The short answer
An AI receptionist for IT service providers built on HighLevel Voice AI costs about $0.32 per answered call, or $70 a month for 220 calls averaging 4 minutes, phone line included. Roughly 66 of those calls (30%) would come outside office hours, which is where an AI answering service earns its keep. Emergencies, complaints and anything needing judgment should go to a person.
What the AI should handle
Triage a support call
Ask whether the problem affects one user or many, what system is down and when it started, save it to the contact, and create an urgent task for the on-call technician when several users are affected.
Take a sales inquiry
Collect company name, number of users and locations, current provider and main complaint, then book a discovery call on the sales engineer's calendar.
Respond to a scam worry
When a caller asks whether an unexpected call or pop-up using your name was real, explain how your company does contact clients and create a task for a technician to call back.
Book an onsite visit
Offer install or visit windows from the field technician calendar, confirm the address and parking notes, and text a confirmation with the technician's name.
What to send to a person
- Anything involving passwords, remote access codes or MFA resets
- Suspected security incidents such as ransomware or a breached account
- Contract, pricing and service level disputes
- Outages taking down a whole client site
HighLevel's voice agents can transfer a live call, create a task, or trigger a workflow that texts the owner. Set the handoff rules before the agent goes live.
Cost per call and per month
Assumptions for a typical IT services company: 220 calls a month answered by the AI, averaging 4 minutes. Phone minutes are billed per call and rounded up, so each call bills 4 phone minutes at $0.01165.
| Setup | AI cost | Phone line | Per month | Per call |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay per use, Standard voice, GPT-4.1 Mini | $59.84 | $10.25 | $70 | $0.32 |
| Pay per use, ElevenLabs voice, GPT-4.1 Mini | $77.44 | $10.25 | $88 | $0.40 |
| Pay per use, speech-to-speech (OpenAI) | $176.00 | $10.25 | $186 | $0.85 |
| AI Employee Unlimited, $97 flat | $97.00 | $10.25 | $107 | $0.49 |
The breakdown of every Voice AI charge is in our Voice AI pricing guide. Agencies can price this as a monthly service with the calculator's Price a client tab, preloaded for a IT services company.
Compared with staff time
Those 220 calls take about 15 hours of talk time a month. At the US median receptionist wage of $18.27 an hour (May 2025, Bureau of Labor Statistics), that talk time alone is worth about $268, before hold time, breaks, benefits and the calls that come in after hours. An AI receptionist does not replace a good front desk; it catches the overflow and the evenings, and frees staff for the people in front of them.
Sample call
AI AGENTThanks for calling. I'm the support line's virtual assistant. Is this about an existing account or a new service?
CALLERExisting. Nobody in our office can get into email since about ten minutes ago.
AI AGENTUnderstood. How many people are affected, and are other things like the internet or shared drives working?
CALLERAll twelve of us. Internet works, just email is down.
AI AGENTThanks. I've marked this urgent and sent it to the on-call technician, who will call you back shortly. What's the best number to reach you?
CALLERThis one is fine.
AI AGENTGot it. For your security, our team will never ask for your password by phone. You'll get a text in a moment confirming we've logged this.
CALLEROkay, thanks.
Prompt tips
- Tip 1Define urgent in plain terms (several users down, a security warning, a server offline) so the agent escalates the right calls and does not page an engineer over one printer.
- Tip 2Tell the agent never to ask for or accept passwords, codes or remote-access IDs, and to say so out loud when a caller offers one.
- Tip 3Load your service catalog, support hours and after-hours rates into the knowledge base so 'are we covered on weekends' gets an accurate answer.
Rules to watch
Tech support scam awareness. The FTC tells consumers that legitimate tech companies will not call, email or text to say there is a problem with their computer, and that real security pop-ups never ask people to call a number. Tell clients how you do contact them, and make sure your AI never asks for passwords or remote access.
Outbound AI calls and consent. Under the FCC's February 2024 ruling, calls that use AI-generated voices are artificial voice calls under the TCPA and need prior express consent. Use outbound Voice AI for renewal reminders only with contacts who agreed to it. HighLevel also requires consent language and identity verification before outbound Voice AI can be switched on.
General information, not legal advice.
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Questions
Should an AI answer an IT help desk line?
How does the AI decide what is urgent?
Can the AI receptionist verify a caller's identity?
What does after-hours AI answering cost an IT shop?
Sources
- HighLevel pricing page
- HighLevel Voice AI agents overview
- HighLevel AI product pricing
- HighLevel Voice AI outbound calling
- HighLevel Phone System (LC Phone) pricing and billing guide
- FTC: How to spot, avoid and report tech support scams
- FCC: TCPA applies to AI technologies that generate human voices
- HighLevel AI product pricing (help center)
- AI Voice Agents overview
- HighLevel Phone System pricing and billing guide
- BLS Occupational Outlook: Receptionists (May 2025 pay)