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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. The phone’s own settings are on one page, Agents → your agent → Channels › Phone. From top to bottom: The switch that turns the phone channel on and off, Answer phone calls, is just under the tabs. Two phone things live elsewhere. The number a live call is transferred to is Transfer calls to a person, on Handoff. To try a call without a phone, use Preview at the top of any agent page and pick the Call tab. Owners and admins can get, remove and configure numbers. People with the Agent role can see the page but not change it.

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On the Free plan: the demo line

Numbers of your own come with Growth, Scale and Enterprise. On Free, you try the agent on a real phone through the Wiredesk demo line instead: one shared number that every Free agent can be reached on with its own code.
1

Find the number and your code

Go to Agents → your agent → Channels › Phone. The Setup card shows the demo line and your agent’s six-digit code, with a Copy code button. The code belongs to that agent and doesn’t change.
2

Call and enter the code

Call the demo line from any phone. When it asks, type the code on your keypad. It puts you through to your agent, which answers with its phone greeting, voice, knowledge and actions.
Demo calls:
  • last up to five minutes, and count toward your free allowance like any call;
  • can’t transfer to a person, even with a transfer number set;
  • follow Answer phone calls, like any call: with it off, the demo line tells you the agent isn’t taking calls and hangs up;
  • only answer agents on the Free plan. The code is for you, not for customers: when you want customers to call, upgrade and get a number of your own, then forward your published line to it.
You can also talk to the agent in your browser with no phone at all: click Preview at the top of any agent page and pick the Call tab.

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Get a number

Growth, Scale and Enterprise.
1

Open Channels › Phone

Go to Agents → your agent → Channels › Phone. Make sure Answer phone calls, just under the tabs, is on.
2

Choose Local or Toll-free

The Setup card lists numbers on sale right now. Local numbers belong to an area code; Toll-free numbers (800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, 833) are free for the caller and have no area.
3

Narrow the list (optional)

For a local number, type a three-digit Area code — pick one local to your customers. For either kind, type 3 to 7 Digits it contains to look for a memorable number. Click Search.
4

Click Get next to the number you want

Wiredesk buys that number and connects it to the agent. When you see ”… is yours — it’s answering now.”, the agent is answering it.
5

Call it yourself

Call the new number and have the conversation your customers are about to have. Check that it says your business name correctly, knows your hours, and does the right thing when you ask for a person.
If nothing on sale matches, the card says so. Try a nearby area code or fewer digits. Numbers sell quickly, so if one goes between your search and your click, you’ll see an error. Pick another. 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.
Live transfers need a number that is not forwarded to the agent, such as a mobile or a desk line. If the transfer number is your forwarded line, a transferred caller is sent straight back to the agent. See transfer number.
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 Phone greeting, word for word. The greeting is set in the Voice & greeting card on Channels › Phone. See name and greeting.
  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 you in the Inbox and on the dashboard, and on the conversation and the contact’s page.
  6. If the rating question is on, the agent asks once, as the caller wraps up, whether it got them what they needed.
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

The transfer number isn’t on Channels › Phone. It’s on Handoff, under On a call: Transfer calls to a person holds the number and its on/off switch in one row. 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. Not the number customers dial.
  • 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 switch can only be turned on once a number is saved, and comes on when you save one. Turning it off keeps the number.
Wiredesk refuses a transfer number that would loop: you can’t save one that matches the agent’s own number, and the Setup card on Channels › Phone 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. What a caller hears on Channels › Phone shows the transfer number you’ve set, with a link to change it on Handoff. Transfers only happen on real phone calls, not in a Preview call.

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Rating question

On Channels › Phone, the Rating question card has Ask callers how it went. It is off by default. With it on, when a caller has what they came for and is wrapping up, the agent asks one question before saying goodbye: “Before you go — did I get you what you needed today?”
  • It asks once per call. It doesn’t ask after a transfer, or when the caller is upset or clearly in a hurry.
  • A clear yes or no is saved the same way as a chat visitor’s thumbs up or down, on the agent’s line in the transcript. Anything else isn’t recorded.
  • The answers count toward Rated helpful in the Results on Analytics, together with chat ratings.
  • A Preview call asks the question too, so you can hear it, but Preview calls aren’t rated.
Owners and admins can switch it. It saves as soon as you switch it.

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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 off, Message taken or Abandoned, and whether the caller seemed positive, neutral or negative.
Calls are transcribed and the transcript is stored. The audio is kept only if you turn on Record calls, and then a player appears above the transcript. See conversations.

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Check the number is working

Wiredesk checks each number’s connection when you open Channels › Phone, 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 channel with Answer phone calls on Channels › Phone. 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, phone greeting, 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 in the Setup card on Channels › Phone 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. If the phone provider won’t take a number 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.