One Agent, Several Numbers: Calling From ThinnestAI and Imported Numbers Like a Dual-SIM Phone

Why one number stops being enough

A business that calls customers in India and in the US wants an Indian number for one and a US number for the other. A business that calls a few thousand people a day wants the calls spread over several numbers rather than one. Until now, both meant a second agent: same prompt, same knowledge, kept in sync by hand.

Now one agent holds several numbers, like a phone with two SIM cards.

How it works

• Any of your numbers can be lent to an agent for calling out. On the Phone Numbers page, every number has an Outbound picker beside the usual Inbound one. Choose the agent there and it can call from that number. Who answers the number does not change.
• The numbers can be on different carriers. A ThinnestAI number and a number you imported from Plivo, Vobiz, Twilio or Telnyx can sit on the same agent.
• Each call goes through its own number's carrier, on that carrier's account, and hangs up there too. Nothing is routed through a second carrier.

Choosing the number for a call

• In the Playground, Call from lists every number the agent can call from, each with its carrier's logo. A number that cannot call yet — an imported one without its credentials saved — is shown but greyed out.
• In the calls API, the from field picks the number. Leave it out and the call goes from the agent's own number.
• In a campaign, calls are spread across all the agent's numbers.

Spreading a campaign out

Carriers and phones watch for a single line making a burst of calls, and a number marked as a spam caller suffers on every call afterwards, including a customer ringing you back. Spreading a campaign over several numbers keeps any one of them from carrying the whole burst.

• One person always sees the same number. Whichever number rings a customer first is the one that rings them again, including a retry days later.
• Each number has a limit of 200 calls a day. When every number has used its share, the campaign says so and carries on the next morning, or sooner if you lend it another number.

Spreading calls lowers the risk of a number being flagged. Nothing removes that risk, and we will not claim otherwise.

When a number cannot do everything

Carriers differ. Transfer to a person and voicemail detection work on ThinnestAI, Plivo and Telnyx numbers, but not on Vobiz or Twilio numbers yet. Recording works on every number.

A call from a number that cannot do something the agent uses still goes out, with that feature off for the call. You are told first: the Playground shows a note under the number you picked, and the campaign builder says how many of the campaign's numbers can leave a voicemail before you start.

An agent with no number of its own

An agent does not need a number of its own to call out. Lend it one under Outbound and it can run campaigns and test calls straight away. Nobody answers that number on its behalf, so if customers will ring it back, choose an agent under Inbound as well.

Get started

Open Phone Numbers, pick a number, and choose your agent under Outbound. Then open the agent's Playground and place a test call from each number.

Give your agent a second number →