Buy and Configure a Phone Number

First-time setup for a Hiveku Communications DID

This is the first thing you do when setting up Hiveku Communications: buy a phone number, verify your E911 address, route inbound calls, and place a test call to confirm the line works. Plan for 5-15 minutes — most of the time is waiting for E911 verification.

Before you start

Have ready:

• A physical address where the phone (or extension) will be used — required for E911
• A decision on number type: local (geographic), toll-free, or international
• An idea of where calls should route — extension, ring group, IVR, queue, or AI agent

Step 1: Search for a number

1. Open the Numbers tab

   /dashboard/communications/ > Numbers > Buy a number.

2. Pick country and type

   United States is the default. Pick local, toll-free, or international.

3. Search

   Filter by area code (415, 212, 312), digit pattern (*555*), or vanity word (FLOWERS). Toll-free defaults to any prefix; you can narrow to 1-800 only.

4. Pick a number

   Each result shows the number, monthly cost, and capabilities (Voice, SMS, MMS, Fax). Click Buy on the one you want.

For a sales team, pick a local number in the area code where most of your prospects live. Local caller ID has roughly 2x the answer rate of toll-free or out-of-area numbers.

Step 2: Verify your E911 address

E911 is required by law before activation. The address tells emergency responders where to dispatch if anyone dials 911 from this number.

1. Add an address

   Either pick an existing E911 address from the dropdown, or click New address.

2. Enter the physical address

   Street, city, state, postal code. Use the actual location where the phone will be used — your office, the user’s home if remote, etc.

3. Submit

   Hiveku validates against the carrier’s MSAG. Most addresses verify in seconds; ambiguous ones may need manual review (1-2 business days).

4. Address is now bound to the DID

   Future changes (move office, remote employee relocates) require updating the address.

E911 is not optional. Hiveku will not let outbound calls happen on a DID without a verified E911 address. This is for legal and safety reasons.

Step 3: Decide where calls go

Each DID points at one inbound destination. Pick from:

Direct to extension

Routes inbound to a single user’s phone. Best for personal direct numbers, small teams, or your own line.

Configure: pick the extension, set ring time (default 20 sec), set voicemail fallback.

Ring group

Multiple extensions ring per the group’s strategy (sequential, simultaneous, round-robin). Best for sales teams and small departments.

See Ring Groups.

IVR menu

“Press 1 for sales, 2 for support” auto-attendant. Best for businesses with multiple departments.

See Set Up an IVR.

Queue

Caller waits with hold music until an agent is available. Best for high-volume support and sales lines.

See Queues.

AI voice agent

Hiveku’s AI answers and handles the conversation. Best for after-hours, or as your primary 24/7 receptionist.

See Set Up the AI Voice Receptionist.

Step 4: Configure routing

For this guide, let’s route to a single extension as the simplest case.

1. Open the number's detail page

   From the Numbers tab, click your new DID.

2. Set the inbound route

   Pick Extension as the destination, then choose your extension from the list. If you don’t have one yet, create it on the Extensions tab — see Extensions and Devices.

3. Set ring time

   Default 20 seconds.

4. Set the failover

   What happens if the extension doesn’t answer — voicemail (default), another extension, an external forward, or a queue.

5. Save

   Routing is live within ~30 seconds.

Step 5: Test inbound

1. Call from a different phone

   Use your cell phone or a friend’s phone — anything but the extension you just configured.

2. Confirm the right phone rings

   Your desk phone, mobile softphone, or browser softphone should ring within a few seconds.

3. Pick up and check audio

   Two-way audio, no echo, no choppiness. If audio is one-way, see troubleshooting.

4. Hang up and don't pick up next time

   Confirm the call goes to voicemail (or your configured failover) after ring timeout.

Step 6: Test outbound

1. From your registered extension

   Place a call to your cell phone.

2. Confirm the right caller ID

   Your cell should display the new DID (or whatever you configured as the outbound caller ID for that extension).

3. Pick up and check audio

   Two-way audio, clean.

Step 7: Optional — set up SMS

If your DID has SMS capability, send a test text:

1. Open the SMS tab

   /dashboard/communications/ > SMS > Compose.

2. Send to your cell

   Pick the new DID as the sender, send a test message.

3. Reply

   Reply from your cell. Confirm it lands in the SMS inbox threaded with the original.

US local numbers may take 1-3 business days to fully approve for high-throughput SMS via 10DLC. Until then, sending is rate-limited and some carriers may filter messages.

Common configurations

Solo founder

1 local number → your single extension → voicemail fallback. Done in 5 minutes.

Small sales team

1 toll-free number → IVR (“press 1 for sales”) → ring group of 4 reps (round-robin) → queue with hold music as fallback.

Customer support

1 toll-free number → IVR with options for billing, technical, and account → each routes to a queue with skill-tagged agents.

AI-first

1 number → AI voice agent as primary, with transfer to human ring group for escalations.

Troubleshooting

E911 address won't verify

Address may not be in the carrier’s MSAG, especially for new buildings or rural addresses. Submit a manual verification request from the address detail page; Hiveku ops will work with the carrier (1-2 business days).

Inbound calls go straight to voicemail

Check the extension is registered (devices online — see Extensions tab). Also check the failover route — if “no answer” is set to voicemail too aggressively (e.g., 3-second ring), increase ring time.

Outbound calls fail with 'caller ID rejected'

Carrier-level STIR/SHAKEN can reject outbound from numbers not yet fully verified. New DIDs typically take 24-48 hours for full attestation. Check back in a day if you’re seeing this on a fresh number.

Next steps

Set up an IVR

Add a “press 1 for sales” menu in front of your number.

Set up the AI receptionist

Let the AI answer 24/7.

Compliance

E911, recording, and toll-fraud guard.