Closing for December? How to keep your business phones answered over the festive season
Most South African offices close for part of December, but customers, suppliers and alarm companies still call. Here is how to set up a cloud PBX or VoIP system for the shutdown, and the three mistakes that cost businesses money every January.
How do you keep business phones answered while the office is closed in December?
Set a holiday schedule on your phone system that plays a closed message with your reopening date, then sends urgent calls to an on-call person’s mobile or softphone app and everything else to voicemail-to-email. Bar international calls while nobody is watching, and do not book a number port or system change over the shutdown.
Which days does the 2026 festive season close?
Four public holidays fall between mid-December and New Year. Your shutdown is usually longer, but these are the days nothing moves at providers, banks or ICASA.
| Date | Public holiday | What it means for your phones |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 16 December 2026 | Day of Reconciliation | Mid-week closure: set a one-day holiday rule, not just a weekend one |
| Friday 25 December 2026 | Christmas Day | Start of a three-day closure with the weekend |
| Saturday 26 December 2026 | Day of Goodwill | Falls on a Saturday, so no extra weekday off |
| Friday 1 January 2027 | New Year’s Day | Another long weekend; many businesses reopen on 4 or 11 January |
None of these falls on a Sunday this year, so the Public Holidays Act adds no substitute Monday in this period.
How should calls be routed while you are closed?
Decide who answers what before you lock up. Three common setups, from simplest to most covered:
Message and voicemail
- Callers hearClosed message with reopening date
- ThenVoicemail, sent to email
- SuitsBusinesses with no urgent callers
On-call forwarding
- Callers hearMenu: press 1 for urgent
- ThenUrgent calls ring an on-call softphone or mobile
- SuitsService, property, IT and medical practices
Answered for you
- Callers hearA person or an AI receptionist
- ThenMessages and bookings passed to you
- SuitsBusinesses that sell over the holidays
Most cloud PBX platforms let you set this up yourself in the admin portal as a holiday schedule or time-based rule, with an IVR menu in front and a hunt group for the on-call rota. Use the provider’s softphone app on the on-call person’s phone rather than plain forwarding to a cell number: the call still shows your business number, and you are not paying for a second leg to a mobile.
If you want calls answered rather than captured, see how to add an AI receptionist to the phone system you already have.
The cheapest holiday setup is the one you test. Call your own number from a cellphone before you lock the door.
WhichVoIP editorial viewWhy bar international calls over the shutdown?
Toll fraud tends to happen when nobody is watching the account, and a closed office is exactly that.
Fraudsters who get hold of an extension’s login, or find an unprotected voicemail or forwarding rule, push calls to expensive international and premium-rate destinations. A business that is closed for three weeks may not see the bill until January.
What should you avoid scheduling over December?
Anything that needs two providers to work together.
The same goes for moving to a new phone system, changing internet provider or rewiring the office. If something goes wrong on 23 December, the people who can fix it may be away until January. Check too whether a contract notice period or renewal date falls over the break, so it does not roll over while you are away.
Power is less of a worry than it was. Eskom said on 2 October 2026 that it had gone more than 500 days without load-shedding. A UPS on the router and network switch still covers ordinary outages; our guide to keeping VoIP running through power cuts has the detail.
What is the festive-season phone checklist?
Ten minutes in the admin portal in early December saves a January of missed calls and surprise bills.
| When | Task | Done? |
|---|---|---|
| By end November | Finish any number port, system move or provider change | ☐ |
| First week of December | Agree the on-call rota and install the softphone app on those phones | ☐ |
| First week of December | Record the closed message: closure dates, reopening date, urgent option | ☐ |
| Before you close | Set the holiday schedule, including 16 December | ☐ |
| Before you close | Bar international and premium-rate calls; set a spend alert | ☐ |
| Before you close | Turn on voicemail-to-email and check who receives it | ☐ |
| Last day | Call your main number from a cellphone and test every option | ☐ |
| Reopening day | Switch the schedule off, lift call barring, clear voicemail | ☐ |
Our verdict
A cloud PBX makes the December shutdown easy: holiday schedules, softphone forwarding and voicemail-to-email are standard features, set from a browser. What catches businesses out is not the technology but the timing: a port booked for the week before Christmas, an untested message, or an account left open to international calls for three weeks.
Planning a phone system change for the new year?
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Frequently asked questions
Which public holidays fall over the 2026 festive season in South Africa?
How do I forward office calls to my cellphone over the holidays?
Should I bar international calls while the office is closed?
Can I port my numbers over the December break?
What message should callers hear while we are closed?
Keep reading
Sources: South African Government, public holidays; ICASA Number Portability Regulations, 2018; Eskom media statements. Verified 23 October 2026.