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Use this option to keep the phone number your callers already know. PolyAI buys a new number for your agent and manages it. You then ask your telephone provider to forward your existing line to that number. Your callers keep dialing the same number. They never see the PolyAI number.

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How it works

  1. A caller dials your public number.
  2. Your telephone provider forwards the call to your PolyAI number, with the caller’s ID passed through.
  3. Your PolyAI agent answers.
  4. If the agent hands the call to a person, it transfers the call to a secondary number at your provider.

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Before you start

  • Access to Integrations in Agent Studio for the project.
  • Access to your telephone provider’s call forwarding settings, or a way to contact their support team.
  • A secondary number from your telephone provider for the agent to hand calls to. You need it in step 4.

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Pricing

Calls on the PolyAI number are billed through PolyAI at 1.5¢ per minute. Your telephone provider may also charge for forwarding calls.

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Set up forwarding

Go to Integrations, open the Telephony tab and click Add number. In the Add a number panel, under Transfer or buy a number, choose Forward your existing number. A guided setup opens with four steps: Destination, Number, Setup and Forward.
1

Destination: choose where calls go

Under Where should calls go?, fill in:
  • Environment: the environment calls to this number reach. Required.
  • Variant: only shown if your agent has variants. Leave it on Default (no variant), or choose a variant to route calls to.
  • Your existing phone number: optional. Enter your public number in international (E.164) format, for example +14155550100.
If you enter your existing number, PolyAI uses it to fill in the country and area code on the next step. It also shows the number on the forwarding step so you can see which line the instructions are for.Click Next.
2

Number: confirm your area code

PolyAI buys a number only for forwarding. Your callers do not see it.
  • Country: choose United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia or Ireland.
  • Area code: only shown for the United States and Canada. Optional. Enter three digits, or leave it blank to take any number in the country. A specific area code can be sold out.
You don’t pick the exact number. PolyAI chooses an available one.Click Set up.
Some countries require an approved regulatory bundle before PolyAI can buy a number there. If you see needs regulatory approval, click Go to Numbers, submit your bundle, then come back. Approval usually takes 1 to 7 business days. Set up stays disabled until it’s approved.
3

Setup: let PolyAI connect the number

PolyAI does the rest automatically. This usually takes about 20 seconds. You see each task move from Waiting to In progress to Done:
  • Connecting to PolyAI
  • Buying your number
  • Routing calls to your agent
When all three are done, you see Number connected and the guided setup moves to the last step.If you see Setup stopped, click Try again. Nothing you entered is lost, and setup picks up where it stopped. It doesn’t buy a second number. Contact PolyAI support if it keeps failing.
4

Forward: forward your public number

This step shows Your PolyAI number, with a button to copy it. If you entered your existing number, it shows that too, as Line you’re forwarding.Your telephone provider does the forwarding. Work through these three steps in order:
  1. Get a secondary number. Ask your telephone provider for a secondary number for the agent to hand calls to. It can’t be your public number. A call forwarded to PolyAI and handed back to the same number loops straight back to the agent.
  2. Add a handoff to the secondary number. Click Open handoffs and add a handoff for this agent with Method set to SIP REFER and the secondary number as the Route, in E.164 format such as +14155551234. REFER hands the call to Twilio, which dials the secondary number itself.
  3. Turn on forwarding. On the day you want the agent live, forward your public number to your PolyAI number with caller ID passed through.
Use SIP REFER, not SIP INVITE, for this handoff. The PolyAI number has no outbound route back into Twilio, so an INVITE handoff fails when a call tries to transfer. Check that a handoff reaches the secondary number before you turn on forwarding.
You can forward every call, or only after a set number of rings or during certain hours. PolyAI recommends forwarding every call so the agent answers around the clock.Click Done to close the guided setup.

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Forwarding instructions by provider

Each link opens the provider’s own guide to forwarding calls to an external number. The same links appear on the Forward step in Agent Studio.

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Provider not listed

Search your provider’s support site for call forwarding. Or send their support team a request. On the Forward step, under Provider not listed? Send them this, click Copy request to copy a message with both numbers filled in. Add your go-live date before you send it. The request asks your provider to:
  • Forward calls from your public number to your PolyAI number on your go-live date.
  • Pass caller ID through when forwarding.
  • Optionally, forward only after a set number of rings or during certain hours.

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Using an IVR or call menu

If callers reach your number through an IVR or call menu, contact PolyAI support. Tell them how your menu is set up, including each option, and they’ll recommend where to place the agent.

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Check your setup

After forwarding is on, call your public number from another phone:
  1. Confirm your PolyAI agent answers.
  2. Ask to speak to a person and confirm the call reaches your secondary number.
  3. Review the call in Conversations.

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Troubleshooting

Call handoffs

Add the handoff to your secondary number.

Buy a number

Buy a PolyAI number without forwarding.

Environments

Choose which environment the number reaches.

Voice integrations

Other ways to connect telephony.
Last modified on October 5, 2026