Phone

The phone channel gives the agent a number it answers. You don’t move your existing number: you get a new one, call it to test, then forward your published line to it from your current carrier. Customers keep dialling the number they already know. Phone settings are in two places:

• Agents → your agent → Channels, on the Phone card: the number itself, forwarding, and removing it.
• Agents → your agent → Channels → Phone (the Voice, transfer & wording → button): the voice, the AI & recording notice, the transfer number, and phone-only wording.

Owners and admins can get, remove and configure numbers. Teammates with the Agent role can see the page but not change it.

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Get a number

If no number is available in the area code you asked for, you’ll see “no numbers available in area code …”. Try a nearby area code or leave it blank. The card notes the cost: about $2 a month for the number, then usage. Calls are billed per started minute of voice, so a call of two minutes and ten seconds counts as three minutes. See plans and limits. Each number belongs to one agent. Calls are routed by the number dialled, so if you want different lines answered differently, give each its own agent.

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Keep your published number

Forward your existing line to the new number from your carrier’s call-forwarding settings. Your published number, your listings and your carrier stay the same, and undoing it later is the same setting at your carrier. Test the agent’s number directly before you forward anything. Once that works, set up the forward and call your published number to check it arrives. For workspaces that send calls from their own SIP trunk or PBX instead of forwarding, see direct trunk.

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What callers experience

1. The agent picks up. If the AI & recording notice is on, it says that first.
2. It says your greeting, word for word. The greeting is set under How it talks.
3. The caller talks normally. The agent answers from your knowledge, follows your instructions and can run your actions, such as taking a lead or booking a meeting.
4. If the line goes quiet for about seven seconds, the agent speaks up rather than waiting in silence.
5. If the caller asks for a person and a transfer number is set, the agent tells them it’s transferring them and connects the call live. With no way to transfer, it says it can’t transfer them right now and offers to take a message. Messages show under Needs attention on the dashboard, and on the conversation and the contact’s page.

A single call can last up to 30 minutes. The caller’s number is saved as a contact. If Remember callers is on, the agent keeps notes per caller and can use them next time they ring.

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Transfer number

On Channels → Phone, the How it sounds card has Transfer live calls to (optional). This is where a live transfer rings when a caller asks for a person.

• Use a mobile or desk line that someone answers, and that does not forward back to the agent.
• Include the country code. Spaces, dashes, dots and brackets are fine, e.g. +1 607 555 1234 or +1 (607) 555-1234, and the number is saved as +16075551234. A 10-digit number with no country code is read as a US or Canadian number.
• The Hand calls to you action must be on. It’s on unless you’ve switched it off. See hand calls to you.

WireDesk refuses a transfer number that would loop: you can’t save one that matches the agent’s own number, and the Phone card shows a warning if they match. During a call, the agent also won’t transfer to the published line that forwarded the call; it takes a message instead. Transfers only happen on real phone calls, not in browser tests.

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Calls in Conversations

Every call appears in Conversations with the phone channel badge.

• Transcript: what the caller and the agent said, line by line. It updates live while the call is in progress.
• What happened: a one- or two-sentence summary and a topic, written shortly after the call ends.
• Outcome and sentiment: badges such as Resolved, Handed to you, Message taken or Abandoned, and whether the caller seemed positive, neutral or negative.

Calls are transcribed and the transcript is stored. The audio is not kept, so there is no recording to play back. See conversations.

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Check the number is working

WireDesk checks each number’s connection when you open the Phone card, and only says something if there’s a problem, for example “Calls to this number aren’t being forwarded — it isn’t routed anywhere.” Click Fix it to reconnect it. See phone troubleshooting.

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Turn the channel off

Switch off the Phone card. Calls to the number then go unanswered, but the number stays attached to the agent and stays yours. Switch it back on and the agent answers again. Nothing else is lost: the voice, transfer number and wording are kept. If you’ve forwarded your published line, remove the forward at your carrier too, or your customers’ calls will ring the agent’s number and get no answer.

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Remove a number

Click Remove number on the Phone card and confirm. The number is disconnected from the agent straight away and callers stop reaching it. The confirmation has an extra checkbox to give the number back as well. That stops the monthly charge, and you can’t get the number back afterwards. A number bought in the last two weeks can’t be given back yet: it’s removed from the agent now, and released automatically on the date shown. Without the checkbox, the number is disconnected but kept, and its monthly charge continues.

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Related

• Choose a voice
• AI & recording notice
• Hand calls to you
• Phone troubleshooting