The piece that gets missed in these threads is time zone, not hourly rate.
An answering service takes a message. A dedicated person who works your hours learns your pricing, your service area and your regulars, and that is what actually stops the back and forth you are describing. The gap between those two is much bigger than the gap between $10 and $22 an hour.
The reason offshore gets a bad reputation here is usually the overnight shift. Someone working 8 PM to 5 AM their time is not going to sound sharp on your 9 AM call, and that is a scheduling problem more than a talent problem.
Latin America is the version of this that does not have that problem, because 8 to 5 Eastern is also 8 to 5 for most of the region. That is what I do for a living, so take it with that in mind, but the time zone point stands whoever you hire through.
