Live Call Answering, Honestly
We ran one of these for years. Here is what live answering costs, why we retired ours, and what our customers choose instead: every call captured with voice to email, included free with your number.
The Honest Picture
What Live Answering Is
A real person answers your calls in your business name, takes a message and sends it to you.
What It Really Costs
A monthly base plan plus a per-call rate. Volume drives the bill — and overruns add up fast.
Why We Retired Ours
In 2026 our customers prefer voice to email. Real enquiries now get steered there.
The Voice to Email Switch
Callers leave a message; the recording lands in your inbox, to one address or many.
Included Free With a Number
Voice to email comes free with our 1300, 1800, call tracking and Hosted PBX plans.
No Lock-In, From $10/mo
Business numbers from $10 per month, month-to-month, no contracts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Simple Telecom still offer live call answering?
No. We retired the service from sale. We ran it for years, but in 2026 the enquiries we receive down the live-answer path are steered to voice to email, which is what customers prefer. If a human must answer every call by name, a specialist answering bureau is the right tool — we are not one any more.
How much does a live answering service cost in Australia?
Live answering is priced as a monthly base plan plus a per-call rate once included calls run out. Specialist bureaus typically advertise entry plans from the mid-$20s per month, with per-call overruns of a few dollars. Our own retired plans ranged from $30 to $190 per month with $2.80 to $5.50 per extra call.
What is voice to email?
When you cannot take a call, the caller hears your greeting and leaves a message. The recording is emailed to you as an audio file — to one address or several — and on many plans a written transcription is included. It is a free feature on Simple Telecom 1300, 1800, call tracking and Hosted PBX plans.
Which is better for a small business?
If most callers just want a callback and your calls are not life-or-death, voice to email captures everything at a flat cost. If every call is urgent revenue and must be spoken to, a live answering bureau earns its keep. Our comparison table below helps you decide.
Prefer what customers are choosing?
Get a Number with Voice to EmailLive call answering means a real person answers your business phone when you cannot — in your business name, taking a message and passing it on. It is the classic business answering service model, and for years Simple Telecom ran exactly that service for Australian businesses.
This page is the honest version of that story: what live answering is, what it actually costs, why we retired our service from sale, and the voice-to-email alternative that our customers now prefer.
What Live Call Answering Is
A live answering service gives your business a dedicated answer point. When a call arrives — overflow from your main line, or outside your after-hours answering service coverage — a trained operator answers using your greeting, takes the caller's name, number and message, and sends the details to you by SMS and email. Done well, it works like a virtual receptionist without the desk.
What a Live Answering Service Costs in Australia
Live answering is almost always priced the same way:
- A monthly base plan that includes a set number of answered calls.
- A per-call rate for every call above the included allowance.
- Extras like call routing, extra numbers or scripted responses.
Specialist bureaus typically advertise entry plans from the mid-$20s per month, with per-call overruns of a few dollars once the included allowance runs out. Busy months get expensive quietly. For the full breakdown — including the rates our own retired plans charged — see our live call answering pricing page.
Why Simple Telecom Retired Its Live Answering Service
We ran a live answering service for years, so this is not a dig at the model. We retired it from sale for a simple reason: in 2026, the customers arriving down the live-answer path overwhelmingly prefer voice to email. The enquiries we used to convert into operator plans are now steered to a business number with voice-to-email instead — every call captured, no per-call meter running, and the message in the inbox of whoever needs to action it.
If a human must answer every call by name — high-value urgent work, sensitive industries — a specialist answering bureau is still the right tool. We are honest about that: we do not sell that service any more.
The Alternative: a Business Number With Voice to Email
Voice to email flips the model. The caller hears your greeting and leaves a message; the recording is emailed to you as an audio file, to one address or many, with transcription on many plans. There is no per-call charge for the answering itself — it is included free with Simple Telecom 1300 numbers, 1800 numbers, call tracking and Hosted PBX plans. Numbers start at $10 per month, calls are billed per second, and there are no lock-in contracts.
| | Live answering service | Voice to email (Simple Telecom) | |---|---|---| | Who answers | A human operator | Your greeting, then a recorded message | | Cost shape | Monthly base + per-call overruns | Included free; number from $10/mo | | Message delivery | SMS + email summaries | Full recording (+ transcription) by email | | Best for | Urgent, high-value calls that must be spoken to | Callback-later enquiries, after-hours, teams |
Ready When You Are
Pick a 1300 number or 1800 number, record your greeting, set your recipients, and every call you cannot take lands in your inbox. Questions first? Call the team on 1300 858 751.