How-to guidesPhone numbers

Inbound calls

What happens when someone calls a number you've connected

Inbound is the simplest path: someone dials your number, the agent picks up, the conversation starts.

The end-to-end path

1

Caller dials the number

2

The carrier routes the call

Twilio (or Speechify’s carrier) routes it to our infrastructure.

3

The agent answers

The attached agent picks up and plays its first message.

4

The conversation runs

It continues until the caller hangs up or the agent ends the call.

5

The transcript is saved

It appears under Conversations.

Set expectations in the first message

The first message is the only thing the caller hears before they have to react. Use it to set context - see Configure an agent → First message.

Handle unexpected scenarios

The agent follows its system prompt for everything past the first message. Spell out edge cases there:

  • “If the caller asks for a human, transfer them to our front desk.” Attach the transfer_to_number system builtin to enable live transfer; without it, instruct the agent to end the call and follow up out-of-band.
  • “If you hear silence for more than ten seconds, ask if they’re still there.”
  • “If the caller is angry, acknowledge the frustration before answering.”

Test these branches before you go live - call your own number and act out each edge case.

Concurrent calls

Your workspace handles as many simultaneously-active calls as your plan’s concurrent-call cap allows, shared across every number you own. Calls that arrive over the cap are refused with a busy message and are not billed. See Billing for limits.