Help › Phone and voice
Phone providers
Twilio, SignalWire, Telnyx, Vonage and Plivo: what works on each, which keys you need, and where to paste the addresses.
A phone provider is the company that owns your receptionist's phone number and carries the calls and texts. Twilio is the standard choice, and nothing changes unless you pick another. You can also use SignalWire, Telnyx, Vonage or Plivo with your own account there.
You choose in Settings, Phone line: each provider has a Switch to button. What each one costs is in Choosing your phone provider and voice.
What works where
| Twilio | SignalWire | Telnyx | Vonage | Plivo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answering calls | Live | Turn by turn | Turn by turn | Turn by turn | Turn by turn |
| Texts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Texts sent from your business name | Can be | No, from your number | No, from your number | No, from your number | No, from your number |
| Call screening: blocking numbers | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Call screening: putting callers through | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Live means a natural conversation: callers can talk over your receptionist and it replies straight away. Turn by turn means the caller speaks, then hears the reply. The dashboard says "Live voice needs Twilio for now" when you pick another provider.
These need Twilio, because they work on live calls or use Twilio directly:
- Taking over a call from the dashboard. See Taking over calls.
- Put me through and Read-back on calls.
- Putting important callers straight through, in Call screening.
- The phone call from the On-call rota. Its text works on any provider.
- The Test button in the Text messages plugin, which connects your Twilio number's texts for you. On another provider, paste the texts address yourself (see below).
Twilio
You need your Account SID, Auth token and Twilio phone number. In Twilio, go to Phone Numbers, choose your number, and under Voice paste the dashboard's first address into "A call comes in" (HTTP POST) and the second into "Call status changes". See Your phone line and number.
The other providers
When you pick another provider, the tile shows its own boxes and three addresses to paste, each with a Copy button:
- Calls (the address ending
/voice/entry). - Call status (ending
/voice/status). - Texts (ending
/sms/incoming).
Every provider also needs your number in the box called "(provider) phone number", written in full like +44 131 496 0000. Without it, no texts can be sent.
SignalWire
- Space URL: looks like yourname.signalwire.com.
- Project ID: a long code with dashes, from your space's API page.
- API token.
- Signing key (if your space has one): leave it empty to use the API token.
In SignalWire, go to Phone Numbers, choose your number, and handle calls and messages with LaML webhooks. Paste the three addresses into "a call comes in", the status callback and "a message comes in", in that order, all HTTP POST.
Telnyx
- API key: starts with KEY.
- Public key: 44 characters ending in =, from Keys & Credentials in Telnyx. It checks each call really comes from Telnyx.
- Messaging profile ID (optional).
In Telnyx, make a TeXML application with the calls address as its voice URL and the call status address as its status callback, and assign it to your number. Then make a messaging profile with the texts address as its webhook.
Vonage
- API key.
- API secret.
- Signature secret: from API settings.
In Vonage, make a Voice application with the calls address as the answer URL and the call status address as the event URL, both HTTP POST, with signed webhooks on. In API settings, send inbound SMS to the texts address, signed with SHA-256 HMAC.
Plivo
- Auth ID: starts with MA or SA and has 20 characters.
- Auth token.
In Plivo, make an application with the calls address as the answer URL, the call status address as the hangup URL and the texts address as the message URL, all POST, and link it to your number.
Before you rely on it
After saving, click Check connection. Then make one test call and send one test text to the number. If a key or signing secret is wrong, calls and texts are refused rather than let through, so a test is the quickest way to find out. See Calls aren't reaching your receptionist.
Switching back
Choose Twilio under Phone provider and click Save phone line. The other provider's keys stay saved in case you switch again. To remove them, use Remove (provider) keys while that provider is showing.
What it costs
When you use your own account with a provider, that provider charges you for the calls and texts it carries. Check their prices before you switch.
Still stuck? Write to hello@callscovered.ai with your business name and what you were trying to do, and a person will reply.