Traditional answering services such as Ruby, AnswerConnect and PATLive put live receptionists on your line and bill by the minute. Their contracts differ on notice, on who holds your phone number after you leave, and on how long they keep your call records. This guide quotes each one, lays out a switch that keeps calls answered, and says plainly when a live service is still the better fit.
Live services bill receptionist minutes. Ruby's plans are $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500. AnswerConnect's pricing sheet lists $350 a month for 200 minutes with $2.50 for each extra minute, and $395 for 300 minutes or $575 for 400, both with $1.85 per extra minute. The sheet shows a $49.99 setup fee on the $350 and $575 plans, and a footnote on the same sheet says all plans include it. PATLive lists $99 for 50 minutes, $189 for 100, $349 for 200, $479 for 300 and $759 for 500, with extra minutes from $2.29 down to $1.79, and says its prices do not include taxes and fees.
How the minutes are counted matters as much as the rate. Ruby's terms say minutes are "billed in 60-second increments and calls are rounded up to the next 60-second mark." AnswerConnect rounds every interaction up to the nearest minute, with no charge for the first 30 interactions under 30 seconds in a billing cycle. PATLive bills "the first minute in full, and then each 10th of a minute thereafter." Ruby does not publish its overage rate on its pricing page; its terms say usage above the plan is charged overage fees.
Chleb bills differently. The AI Receptionist + Chatbot plan is $899 a month and the Front Office Bundle is $997, with call minutes and emails billed separately at carrier cost and no Chleb markup. Chleb does not publish a per-minute usage figure, so compare the subscriptions first and ask about usage at your own volume on a demo.
Ruby. Its terms say a subscription "automatically renews every 30 days unless you cancel or change it," and "You may cancel your Customer Contract at any time by contacting Ruby at billing@ruby.com or 866-611-7829 before your next invoice date." Cancellation "is effective at the end of the then-current monthly billing period," and apart from an introductory money back guarantee, payments "are non-refundable."
AnswerConnect. Its two documents do not agree. The pricing sheet says: "No hidden fees, no contracts, no notice period." The terms of service, a contract with AnywhereWorks, Inc. doing business as AnswerConnect and called AW in the text, say: "This Agreement will be in effect for a minimum period of 90 calendar days. Following that period, either you or AW may terminate this Agreement at any time, for any or no reason, upon written notice to the other party." If you signed up within the last 90 days, ask AnswerConnect which document applies to your account and keep the answer in writing.
PATLive. Its FAQ says there is no contract: "You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime." Its terms add how: "You may terminate Your Services at any time by calling customer service at 1-850-608-8012 or by logging in to Your Account at patlive.com and completing the online cancellation process." Once that happens, "Your right to use the Services immediately ceases."
Chleb's own terms for its plans are one sentence, published on the pricing page: "Monthly plans renew each month and stop at the next renewal when you cancel. Annual plans run for the full year. Payments already made are not refunded."
Answering services offer to take your number onto their own phone platform, and if yours did, the number has to come back before the account closes. Ruby's terms: "at your option, we will host your established telephone number or assign you a forwarding telephone number." PATLive assigns a local or toll-free number that you can advertise directly or forward to, or you can port your own number into its platform.
PATLive's terms are explicit: "If You intend to take Your phone number(s) with You after terminating Services from PATLive, You must complete the port out before Your Account is closed." After termination, "Any phone numbers remaining on the Account become property of PATLive and may not be available for porting or reuse once a cancellation is effective."
Ruby allows a port away when you terminate, provided your account is in good standing, but it "reserves the right to release or reassign any telephone numbers not ported back within three months after termination." PATLive's contract leaves no room to cancel first and sort out the number later. Ruby's leaves some, for a limited time, and relying on it is a risk you do not need to take.
Each service keeps records on its own schedule. Ruby's terms say: "We retain your data for a period of no more than 24 months and retain call recordings of any of your customer calls for a period of no more than 90 days." After termination, "All data is deleted from our servers," and Ruby "will not restore, provide on any storage media, or send out any data pertaining to terminated accounts."
PATLive's terms say call recordings "may be accessed via the web and mobile apps, may be emailed and downloaded," and its pricing page says its reporting lets you "export your data to run your own reports." After cancellation, "Content on the platform, including voicemail, call recordings, messages, etc. may not be available." AnswerConnect's pricing sheet says its app lets you view messages, listen to call recordings and read transcripts. We did not find an export guide for AnswerConnect, so ask before you cancel.
Also save the script the service answers with: the greeting, the questions, the transfer rules and the message it takes for each kind of call. Years of small corrections live in that script, and it is a ready brief for the new setup.
Follow the steps in order. Each one depends on the step before it.
Federal porting rules give the number a way out. The FCC's wireless number portability FAQ says that once a valid porting request is made, "the old carrier cannot refuse to port a number," and that an unpaid balance is no reason to delay it, though fees owed under a contract are still owed. It also says carriers "are also allowed to charge a fee to customers at the time their number is ported," so ask the phone company receiving the number.
Those rules bind the carrier that holds the number, and 47 CFR 52.34 extends the duty to interconnected VoIP providers, which must facilitate a valid port request. The contract terms above, such as Ruby's conditions and PATLive's port-before-closing rule, still decide the practical order.
The FCC's porting rule, 47 CFR 52.35, gives carriers one business day for a simple port and four business days for a non-simple one once they have an accurate and complete request. The FCC's FAQ suggests having a recent bill with your name and address exactly as the provider has them, which helps the port go smoothly, so get those account details from the service before you start.
Emergency calling needs a thought too. PATLive's terms say its services "do NOT include 911 or e911" calling or texting. If a number hosted on an answering service's platform is the only line at your address, keep a phone there that can reach 911, and ask the phone company receiving the number how emergency calling works during and after the port. The FCC's FAQ notes that during a port 911 calls should go through, but "the 911 operator may not be able to call consumers back if the call gets disconnected."
Check these before you move away from a live service.
A live answering service fits when calls need human judgment across many steps, such as legal intake, when callers need Spanish, or when your policy says a person must answer. It can also cost less: Ruby's plans up to 200 minutes, AnswerConnect's up to 550 and PATLive's up to 500 are all priced below Chleb's $899 receptionist plan. Chleb's own guidance is that an AI receptionist is the wrong call below roughly 30 calls a week.
An AI receptionist fits when most calls are bookings, service questions and urgent calls that follow rules you can write down, and when you want them answered at any hour without paying for a person's minutes. Chleb adds the website chatbot and booking into your calendar, missed-call text-back on every plan, and the CRM in the Front Office Bundle.
Take last month's minutes and message log, sketch the call flow in the setup simulator, and compare the monthly cost in the cost calculator. Then book a demo and bring the script your answering service uses. Questions before you book? Call (813) 694-8671.
Ruby's terms say you may cancel "at any time by contacting Ruby at billing@ruby.com or 866-611-7829 before your next invoice date," and that cancellation takes effect at the end of the current monthly billing period.
Its pricing sheet says "no contracts, no notice period," while its terms of service set "a minimum period of 90 calendar days" followed by written notice. Ask AnswerConnect which applies to your account and keep the answer in writing.
PATLive's terms say numbers left on the account "become property of PATLive and may not be available for porting or reuse once a cancellation is effective." Complete the port out first, then cancel.
Only if you save them. Ruby keeps call recordings for no more than 90 days and deletes all data after an account is terminated. PATLive lets you download recordings but says content may not be available after cancellation.
Not always. Smaller live plans cost less than Chleb's $899 receptionist plan. Take last month's minutes from your invoice, price them on your current plan, and set that against Chleb's plan plus call minutes at carrier cost.