Phone numbers & test PIN
Overview
A phone number is the front door to your hotline. Someone dials it, and the call lands on whatever you told that number to point at — usually your main menu. You can have as many numbers as you like, in several countries, and each one can go to a different place.
You do not need a number to start. Every account is given a test PIN that lets you call a shared test line, type the PIN, and hear your own hotline immediately.
Everything here lives on Advanced → Phone Numbers, which has two tabs: Phone Numbers and Hotline Pins.
How a call gets in
- Someone dials one of your numbers.
- The system looks up that number and finds its route — the setting called Where calls to this number go.
- The call is handed to that item: a menu, an audio player, an access check, or anything else you can route to.
- From there, normal routing takes over.
The Phone Numbers tab
A table of every number on your account.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Number | The number, formatted for reading. Searchable |
| Routes to | The name of the item calls land on |
| Type | What kind of item that is (Menu, Audio player, and so on) |
| Created at | Hidden by default; switch it on from the columns menu |
Where calls to this number go
Click Edit routing on a number to change its destination. This is the only field on the number you can change yourself — pick the item calls should land on and save.
The number itself is locked with the helper "Contact support to change the number." Creating numbers, deleting numbers outright, and the Active and Type fields are support only.
Get New Number
The Get New Number button opens a picker of numbers currently sitting free in our inventory. Choose one, confirm, and it is attached to your account instantly, ready to route.
If nothing suitable is listed, order one from Plans & Add-ons instead.
Ordering a number from Plans & Add-ons
Numbers are also sold on the Plans & Add-ons page, one country per card:
| Number | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| United States | $0 |
| United Kingdom | $10 |
| Belgium | $10 |
| Israel | $9 |
Your first US number comes with the base plan.
One number and one country per order. Once a number is in your cart, the other country cards lock with "One number per order". To switch country, remove the one in the cart; to buy two numbers, place two orders.
When you check out:
- If a matching free number is in our inventory, it is attached to your account immediately and you see "Your number is ready" with the number in it. You can route it straight away.
- If not, you see "We are setting up your … number — this usually takes a few hours. We will connect it to your account as soon as it is ready." It appears in your Phone Numbers tab once it is live.
Either way, our team is emailed about the order.
Reserved numbers
If we have set a specific number aside for you — a number you asked for, or one being ported — it wins over any other free number of that country when your order is fulfilled. You do not need to do anything; it simply gets picked first.
Release
Release unassigns a number from your account. The number stops ringing your hotline and goes back to us.
This cannot be undone. If you release a number that people are calling, those calls stop working immediately.
The Hotline PIN test line
You do not need to own a number to hear your hotline. Dial the shared test number shown on your Home page, enter your PIN, and the call runs exactly as if you had called your own number.
Your test PIN
Every new account is given a test PIN automatically, described as "Test pin — call the test line and enter this pin to hear your hotline." It is a unique 6-digit number.
On the Home (My Hotline) page it appears as a green Test PIN 123456 chip at the top. Click it to copy the PIN, and hover it to see the number to dial.
What the call sounds like
- You hear "please enter your pin number, followed by the pound key".
- Type your PIN and press
#. - If it matches, you land in that account's hotline straight away. Everything from there on behaves like a call to your own number.
- If it does not match, you hear "that pin was not recognized, please try again, followed by the pound key".
- After 3 failed attempts you hear "that pin was not recognized. goodbye" and the call ends.
If the account has no hotline set up at all, you hear "this hotline is not set up yet. goodbye".
Where a PIN goes
A PIN can have a route of its own, exactly like a number, set in the Selection field when you edit it.
If a PIN has no route of its own, it follows your first phone number's route. That is what makes the auto-created test PIN useful out of the box: it plays whatever people calling your real number hear, with no setup.
The Hotline Pins tab
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| PIN | The digits callers type. Searchable |
| Description | Your own note about the PIN. Searchable |
| Routes to | The name of the item the PIN lands on |
| Type | What kind of item that is |
| Created at | Hidden by default |
Generate PIN creates another unique 6-digit PIN on your account. The new PIN is shown once in a notification that stays on screen until you dismiss it, so copy it before closing.
Edit on a row lets you change the PIN digits, the description, and where it routes. The Active toggle is support only.
Tips
- Use the test PIN while you are building. You can rearrange your whole hotline and hear the result within seconds, before a single real caller is affected.
- Give extra PINs a Description so you remember what each is for, for example "Rav's private line" or "staff testing".
- One number per department is often cleaner than one number with a big menu. Point each number at a different menu or audio player.
- Changing where a number goes takes effect on the next call. There is nothing to publish.