Communications

Set up your workspace’s phone lines: apply for or port a number, choose who each line rings and in what order, mask personal numbers, and configure greetings, voicemail, forwarding, queues, and call recording.

Communications is where you set up your business phone in Menaia. You get a phone number (or bring one you already own), decide who each line rings, and choose what callers hear when they call in. Your team then calls and texts from the inbox and the dialer.

Communications is part of Settings, which only Admins can open. To find it, open Settings from the main navigation and choose Communications under General.

The page has three parts, from top to bottom:

1. Lines: every number your workspace has. Click a line to open its own settings.
2. Port a number: bring a number over from another carrier.
3. Workspace call settings: greeting, phone menu, business hours, voicemail, forwarding, ringing, recording, and after-hours handling. These apply to every call your workspace receives.

Lines

The Lines card lists every number your workspace has, along with its branch and who answers it. Each row shows:

Part of the row	What it tells you
Name	The line’s Inbox name. If it has none, you see the number instead.
Number	Shown next to the name when the line has an inbox name.
Local or Toll-free	The type of number.
Primary	This is the main number for its branch.
Status	Provisioning, Active, Error, or Released (see below).
People	Up to four names, then “+N more”. If nobody is listed, you see “No one is on this line yet”.
Branch	The branch the line belongs to. Hidden if the line has no branch.

Line statuses:

Status	Meaning
Provisioning	The number is still being set up.
Active	The number is working and can take and make calls.
Error	Something went wrong while setting the number up.
Released	The number no longer belongs to your workspace. You can’t choose a released line for masking or add people to it.

Click anywhere on a row to open that line’s settings.

Apply for a number

1. Start the application

   On the Lines card, click Add number. The Apply for number window opens.

2. Pick a number type

   • Toll-free (“Faster to set up”). Toll-free verification usually clears in a few days.
   • Local number (“Area code, higher answer rates”). Local numbers need full carrier registration, and carrier review can take 10 to 15 days.

   The window also shows the setup and ongoing carrier fees for the type you pick, so you can see the cost before you apply.

3. For a local number, choose the number

   Under Choose your local number, type an area code or a city name and click Search, then pick a number from the results. Numbers are held for you for 15 minutes. If nothing comes back, you see “No available numbers found. Try a different search.”

4. Fill in your business details

   Fill in the fields listed in the table below. Business name is always required. For a local number, you must also choose a Business type and an Industry — carriers reject a local registration without them, so the form won’t submit until both are set.

5. Submit

   Click Submit Details. You see “Number application submitted”. Once the number is set up, it appears on the Lines card.

Field	Toll-free	Local number
Business name, Business website	✓	✓
Business type, Industry		✓ (required)
Business registration number or EIN	✓	✓. Labeled EIN or tax ID and required unless you’re a sole proprietor.
Registration country	✓	✓
Business address, City, State, ZIP		✓
Contact name, Phone number, Email	✓	✓
Estimated monthly message volume	✓	✓

A workspace fills in the full application only once. If your workspace has already applied, submitting the application again fails with an error. Once you’re approved, you add more local numbers directly (see Add a local number after approval); to bring over numbers you already own from another carrier, use Port a number.

New numbers start without a branch. The first number your workspace gets becomes Primary automatically. To assign a branch, open the line and go to the General tab.

Add a local number after approval

Once your workspace’s texting registration is approved for local numbers, that registration already covers any new local number, so there’s no second application to fill in. Clicking Add number then opens a simpler Add a number window instead of the application form:

1. Pick a number

   Search by area code or city and choose a number from the results, the same way as in the application above. Numbers are held for you for 15 minutes.

2. Buy the number

   Click Buy number. You see “Number added and ready to use”, and the number appears on the Lines card ready to call and text right away.

Workspaces approved for a toll-free number don’t get this shortcut: a toll-free registration doesn’t cover local numbers, so Add number still opens the full application.

Line settings

Click a line to open its page. At the top you see the line’s name with its badges, plus its number and branch. Three buttons sit next to them:

• Back to Communications returns you to the main page.
• Open inbox takes you to the inbox.
• Test call calls the line from your dialer.

The line page has five tabs: General, People, Business hours, Call flow, and Call handling.

General

Each change saves when you leave the field, and a message confirms it saved.

Setting	What it does
Inbox name	What your team sees in the inbox for this line, for example “Front desk”. Leave it blank to show the number.
Branch	The branch this line belongs to. Only people in this branch can be added on the People tab. Choose No branch to unassign.
Caller ID name	What customers see when you call them.
Primary number of the branch	New conversations start from this number. When you turn it on for one line, it turns off on any other line in the same branch, because each branch has one primary number.

People

People on this number lists who works this line. Every setting on this tab saves as soon as you change it.

To add someone, click Add person or role and pick from either list:

• Roles: every person in that role is on the line, and anyone added to the role later is included too. Each role shows how many people in the branch have it.
• People: only people in the line’s branch appear. If everyone is already on the line, you see “Everyone in branch is already on this number”.

Tick what each person or role can do on this number. Each row has these columns:

Column	Meaning
Answer	This person can answer calls to the line.
Calls	This person can take and place calls on the line.
Text	This person can text from the line.
Voicemail	This person can see the line’s voicemail.
Recordings	Marks this person for access to the line’s call recordings. Recordings are kept, but there’s no place to play them back in Menaia yet.
Masked	This person’s personal number stays hidden, in both directions (see below).
Ring order	This row’s place in line when a call comes in.
Remove	Takes this person or role off the line.

Masked hides personal numbers both ways. When a masked person calls a client from a job, the client sees the line’s masking number instead of the person’s cell, and the masked person never sees the client’s cell either. Turn it on for a role and everyone in that role is masked. A masked person has no inbox, so Answer, Calls, Text, and Voicemail switch off and lock. Only Recordings stays available. You also can’t set a ring order for a masked row. To choose which number clients see and whether masked calls are recorded, go to Call handling.

How ringing works

When someone calls a line that has people on it, Menaia rings down the Ring order:

• One slot at a time. Each row is one slot. If nobody picks up, the call moves to the next slot. The ring time for each slot is Wait before forwarding, found under Ring behaviour.
• A role rings as a group. A role’s slot rings everyone in that role at the same time. If the line has a branch, only people in that branch are rung.
• Only some rows ring. A row rings only if Answer and Calls are both on and Masked is off.
• Some people are skipped. Anyone who has set themselves unavailable is skipped. Nobody is rung twice, even if they’re on the line both by name and through a role. At most 10 people are rung per call.
• Nobody answers. The call goes to your queue (if Hold callers in a queue is on) or to voicemail.
• Nobody is available. If the line has people who could ring but none of them are available, Menaia doesn’t fall back to anyone else. The caller is held in the queue if the queue is on. Otherwise they hear that no one is available and the call ends.

If a line has nobody who can ring (no people at all, or no row with Answer and Calls on and Masked off), calls ring your workspace’s Client Coordinators instead. The line’s branch coordinators ring first, and if the branch has none, coordinators across the workspace ring. The names on the Lines card come from this same group.

Business hours

Set Opens and Closes for each day, or tick Closed. Then click Save Changes. This schedule belongs to the line and is separate from your workspace business hours.

Call flow

This tab shows Call flow is coming soon. It’s where visual call routing (phone menus, greetings, and after-hours handling) will live for each line.

Call handling

This tab has three cards.

Call masking applies to everyone marked Masked on the People tab. These settings save as soon as you change them.

Setting	What it does
What the client sees	The number that shows on the client’s phone instead of a personal one. You can choose any of your workspace’s numbers that isn’t released. It starts as the line’s own number.
Record masked calls	Calls placed by masked people on this line are recorded automatically.
Masked texts	Texts between a masked person and a client run through the same number.

Greeting holds the message callers hear when they first reach the line. Type it into Greeting message and click Save Changes.

Blocked Numbers has a switch that turns number blocking on or off for the line. The list below it is shared across your whole workspace, so a number you add here also appears on the Communications page. See Blocked numbers.

Right now, incoming calls follow your workspace greeting, business hours, and blocked-number switch, not the ones on a line’s tabs. The same goes for masked texts: the per-line setting is saved but texting doesn’t use it yet. The line-level versions are saved and are meant to work with Call flow once it arrives. What the client sees and Record masked calls already apply to outgoing calls.

Workspace call settings

Below the Port a number card, a set of cards controls how your workspace handles calls. Change what you need, then click Save Changes at the bottom. The Blocked Numbers switch and list are the exception, since they save immediately.

The cards appear in this order.

Greeting

Greeting message is what callers hear when they first reach you. It plays together with the phone menu, so callers hear it when the phone menu is on.

Blocked numbers

Use this to block specific numbers from calling your business. Blocked callers hear a busy signal.

• Use the switch in the card header to turn blocking on or off.
• To block a number, click Add Number, enter the Phone number and an optional Label/reason (for example “Telemarketer”), then click Block Number.
• The list shows each Phone Number, its Label/Reason, and the Date Added. Click the trash icon to unblock a number.

Phone menu (IVR)

A phone menu lets callers press a key to reach the right place. Tick Enable the phone menu, then click Add menu option for each key. Each option has:

• Digit: a key from 0 to 9. Each digit can be used once.
• Action: what happens when the caller presses that key. See the table below.
• Label: a name for the option, for example “Sales”.

Action	What happens
Ring specific users	Rings the people you pick in Ring users. From the phone menu, only Client Coordinators are rung, so pick from them.
Ring everyone	Rings your Client Coordinators: the branch’s coordinators first, or everyone in the role if the branch has none.
Send to voicemail	Sends the caller straight to voicemail.
Play a message	Plays the Message you write, then ends the call.

Business hours

Choose a Timezone, then set Opens and Closes for each day or tick Closed.

Business hours and the After-hours behavior card are checked when the phone menu is on. Callers who reach you outside your hours get the after-hours treatment instead of the menu. When the phone menu is off, calls ring the same way at any hour.

Voicemail

Tick Enable voicemail and write a Voicemail greeting. When nobody answers, callers hear the greeting and can leave a message. If voicemail is off, they hear that no one is available and the call ends.

Missed-call auto-text

Turn this on to send a text back to callers you miss, so you don’t lose the lead. Write the message in Message template. It can be up to 640 characters, and the counter shows your length against a single 160-character text. You can’t save with the switch on and the message empty.

The template has buttons that insert Caller first name, Business name, Booking link, and Missed-call time placeholders. These placeholders aren’t filled in when the text goes out yet. For now, write a message that reads well exactly as typed.

Forward to phone

Turn this on to send business calls to a cell phone, so calls still get answered when nobody is at a desk. Enter the number in Forward to. You can’t save with the switch on and no number. Next to the number you’ll see Verified once your workspace has an active business number. Because forwarding is a calling feature, it doesn’t wait on carrier text-message registration — as soon as a line is active you can forward calls, even while that number’s registration is still under carrier review. Until a line is active, you’ll see “Not verified — activate a business number to forward calls”.

If the forwarded call isn’t answered either offers Send to business voicemail and Hand to the AI receptionist.

When forwarding is on and a call doesn’t go through the phone menu, it goes straight to the forwarding number. If nobody answers there, the caller goes to your queue (if it’s on) or to business voicemail. That happens whichever option you pick above.

Ring behaviour

Setting	What it does
Ring strategy	Choose Ring the app and the phone together or Only forward if nobody answers in the app.
Wait before forwarding	How long each ring attempt lasts before the call moves on, from 5 to 45 seconds. On lines with people, this is the ring time for each slot in the ring order.
Hold callers in a queue	When everyone is busy or unavailable, callers wait on hold and are connected to the next free person instead of going straight to voicemail.
Maximum wait time	Appears when the queue is on. Set it from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. After this long on hold, the caller goes to voicemail.

Incoming and outgoing call recording

These are two separate cards. Turn one on to record every call in that direction automatically, with no action needed from your team.

It’s best practice, and required in some regions, to tell people a call is recorded. Each card has a Custom message (optional) box for this:

• Incoming: callers hear the message as soon as they call in.
• Outgoing: the person you call hears it when they answer, before they’re connected.

If you leave the box blank, callers hear the default message: “This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.”

After-hours behavior

This card sets what happens when someone calls outside your business hours. Under Behavior, choose one:

• Send to voicemail
• Play a message, which plays the After-hours message you write and then ends the call.

Port a number

Use Port a number to bring a number you already own over from your current carrier. This card only appears if Communications is turned on for your workspace.

The Port a number button stays disabled until your texting registration is approved, because a ported number joins your registered account in order to text. Until then the card shows “Porting unlocks once your texting registration is approved — a ported number needs your registration to text.”

1. Open the port window

   On the Port a number card, click Port a number.

2. Check each number

   Under Numbers to port, enter a number and click Check.

   • If it can be moved, you see “number can be ported”. Click Add to request.
   • If it can’t, you see “number cannot be ported.” followed by the reason. When no reason is given, you see “The current carrier does not support transfers.”

   Repeat for every number you want to move. Remove one with its X button.

3. Enter your current carrier details

   These must match your current carrier’s records exactly.

   • Carrier name, Account number, Authorized contact name (the full name on the account), and Service address (the address on file with the carrier) are required.
   • Transfer PIN is optional unless a number’s carrier requires one. In that case it’s required, and the field says “Your current carrier requires a PIN to release this number”.
4. Upload documents

   Upload a Signed letter of authorization (LOA) and a Recent carrier bill. Both are required. Each must be a PDF, JPEG, or PNG up to 10 MB.

5. Submit

   Click Submit port request. You see “Port request submitted” and the request appears on the card.

Each request on the card shows its numbers, a status, and the date it was submitted.

Status	Meaning
Submitted	Your request has been sent to the carrier.
In progress	The transfer is underway.
Completed	The number has moved. It appears on the Lines card as an Active line.
Rejected	The transfer was refused. The reason appears under the request as “Rejected: reason”.
Canceled	The request was canceled.

A ported number starts without a branch, and it becomes Primary if it’s your workspace’s first number. To assign it a branch, open the line and go to the General tab.

Which line outgoing calls use

When someone places a call from anywhere in Menaia, the call goes out on one of your active lines. Menaia picks the line in this order:

1. The line the conversation is tied to, if the caller is on that line.
2. Otherwise, the caller’s own line. If they’re on several, their Primary line wins, and if none of those is primary, the one added first does.
3. If the caller isn’t on any line, the workspace’s primary line, or the active line added first if there’s no primary.

Being on a line through a role counts. If the caller is Masked on the chosen line, the client sees the line’s masking number, and the call is recorded when Record masked calls is on. For how your team places and takes calls, see Make and take calls.

Who can do what

Action	Who
Open Communications, manage lines, people, and call settings	Admin
Port a number	Admin, when Communications is turned on for your workspace and your texting registration is approved

What’s next

Inbox

Read and reply to texts and calls for the lines you’re on.

Make and take calls

Place and take calls from anywhere in Menaia.