Phone channels

A phone channel is a phone number answered by a Bookline voice agent. There are three ways to get your calls to the agent, depending on how much of your current telephony you want to keep.

Option 1 — A Bookline number with call forwarding (recommended)

You buy a new phone number through the portal and forward your existing business line to it. Your customers keep calling the number they already know; your carrier redirects the call to the Bookline number and the agent answers.

This is the fastest option: the number is provisioned in minutes and nothing changes in your existing contract.

• Buying a phone number
• Call forwarding — how to activate and deactivate the forwarding with your carrier

You can also publish the Bookline number directly (on your website, Google listing, etc.) and skip forwarding altogether. In that case, make sure the new number replaces the old one everywhere — every place the old number still appears means calls that never reach the agent.

Option 2 — Keep your number with a SIP trunk

If you prefer that customers call your existing number with no forwarding involved, your telephony provider can deliver the calls to Bookline over a SIP trunk. The channel then appears in the portal as type SIP Trunk.

This requires coordination with your provider, so it is set up together with our support team.

Option 3 — An extension on your PBX

If your business runs its own switchboard (PBX), Bookline can register as one more extension on it. Calls are routed to the agent following the rules of your PBX (for example: ring reception first, send to the agent after 20 seconds, or only outside opening hours). The channel appears in the portal as type PBX, and its status reflects whether the extension is currently registered against your system.

This option is also set up together with our support team.

After the channel exists

Whatever the option, the remaining steps are the same:

1. Assign an agent to the channel so someone answers the calls — see Phone channel settings.
2. If you forward an existing line, activate the forwarding with your carrier — see Call forwarding.
3. Call the number and talk to your agent.