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Phony.ai

AI phone and voice agents, explained through the constraints that actually decide whether one works: end-to-end latency and where it comes from, interruption and barge-in handling, telephony plumbing and call control, transfer design, and the disclosure and recording rules around automated calls. Each episode takes one design decision and works through it concretely — provider-neutral, comparing approaches rather than selling one. Written for teams evaluating, buying or building voice AI who need to know what breaks before it breaks in production. Five or six minutes an episode. Topics include end-to-end latency and where it comes from, barge-in and interruption handling, telephony and call control, transfer and escalation design, prompt and turn design, evaluation and call review, and disclosure, consent and recording rules. Produced by Phony.ai, provider-neutral AI phone and voice agents. Full details, services and further reading at https://phony.ai

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15 episodes
a few times a week
Avg 4 min
English

Episodes 15

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Today · 5 min
When to Hand the Call to a Human: Routing Rules That Actually Work
Smart AI voice deployment isn't just about what the agent can do — it's about knowing exactly when to stop. This episode breaks down the routing rules that keep callers satisfied and handoffs purposeful.
Friday · 5 min
AI Voice Agents Are Now a Commodity — The Value Has Moved
The AI voice agent market has hit commodity territory — dozens of vendors, near-identical pricing, and indistinguishable latency. This episode explains where the real value has moved and what buyers should actually be evaluating.
Tuesday · 5 min
What a Dental AI Phone Agent Actually Costs, Line by Line
Dental AI phone agents look affordable at first glance — until you break down what's actually on the invoice. This episode builds a real, line-by-line cost model for two practice sizes so you can run the math at your own call volume.
October 4 · 5 min
The Math Most Buyers Skip Before Signing a Voice Agent Contract
Before signing a voice agent contract, most buyers skip one critical step: running the actual math on their own call data. This episode walks through the exact inputs needed to build a reliable monthly minutes estimate — no guesswork required.
October 2 · 4 min
How to Switch Voice Agent Vendors Without Losing a Number or a Booking
Switching voice agent vendors is more migration project than software swap — and the difference shows up on cutover day. This episode walks through the exact sequence to move phone numbers, calendar connections, and live traffic without dropping a single
September 29 · 5 min
14 Questions to Ask a Voice AI Vendor Before You Sign Anything
Before you sign with a voice AI vendor, the demo is the easy part — the hard questions come after. This episode breaks down the vendor interrogation checklist that separates production-ready platforms from polished prototypes.
September 27 · 4 min
All-In-One vs. Build-Your-Own: The Real Cost of a Voice Agent Stack
Flat per-minute pricing looks simple — until you factor in lock-in, compliance gaps, and latency trade-offs. This episode breaks down the true cost of all-in-one versus build-your-own voice agent stacks, layer by layer.
September 25 · 4 min
What a Minute of AI Phone Call Actually Costs in 2026
That "five cents a minute" AI phone agent quote almost never survives contact with a real invoice. This episode tears apart every billable layer — carrier, speech-to-text, LLM, and voice synthesis — so you know exactly what you're paying for in 2026.
September 22 · 4 min
Barge-In Is Not a Feature — It's a Promise You Have to Keep
Barge-in sounds like a simple checkbox, but the engineering behind it spans three separate systems — and when any one of them slips, callers feel it instantly. This episode breaks down exactly where barge-in fails and what to measure before you ship.
September 20 · 4 min
Transfer or Terminate: Designing the Handoff That Doesn't Drop the Caller
When a voice AI hands a caller off to a human, everything the agent got right can unravel in seconds. This episode breaks down the three design decisions that separate a seamless transfer from a trust-destroying reset.
September 18 · 5 min
Why Sub-Second Voice AI Is an Architecture Problem, Not a Speed Problem
Voice AI latency figures are everywhere — but without a shared measurement definition, they're nearly impossible to compare. This episode breaks down the four-leg pipeline that every caller silently waits through, and explains why shaving milliseconds off
September 15 · 4 min
Why There's No List Upload — And Why That's the Whole Point
Phony.ai has no list upload screen — and that's a deliberate architectural choice, not an oversight. This episode unpacks why removing that single feature is the foundation everything else in the product's consent model is built on.
September 15 · 4 min
The Itemised Receipt: Why Your AI Phone Bill Is Lying to You
Your AI voice agent bill probably isn't lying on purpose — but a blended per-minute rate hides which cost layer is actually running up the tab. This episode unpacks why that invisibility sends teams optimising the wrong thing entirely.
September 11 · 4 min
Buying a Number and Answering a Call Are Two Different Things
Buying a phone number and actually answering a call are not the same thing — and the gap between them is where AI voice platforms silently fail. This episode breaks down exactly what to ask before you sign up for any AI phone system.
September 9 · 5 min
The Hard Part Is Knowing When to Stop Talking
Trigger words alone won't save a frustrated caller — or catch an AI confidently answering the wrong question. This episode breaks down the three conditions that should stop a voice agent before anyone has to ask.

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