What is Call Routing?

1. The call arrives on a number you own, and your phone system reads what it knows: the number dialed, the caller ID and the time.
2. Rules are checked in order. For example: business hours go to the front desk, after hours go to the answering service, and the number on your ads goes to the sales line.
3. The caller may be asked. An IVR menu or an AI receptionist finds out what the caller needs.
4. The call is connected to a person, a ring group, a queue or a voicemail box.
5. A fallback applies if nobody answers within a set number of rings: overflow to another line, a backup answerer or voicemail.

Traditional routing uses fixed signals: the time, the number dialed and the key the caller pressed. It is predictable and inexpensive, but the caller does the sorting, and a wrong choice sends them to the wrong place. AI routing listens to the request in the caller’s own words, answers or books what it can, and connects only the calls that need a person, with the details already collected. Common rule types apply to both: time of day, round-robin across a team, by location or service area, and by skill or department.

Basic routing rules come with most business phone systems. The cost that matters is the calls routing sends nowhere: a ring group nobody picks up, or voicemail after hours. If you are comparing routing through an AI receptionist, see how much an AI receptionist costs and Keres AI pricing.

Remi answers every call first, in two rings, 24/7. It asks your intake questions, books routine appointments into Google Calendar, HubSpot or ServiceTitan, and escalates to a person by the rules you set, for example sending an after-hours emergency to the technician on call. Calls Remi couldn’t take get a text back within 60 seconds. See after-hours answering and emergency dispatch. Junk calls can be screened out the same way; see spam-call screening.