nobody can take it, the comparison is stark. A hire covers around 38 of the 168 hours in a week, takes one call at a time, and costs a wage. A virtual receptionist covers every hour of every week, answers calls that arrive together, and costs a fraction of that. Many small businesses land on the mix: a person for the front desk if they need one, frontdesq for the phone.
Outsourced reception without hiring another employee
For a lot of owners the real question is not which provider to pick but whether outsourced reception is the right move at all. Handing the phone to someone outside the business feels like a big step. In practice it is a smaller one than a hire: no recruitment, no onboarding, no notice period, and you keep answering whenever you want to, because outsourcing reception only has to cover the calls you cannot take.
The other thing worth knowing about outsourced receptionist services is that the AI kind removes the usual trade-off. With human providers, the outsourcing usually means a stranger's judgment on your calls and, on metered plans, a bill that grows in your busiest month. With frontdesq you set the greeting and the rules yourself, the price stays flat, and every SMS summary shows you exactly how your calls were handled. How that compares with the traditional model is covered on our AI answering service page.
What it costs
Flat monthly plans in AUD, from $249 a month: no per-call fees, no per-minute metering and no after-hours surcharge, so you can work the number out before you sign up. Your first week is free, and the founder's promise stands: catch a paying job in your first week, or you don't pay a cent. See the current plans and prices.
Hear it before you decide
The fastest way to judge a virtual answering service is with your ears. The demo on our homepage plays a real call, and the live demo rings your own phone within 30 seconds. If it does not sound like someone you would hire, don't sign up.
Common questions
What does a virtual receptionist actually do?
A virtual receptionist answers your business phone remotely: greeting callers, answering the common questions, taking down the enquiry and booking the appointment. frontdesq does that job with a conversational AI instead of a rostered operator, so it picks up instantly, around the clock, and never puts a caller in a hold queue.
How does it work with my current number?
Customers keep ringing the number they already know. We set up call forwarding so the calls you miss divert to frontdesq automatically, and you can switch it off any time. There is no new number and nothing to install.
Is it a real person or AI?
It is an automated receptionist in the honest sense: a conversational AI with a warm Australian voice, and we are upfront about that. Hear it before you decide: the demo on our homepage rings your own phone within 30 seconds, so you can judge it the way your callers would.
Will callers know they are talking to AI?
We don't pretend otherwise, and you control the introduction: you set the greeting, so callers hear exactly what you want them to hear. What callers notice most is that the phone was answered straight away and their enquiry was handled properly.
How much does a virtual receptionist cost?
Most virtual receptionist services charge per call or per minute, so a busy month costs more than a quiet one. frontdesq is a flat monthly price in AUD with no after-hours surcharge, and your first week is free. The current plans are on our pricing page.
Does it answer after hours and on weekends?
Yes. Nights, weekends and public holidays are covered as standard, with no after-hours surcharge. The 10 pm enquiry gets answered exactly the way the 10 am one does.
What happens with urgent calls?
Urgent calls get transferred straight through to you or your team on the spot. If no one can take it, the enquiry is flagged urgent so you know exactly who to call back first.
Can it book appointments into my calendar?
Yes, on Growth plans and up it books straight into your calendar and confirms the time with the caller by text. The Starter plan answers, qualifies the caller and texts you the details so you can lock the booking in yourself.
What if several calls come in at once?
All of them get answered. A virtual receptionist that is a rostered human can only take one call at a time; frontdesq never returns a busy signal no matter how many calls arrive together.
How long does setup take?
Usually within a day. Setup is white glove: we connect your number, tune the assistant to your business and test it with you before it takes a single real call. Your first week is free.
Do you cover businesses outside Brisbane?
Yes. frontdesq is built in Brisbane and answers calls for businesses anywhere in Australia. Because it works over call forwarding, there is nothing local to install: a caller in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth or Adelaide is answered exactly the same way.