> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.firetone.com.au/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Phone numbers

> The numbers you own, what each one reaches, and the wizard that sets one up.

Every number you hold: where a call to it goes, what it costs per month, and
the team it belongs to. **Set up a number** answers the plain questions for
you; **Edit** sets the destination directly. (This was two screens, Numbers &
DIDs and Routing's Inbound tab, which showed the same numbers.)

<img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/firetone/images/numbers-list.png" alt="The numbers list" />

## Set up a number — the wizard

**Phone numbers → Set up a number** asks five plain questions and does the
rest:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Which number">One of your organisation's numbers.</Step>

  <Step title="Who answers">
    **A group of people** (everyone rings at once, the first to pick up takes
    it), **one person**, **an existing queue**, or **an AI agent**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="When">
    **Always**, or **during opening hours** — as many sets of days and times as
    you need (Mon–Fri 9–5 *and* Sat 10–1), in your time zone. Hours that run
    past midnight are fine.
  </Step>

  <Step title="When closed">
    **Take a voicemail** (the shared mailbox or one person's), **play a
    message and hang up** (typed, read out by a computer voice), or **forward
    the call** to a mobile.
  </Step>

  <Step title="If nobody answers">
    For a person or a group: **voicemail**, or **tell them nobody is
    available**. A group rings for as long as you choose first; one person's
    phone rings for about 30 seconds.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The last screen reads it back as one sentence — *"Calls to +61 2 9999 0000 ring
Dana, Lee together Mon–Fri 09:00–17:00 (Australia/Sydney time); otherwise they
go to the shared voicemail."* — and **Finish** sets the number up at once. If
anything cannot work, nothing is changed and you are told why.

To change it later, use **Set up** on the number's row: the wizard opens
with your answers filled in. Behind the scenes it is an ordinary call flow, so
someone who knows the flow editor can still open it; if they have edited it
there, the wizard warns you before replacing their changes.

<Note>
  "If nobody answers → voicemail" for one person turns on that person's
  voicemail for every call to them, including when someone dials their
  extension directly.
</Note>

## The form a number is stored in

E.164, with the `+`: `+919216217231`. A carrier may hand the same number over
as `919216217231` — the same digits, matched without any configuration — or in
national form as `09216217231`, which only means something if you know the
country. That last case is a setting on the **trunk**, not on the number, since
the carrier is what has one numbering plan.

<Note>
  A number is not tied to your organisation's country. A tenant may operate in
  several and hold numbers in any of them; nothing checks one against the
  other.
</Note>

## What a number can point at

| Destination    | What happens                                                                                                                                                          |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Process**    | The full inbound service — hours, workflow, fallback                                                                                                                  |
| **Flow**       | Straight into a workflow, no hours and no fallback                                                                                                                    |
| **Extension**  | Rings a handset                                                                                                                                                       |
| **Queue**      | Waits for an agent                                                                                                                                                    |
| **External**   | Forwards off-net to another number                                                                                                                                    |
| **Conference** | A dial-in room. Pointed at one room the caller is asked for the PIN; pointed at none, for the room number first — see [Conference rooms](/tenant/inbound/conferences) |

A **process** is usually what you want. The bare flow and extension
destinations exist because they were there first and remain useful for something
small — a number that rings one desk needs no service around it.

<Note>
  Forwarding off-net puts the DID in one field and the number to forward to in
  another. They are genuinely different things: getting them confused makes a
  number that dials itself.
</Note>

## Voicemail by email

Open the extension (Extensions → edit), turn on **Voicemail**, and fill in
**Email new voicemail to**. Each new message is emailed there: who called, when,
how long, and the recording attached (up to 10 MB; a longer one says where to
listen instead). Messages stay in **Voicemail** in the panel either way. The
wording of that email is the platform's; ask your provider to change it for
you.