Call answering for Ballymena businesses.
Your 028 25 number carries on exactly as it's always been. Whether you're headed north on the A26 towards Coleraine and the coast, south towards Antrim, or on a job the far side of town, a missed call still gets picked up, in your business's name, not a machine's. It notes the caller's name, their number and why they rang, and sends that on to you by text before you're even back at your desk. From £249 a month, typically live within five days of getting started.
One road, two directions of trade
Ballymena sits on the A26, and that road doesn't stop at the town. It carries traffic north to Coleraine and the coast, and south back down towards Antrim. A caller ringing your number could be five minutes from your door or the far side of an hour's drive, and there's no way to tell which from the phone itself.
The mechanics stay the same wherever the caller's coming from. Once your chosen trigger's tripped, whether that's no answer or the line already busy, the receptionist answers sounding like your business, not like itself. Name, contact number and the reason for the call all get taken down, the caller's told you'll follow up, and the whole lot is texted through before you've even noticed you missed anything.
It matters because most firms working off this road are small outfits. Nationally, the same picture holds: as of March 2026, 89.4% of Northern Ireland's VAT or PAYE registered businesses had fewer than ten people on the books, and along the A26 there's rarely anybody spare to mind a phone between jobs.
£249 a month is the whole cost, VAT included in the sense that there isn't any to add, and going live from scratch takes roughly five days. There's no contract to speak of, just month-to-month billing, so calling it off is as easy as saying you want to.
Why an A26 number gets calls from both directions
North of Ballymena the A26 continues on to Coleraine and the coast; south of it, the road runs back towards Antrim. A number on that stretch sits right in the middle, so a caller could just as easily have picked you up from either direction.
Which direction someone's travelling doesn't change how the receptionist handles it. The same details get taken every time: who's calling, their contact number and what they need, and that goes straight to you as a text, leaving the choice of who to call back first entirely in your hands.
Live in about five days
No new number, no new hardware.
We learn your business
A short chat about your calls and services; we set the voice and tone.
Set up behind your number
Call-forwarding keeps your number the same. You decide when it answers.
You start catching calls
Every answered call texts you the name, number and what they need.
Common questions
If I sign up, does my 028 25 number change?+
No, it stays put, same as it's always been. What's new is a divert you switch on: a call you can't take gets rerouted to the receptionist instead of disappearing into a dead ring, and it answers using your business's name throughout. Give your own number a ring after setup and you'll hear exactly what your customers do.
Half my working day is spent driving the A26 one way or the other. Does the answering still work?+
That's precisely what it's for. The divert lives on the network side, so it makes no difference to the call whether you're heading north for Coleraine, south for Antrim, or simply out of range in between. The receptionist steps in the moment your trigger's met, and the caller's details, name, number and reason, are texted through as soon as the call finishes.
Most of my callers are already on the road when they ring, passing through rather than stopping in Ballymena itself. Does the receptionist know the difference?+
It doesn't need to. Whoever's calling and wherever they're headed, they get the same answer and the same follow-up text with their name, number and what they were after. Deciding which of them is worth a same-day callback stays entirely down to you.
What does it actually cost, and is there a contract?+
£249 a month covers it, flat, with nothing extra for VAT because none applies. Billing runs month to month with no term to sign up to, so you're free to stop whenever suits, and a fresh setup is typically live within five days.
Get the A26 calls answered, both directions.
Hear exactly how EdgeAudit would answer for your business in about 30 seconds.