- When to do it
- Early December, while the people who know the setup are in
- Biggest risk
- Two weeks of the wrong message, or nobody noticing a dead line
- Fraud risk
- Unwatched systems are a target for call fraud
- The test
- Ring your own number from a mobile once it’s set
For a lot of Australian businesses the Christmas shutdown is the longest stretch of the year when nobody is watching the phones. It’s also when callers are most likely to hear last year's message, when an internet outage can run for days unnoticed, and when people looking for an unattended phone system to abuse go looking.
None of it’s hard to prevent. All of it’s easier to sort out in early December, while the person who set the phone system up is still at their desk.
1. Set the holiday schedule by date
Most modern platforms let you add holiday dates that switch the call flow automatically. Use them rather than a manual switch someone has to remember to flip on the last afternoon. Public holidays vary between states and some fall on substitute days when Christmas lands on a weekend, so if you’ve more than one site, set the dates for each one.
2. Record a message that answers the obvious questions
When are you back? What should someone do if it’s urgent? Where can they book or leave details? A good holiday message answers all three in under thirty seconds. Then check that the ordinary after-hours message doesn’t still play over the top of it, which happens more often than it should.
3. Decide where urgent calls go
If some callers genuinely can’t wait, such as existing customers with a fault or clients under a service agreement, give them an option that rings an on-call roster on mobiles rather than one person's phone for a fortnight. Everyone else can leave details. If your platform has an AI agent, this is one of the jobs it does best: answer every call, take the details, book January appointments and pass on only what is urgent. We covered how to judge one in our AI receptionist piece.
4. Make sure an outage is handled automatically
If the office internet drops on 27 December, nobody will be there to notice. Automatic failover, which sends inbound calls to nominated mobiles when your site goes offline, has to be configured in advance. Check it’s switched on and pointed at people who will actually be reachable. Our nbn outage piece explains how it works and how to test it.
5. Lock the system down
Toll fraud, where someone uses a compromised phone account to run up calls to expensive international or premium numbers, tends to happen when nobody is watching. Before you close:
- Bar international and premium-rate calls for the shutdown if your business doesn’t need them.
- Change default and weak passwords and voicemail PINs, especially on accounts nobody logs into often.
- Disable accounts for people who have left during the year, and any handsets or apps registered to them.
- Ask your provider about spend alerts or call limits, and make sure the alerts go to someone who will read them in the break.
6. Clear out old diverts
Diverts set up during the year have a way of outliving the reason for them. Check that no number, including any 1300 or 1800 number, still forwards to the mobile of someone who left in August. Over a shutdown that’s two weeks of your customers ringing a stranger.
Then test it, and set a reminder
Once the schedule is in place, ring your main number from a mobile, outside business hours, on a different network. Listen to the whole message. Press the urgent option and check where it goes. Then put a calendar reminder in for the first morning back to confirm the normal call flow has come back on, because a holiday message playing into the second week of January is its own kind of problem.
If this list has turned up a setup nobody understands, or a system that can’t do half of it, that’s useful information for January. The finder will give you a shortlist in four questions, and the comparison table sets out what each platform includes on its standard plan.
The two that topped our 2026 scorecard
Uniden Voice over Cloud scored 95/100 at $34.90 per user per month with calls, AI agents and 40+ call-flow features included. VOCPhone scored 92/100 and is the one to shortlist if the phone is a sales tool.
Questions
Should I just divert the main number to my mobile for the break?
It works for a sole trader. For anyone else it makes one person the whole after-hours service and puts every call, including the ones that could wait, on their personal phone on Christmas Day. A holiday schedule with a clear message, an urgent-calls option to an on-call roster and voicemail for the rest is kinder and more reliable.
What is toll fraud?
Toll fraud is when someone gets into a business phone system, usually through a weak password or an old account, and uses it to place large numbers of calls to expensive international or premium numbers. The business gets the bill. It tends to happen when nobody is watching the system, which is why holiday periods and long weekends matter.
Can an AI agent take bookings for January while we are closed?
On platforms that include an AI agent connected to your calendar, yes. It can answer, explain when you reopen, and book the caller into a January slot, which turns a closed office into a full first week back. Set its instructions for the shutdown period and test it like any other change.
Related articles
- What happens to your phones when the nbn drops out (Technical, 7 min read)
- The AI receptionist stopped being a demo this year (AI, 8 min read)
- Two years after 3G: the devices on your premises that nobody checked (Industry, 6 min read)
Or go straight to the 2026 comparison table, try the phone system finder, or browse all news and analysis.