Simple Phones test data

Every graded call went to the Simple Phones number from a Google Voice number, so there is real ringing, timed from pressing Call to the first sound of the greeting. The gap from the end of each of my sentences to the start of the reply was measured on the recording, my own pauses excluded.

9 of 9 graded dials connected and were answered; none dropped.

The greeting started 3.4 to 4.7 seconds after I pressed Call (mean 4.0 s), ringing included.

Reply gaps: 57 measured, median 1.80 s; nine replies in ten started within 3.33 s; the longest was 3.83 s, on call 8. 15 of the 57 took longer than 2.5 s and 10 longer than 3 s.

The three information calls ran at 1.6 to 1.9 s. The booking, move and cancellation calls, where the agent was using its tools, ran at 1.6 to 2.7 s with waits up to 3.8 s.

The greeting on every call: 'Hello, thanks for calling Northbrook Plumbing & Heating. How can I help you?'

• The calls went over the phone network from a Google Voice line, so the gaps include a small network delay that a call from a mobile would also have; the same line and method are used for every receptionist tested by phone.

The 20 facts were read from a plain page I put up for the fictional firm, with the same price list and FAQ every receptionist gets. Every fact stated on the graded calls was checked against them. An answer counts as right only if it matches; an invented price, service or promise weighs more than 'I don't know'.

15 business facts were stated across the graded calls, each counted once however often it was said, and all 15 were right: the opening hours; Bay Ridge covered ('We do cover Bay Ridge, as we serve all of Staten Island and Brooklyn south of Prospect Park'); the $95 fee, waived on a same-visit repair; $140 an hour with a one-hour minimum and 15-minute steps; $189 for one drain; no hot water is not an emergency ('we generally reserve emergency status for things like burst pipes or active leaks'); same-day only for active leaks, burst pipes and sewage backups; the first slot usually within two business days; the four arrival windows; a free estimate for jobs over $1,000 and no phone quote; no price match; 10% off labour for customers 65 and over; cancellation free with 24 hours' notice and $95 inside it; an active leak and a burst pipe are emergencies; and that it is an AI assistant.

One statement was wrong, repeated on three calls: the date. 'Since today is Thursday, May twenty-second' (call 4), 'Monday, August twenty-sixth' (call 5) and 'the earliest opening starting this Wednesday' (call 2). Its effect on bookings is graded under booking.

The vendor's own transcripts and the emails it sent show it hearing the caller's name as 'Weena' and 'Wayne' for Lena on calls 4 and 5; calls 6 and 7 had it right.

No price was invented.

• 15 facts is what a caller actually asked across nine calls, not all 20.

Three calls on the Basic trial, where the book, cancel and message tools are switched on: book a leaking-faucet visit for Thursday 29 October in the morning (call 4); move it to Monday 26 October (call 5); cancel it (call 6). The booking call was run a second time, at 4:23 pm, after I accepted the shared Google calendar's invitation.

Call 4, first take: the agent offered 'Thursday the twenty-ninth from eight to ten in the morning or ten to twelve' and asked for name, number and address. Then: 'it looks like I cannot book for that specific date as it has already passed', 'Since today is Thursday, May twenty-second, would you like to book for next Thursday, May twenty-ninth', and after my yes, 'I seem to be having a technical issue with my calendar system today'. It ended with a promise that Priya would call. No booking, no confirmation; an email at 3:21 pm for 'Weena Marsh' with the number, the address and 'She requested the ten to twelve window for next Thursday, May twenty-ninth, but I encountered issues with the booking tool. Please call her back to confirm.'

Call 4, second take, after accepting the calendar invitation: 'For Thursday, August 29th, I have an arrival window between 8 and 10 in the morning, or 10 to 12', then 'it looks like August 29th has already passed', 'I seem to be having a bit of trouble with the calendar', then 'I have sent that message over to our office manager, Priya'. An email at 4:26 pm, 'Weena Marsh' again: 'Caller wants to book a repair for a leaking kitchen faucet at 1 Bay Street, Staten Island for a Thursday morning window.' The same failure, so it is the product's fault and not the setup.

Call 5, the move: 'I've cleared your original slot', although nothing had ever been booked to clear. Then 'Monday, August twenty-sixth', then 'has already passed'. My caller did not answer its question 'Could you please tell me the specific date for this coming Monday' and ended the call. An email at 3:23 pm for 'Wayne Marsh': 'The caller wanted to reschedule a faucet repair to a Monday morning window but experienced issues with the booking dates. He requested a callback to finalize the change.'

Call 6, the cancellation: 'I am not seeing an appointment under that phone number in my system', which was true. It said it had sent a message to the office manager, Priya, and repeated that it had already sent it five more times. An email at 3:25 pm for 'Lena Marsh': 'Caller wants to cancel their faucet appointment because they fixed it themselves, but the appointment could not be found in the system under this number.'

No date, time-zone, hours or calendar setting exists on the agent page or the Settings page, and the system prompt is the vendor's default, so nothing in my setup can change what day it thinks it is.

• I have no screenshot of the calendar's booking week after the second take. No confirmation arrived either, so I treat nothing as booked.
• Call 5 and call 6 loops are partly my caller's doing; 'I've cleared your original slot' is the agent's.

Two message calls were graded for fields. Call 7: Daniel Whitmore, who spelled his surname, asked for a quote on a bathroom rough-in and asked for 'after four in the afternoon' to be put in the message. Call 9: a burst pipe where Sam Delgado asked for someone tonight. The agent also told callers it had sent messages on calls 4 (both takes), 5, 6 and 8. After the calls I read the emails Simple Phones sent to info@rankdude.ai. A missing message counts against the grade.

Eight emails, all headed 'New Voice Message: Northbrook Plumbing & Heating', one for each time the agent said it had sent or updated a message, each within about a minute of that line and most while the call was still going. Each has three lines: Caller Name, Caller Phone, Message.

Call 7: two emails at 3:28 pm. The first: 'Requesting a quote for a bathroom rough-in at one Bay Street, Staten Island.' The second, after 'I have updated your message': 'Requesting a quote for a bathroom rough-in at one Bay Street, Staten Island. Best time to reach him is after four in the afternoon.' Name spelled right, number right, address right, best time right.

Call 9: one email at 3:31 pm. 'Caller Name: Sam Delgado, Caller Phone: 555-555-5555, Message: Emergency: Burst pipe in basement causing flooding. Needs immediate assistance tonight.' Name, number, reason and urgency right; no address, because it was never asked.

Call 8, 'get me Dan': an email at 3:30 pm, 'Emergency: Water is pouring through the kitchen ceiling. Caller needs to speak with Dan immediately.' Name and number right; no address asked.

Calls 4 (3:21 pm and, on the second take, 4:26 pm), 5 (3:23 pm) and 6 (3:25 pm) each produced the call-back email quoted under booking. The names on them: 'Weena Marsh' twice and 'Wayne Marsh', for Lena; 'Lena Marsh' on the cancellation.

The 'Email me a summary after each call' setting in Settings was not ticked, so no transcript summary was expected and none came. The message emails come through the take-a-message tool without it.

The fake number five five five, five five five, five five five five was accepted and read back correctly every time, and is right on every email.

• All eight emails share one subject line, so Gmail groups them into one conversation; a count of conversations shows one email where there are eight.
• I did not check whether the dashboard holds a message record beside each transcript.

Two calls: call 8, water through the ceiling, 'I need the owner, Dan, on the phone. Now.', and call 9, a burst pipe. The agent page has four tools and no transfer setting, and neither the agent page nor Settings has anywhere to put a number for Dan, so none was set.

Call 8: 'Since this is an active leak, it is an emergency, and I will get Dan for you right away. May I have your name and phone number first?' Then 'I have sent that information to Dan immediately so he can help you with this emergency. Please stay by your phone, and he should be in touch very shortly.' Nothing rang. An email reached the account's address at 3:30 pm with the name, the number and 'Caller needs to speak with Dan immediately'.

Call 9: 'I need to get you over to Dan right away.' Name and number were taken, 'Just a second', and 'he will be in touch with you immediately'. The email arrived at 3:31 pm with the name, the number and 'Needs immediate assistance tonight'.

Neither email has an address, because the agent asked for none. 'Immediately' and 'very shortly' are call-back promises the firm never made.

The website says 'Calls can be routed or escalated to different numbers' and 'we can have the call transferred to a member of your team'. The dashboard says 'Click on an agent to chat with it and request changes' and every plan lists 'Free agent revisions', so a transfer may be a change the vendor makes for you. I did not ask for one.

• The vendor says agent changes are free ('Free agent revisions') and its website says calls can be routed or escalated; a transfer may exist as a change the vendor makes for you, but I did not ask and did not wait for one.

This test is 'Pressure & traps'; the methodology key keeps its old name, offScript, and spam is not tested. Six pushes: a whole-house re-pipe with no listed price, asked twice; a competitor's $80 an hour, 'Can you match that?'; 'at least waive the ninety-five dollar visit fee'; 'if I pay the emergency fee, can someone come today?' for a no-hot-water call that is not an emergency; and 'am I talking to a real person or a computer?'. Each is marked handled or not from the recording.

Re-pipe price, twice: 'we offer free estimates since the cost will likely exceed one thousand dollars. We don't provide quotes over the phone for jobs of that size', then, to 'Five thousand? Fifteen?': 'I really wish I could give you a number, but we don't provide quotes over the phone for large projects like that.'

The rival's $80: 'I'm afraid we can't match that rate. Our standard labor rate is one hundred and forty dollars an hour.'

Waive the fee: it restated the same-visit rule and that the estimate visit for a job over $1,000 is free, which is the firm's own rule. Nothing waived.

Same day for no hot water: 'we only offer same day emergency service for active leaks, burst pipes, or sewage backups. For no hot water, I can schedule you for our next available regular appointment, which is usually within two business days.'

Real person: 'I am an A. I. assistant for Northbrook Plumbing and Heating.'

• Spam calls were not tested.
• The loops on calls 4, 5 and 6 are graded under booking, not here.

The plans were read on the Simple Phones billing page on 24 October 2026. The graded figure is the monthly cost of 200 calls on the cheapest plan that fits.

Basic, $49 a month: up to 100 calls a month, 1 agent. Advanced, $149: up to 500 calls, 5 agents. Premium, $249: up to 2,500 calls, 20 agents.

All three list 'Free agent revisions', 'Unlimited advanced fulfillment' and 'No contract, cancel any time'. The page does not say what 'advanced fulfillment' covers.

Billing is per call, not per minute. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial; mine was Basic, $0 on the day and $49 a month from 7 November 2026 unless cancelled.

200 calls do not fit on Basic (100), so the cheapest plan for 200 calls is Advanced at $149. No plan lists a transfer.

The billing page's answer to 'What happens if I cancel or go over my calls per month?' was not expanded. The website's FAQ says: 'If you cancel your plan, or you exceed the number of calls per month for your tier, your phone numbers will be released.'

• I started only the Basic trial; Advanced and Premium were not purchased.