GlossaryVoice
Auto attendant
An auto attendant is the recorded phone menu that greets callers and routes them by keypad or spoken choice (press one for sales), without a live person or a conversation.
01 In depth
What it is, why it matters and what to ask a vendor
An auto attendant is a feature of nearly every business phone system, including cloud phone systems and UCaaS platforms. It plays a greeting, offers a fixed menu, routes to extensions, ring groups or voicemail, and can switch greetings by time of day or holiday. It does not understand free speech or complete tasks.
For a growing business it is a cheap way to look organized and to route calls without a receptionist, but it also sends many callers to voicemail, and some hang up at the menu. Knowing where callers drop off tells you whether an auto attendant is enough or whether an AI voice agent should sit in front of it.
Ask your phone vendor for the menu's completion and abandonment reports, how many menu levels callers face, whether a caller can reach a person at every step, and how the after-hours path works. Keep the menu short; every extra level loses callers.
03 At Telxpress
Where this shows up at Telxpress
The pages and articles where this term does real work: what we advise, build and support.
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Business VoIP & Cloud Phone Systems in Irvine
VoIP, cloud phone systems, UCaaS and SIP trunks from Yealink, Nextiva, Avaya, Yeastar and Polycom, installed, supported and ready for AI call handling.
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Donya AI Voice Agent: Never Miss a Call
Donya answers every call 24/7, qualifies leads and books appointments. Call the demo line to hear it. Built and run by Telxpress.
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AI Voice Agent vs Answering Service vs Auto-Attendant
Three ways to handle the calls your team cannot pick up, compared honestly, with the questions to ask any vendor and what California's consent law requires.