Set up the phone

A working line needs three things: a number from a carrier, a voice channel set to something other than off, and a decision about which engine answers — the turn-based carrier path, or the realtime speech-to-speech engine a workspace opts into. Everything else, including what the line says and how it sounds, is tuning you can do after the first call connects.

Status: Available What this means
Audience: both
Channels: phone
In the app: #/calls, #/phone-advanced, #/autonomy
Last verified: 2026-09-10
Product version: 6.3.2

The two engines#

	Carrier path	Realtime engine
How it works	Turn-based: the caller speaks, the turn is processed, Connect answers	Speech to speech over a live session
What carries the call	A carrier's PSTN leg	SIP into the realtime worker, on top of the same PSTN leg
Feels like	A capable automated line	A conversation, including being interrupted mid-sentence
Chosen by	The default path	A workspace opting in

Both engines answer real calls today, and both put the transcript and a summary on the call record afterwards. The realtime engine is the one that supports barge-in — talking over Connect while it is speaking — which is the single biggest difference a caller notices.

Getting a line answering#

Obtain a number from a carrier and configure it to reach Connect. This part happens in the carrier's own console, not in Connect.
Result Inbound calls to that number arrive at Connect's voice endpoint instead of ringing nowhere.
On #/calls, confirm the line appears and check its health.
Result Line health is reported continuously, and a line that is not ready escalates into Needs You by itself rather than waiting for somebody to notice a silent number.
Set the voice channel's autonomy on #/autonomy.
Result The line knows whether it may answer and act, or whether outbound calls need a person's yes first. Autonomy on voice follows the same four modes and four scopes as every other channel.
Set what the line should say it is — who is answering, and for what business — and give the workspace some Knowledge if it has none.
Result The first call is answered by something that knows where it works. Grounding on a call is tightly budgeted, so a few precise facts beat a long document.
Ring the number yourself before anybody else does.
Result You have a call record, a transcript and a summary to read — see Make a test call.

What will not work yet, stated plainly#

Call recording: Foundation only. The capability exists in the telephony layer; it is not enabled on the live carrier, so do not plan a workflow around retrieving audio. The transcript and summary are what you get.
Handing a call to a person: Foundation only. A supervisor can queue a transfer, but completing one depends on a provider capability that is gated. Design the call flow to take a message and raise a follow-up instead.
Outbound SMS from the same number: The live carrier carries no SMS. Inbound handling, STOP and suppression work; outbound needs a provider that carries SMS, and in India a DLT registration.
A softphone replacing your desk phone: The browser softphone is available and is a person's own line, registered over SIP. It is a line for a human, not a second robot.

Before you publish the number#

Ring it from a phone that is not in your workspace, so the caller is resolved the way a stranger would be.
Ask it something you know it cannot answer, and listen for whether it says so or invents something.
Ask for something that should become a commitment — a call back, a quote — and check that a follow-up appears afterwards.
Check the line's entry in Needs You drains by itself once the cause clears; entries there are meant to disappear when the problem does, not to be dismissed by hand.

If any of that goes badly, the voice channel can be set to off on its own without touching email or WhatsApp, and the runtime switch stops everything at once if you would rather stop first and diagnose afterwards.

Questions#

Do I need the realtime engine?

No. The carrier path answers calls, transcribes them and summarises them. The realtime engine is worth opting into when the difference between an automated line and a conversation matters to your callers — most obviously when they interrupt, which the realtime path handles and the turn-based one does not.

Can I use a different voice on a second line?

Yes. Voice settings are per line rather than per workspace, which is what makes a sales number and a support number sound like different departments. Use a different voice for each line covers it.

What happens to a call Connect cannot handle?

It takes what it can — the caller, the reason, anything specific — and turns the loose end into a follow-up or an item in Needs You, which is the honest outcome given that a completed transfer to a person is not available on the live carrier.