# Ring first vs answer every call

Help Center · Phone and forwarding · Updated 2026-10-04

**In short:** Answer every call: all calls go straight to Vocenya. Ring first: your phone rings, and only calls you don’t pick up go to Vocenya. Ring first uses a different kind of forwarding from your phone company.

There are two ways to send your calls to Vocenya. Both keep your business number.

## Answer every call

Every call to your business number goes straight to your AI receptionist.

- Callers never wait or reach voicemail.
- You are never interrupted on a job. You get a summary after each call.
- The receptionist can still pass callers to you or your team when they ask for a person. See [handing calls to a person](/help/calls-and-handoffs/hand-calls-to-a-person).

This is what the codes in Vocenya and in [our forwarding guide](/help/phone-forwarding/forward-your-business-calls) do.

## Ring first

Your own phone rings first. If you don't answer, the call goes to Vocenya.

- You take the calls you can.
- Vocenya picks up the ones you miss, and when you are busy on another call.
- Callers hear your phone ring for a while before Vocenya answers.

Phone companies call this "conditional forwarding", or "forward when busy or unanswered". It uses different codes from forwarding every call.

## How to set up ring first

If no ring-first codes are shown above for your phone company, call them and ask to forward calls to your Vocenya number **when you don't answer or are busy**. Some phone companies also let you choose how many rings before it forwards.

Then call your business number from another phone and let it ring, to [check that it works](/help/phone-forwarding/check-forwarding-works).

## Which should I choose?

- If you are often on jobs, driving or with customers, answer every call.
- If you like to pick up yourself and only need help with overflow, ring first.

You can switch later. Turn off one kind of forwarding before you turn on the other.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does ring first cost more?

Not on Vocenya’s side: you only use AI minutes when your receptionist answers. Your phone company may treat forwarded calls differently depending on your plan with them.

## Related articles

- [How to forward your business calls to Vocenya](https://vocenya.com/help/phone-forwarding/forward-your-business-calls)
- [Check that forwarding works](https://vocenya.com/help/phone-forwarding/check-forwarding-works)
- [Hand calls to a person: your team or GH Live agents](https://vocenya.com/help/calls-and-handoffs/hand-calls-to-a-person)

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Source: https://vocenya.com/help/phone-forwarding/ring-first-or-answer-every-call
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