Minutes are the amount of time HeyEthan.ai actively spends handling calls and completing your workflow—answering, asking questions, capturing details, routing/handing off, and finalizing your call summary.

Most virtual receptionist services sell monthly bundles of receptionist time (minutes), and usage is counted based on time spent using the service.

What typically counts toward minutes #

Minutes usually include time spent on any of the below (based on how your workflow is configured):

• Greeting + answering the call

• Qualifying / intake questions (lead capture)

• Routing & handoff attempts (transfers, warm handoffs, escalation logic)

• Scheduling flows (confirming details, proposing times, booking when enabled)

• Language handling (if multilingual calling is enabled)

• Wrap-up work tied to the call (finalizing the call summary / next steps)

How minute counting usually works #

To keep billing consistent, per-minute services often round usage up in time increments (instead of billing “to the second”).

That means:

• A very short call may still count as a minimum increment.

• A longer call is counted based on its duration, rounded according to the increment rules.

What usually does not count (or depends on your setup) #

This part can vary by configuration, but in many setups:

• Spam / robocalls can be filtered and excluded (where possible)

• Instant hang-ups may count as minimal usage (because the system still answered)

• Pure voicemail drops may be handled differently depending on whether the assistant actually engaged and captured info

If you’re ever unsure, we can confirm your exact counting rules based on your live configuration.

A quick example #

• Caller asks for pricing, answers 3 questions, and you want it sent to your team → counts minutes used during that interaction

• Caller needs urgent escalation, we attempt a live transfer, no one picks up, we capture details and send a summary → counts minutes used for the full handling + wrap-up

Why we price in minutes #

Per-minute pricing is generally designed to be more inclusive (you’re paying for time using the service), while per-call pricing often hides add-on fees for things like routing, intake, integrations, or scheduling.