Phone line

What it does

Callers dial a phone number and talk to the same AI assistant as on your website. It:

• finds products and tells live prices and stock (only from your catalog, never invented)
• answers shipping, returns, payment and opening-hours questions from your store settings
• checks free appointment times
• sends checkout and booking links to the caller's WhatsApp from your store's WhatsApp number, after the caller confirms the number; without WhatsApp it takes the order or appointment request as a support ticket with the caller's number, so your team calls back (a phone call has no screen for a checkout page)

The assistant says at the start that it is an AI. Phone calls are answered around the clock, also outside the voice assistant hours. Every call appears in Inbox → Calls with its transcript (filter Phone).

Connect your Twilio account

OrderInChat does not sell phone numbers. You buy numbers in your own Twilio account and connect them here; OrderInChat routes them to your assistant automatically. Connecting is free on every plan, Starter included.

1. Open the Phone line tab of Channels & integrations → Voice assistant & phone. The voice assistant must be on (General tab). Only the store owner or an admin can connect an account and numbers.
2. No Twilio account yet? Create one at twilio.com. Then buy a voice-capable number in the Twilio console (Phone Numbers → Buy a number), in any country Twilio offers. Some countries ask for identity or address documents: you send them to Twilio, in your business's name.
3. Under 1. Your Twilio account, choose Account SID + Auth Token (both on the Twilio console home page) or API key (an API key SID and secret you create under API keys & tokens; the Account SID is optional there). Paste them and click Connect account. OrderInChat checks them with Twilio first; the secret is stored encrypted and never shown again. If a Connect with Twilio button is shown, you can authorize OrderInChat in Twilio instead of pasting anything.
4. Under 2. Numbers in your Twilio account, click Add to assistant next to a number and confirm. OrderInChat sets that number's voice webhook in your Twilio account. If the number was routed somewhere else (another webhook, a TwiML app or a SIP trunk), the panel says so; that routing is saved and put back when you remove the number. You can connect up to 20 numbers per store, for example one per country.
5. Buy at least one simultaneous call under 3. Simultaneous calls (see below): with 0, every caller hears a busy tone. Then call your number from your phone; the call appears in Inbox → Calls.

Bought a new number in Twilio? Click Refresh in the number list. Disconnect account removes the stored credentials; remove its numbers from the assistant first.

Forward your existing number

Keep the number your customers already know. On the phone that has your number, dial one of these codes (most mobile operators):

• **61*NUMBER**20#: when you do not answer within 20 seconds. Recommended: you answer first, the assistant takes the rest.
• **67*NUMBER#: when your line is busy
• **21*NUMBER#: all calls
• ##002#: cancel forwarding

The panel shows these codes with your phone line number already filled in. Landlines and some operators use other codes; ask your operator for call forwarding. Your operator may charge for forwarded calls.

Show the number where customers look

• Google Business Profile: Edit profile → Contact → Phone
• Instagram professional account: Edit profile → Contact options → Phone
• Facebook Page: Edit details → Contact → Phone, and add a Call now button
• Your website footer and contact page, as a tel: link

Links by WhatsApp

When you connect your first number, OrderInChat adds a message template named oic_call_link_v1 to your WhatsApp Business account in 11 languages; Meta usually approves it within minutes. Callers who wrote to you on WhatsApp in the last 24 hours get a normal message, others get this template. At most three links go out per call. Meta bills these messages to your WhatsApp account as usual. If the calling number has no WhatsApp, the caller can give another WhatsApp number: the assistant reads it back digit by digit and sends the link only after the caller confirms it (one other number per call).

After the call

Every call is added to the caller's conversation in your Inbox: phone calls to the caller's WhatsApp conversation (when your store has WhatsApp), calls from your store website to that visitor's website chat. The note has a short summary and a link to the full transcript; only your team sees it. When the caller wants to be called back and no support ticket was opened during the call, a ticket with the caller's number, what they need and when they would like the call is opened automatically, and your team gets the usual ticket alert. The assistant only says that your team will call back once the ticket is open.

Call recording: phone and WhatsApp calls to your lines are recorded by default. Before the assistant speaks, the caller hears a short notice in their language that the call is recorded. Recordings are kept for 90 days, then deleted automatically; owners, admins and agents play them in Inbox → Calls. To stop recording, turn off Record calls on the Recording tab of Voice assistant & phone (owner or admin): calls are then not recorded, callers hear no notice, and only the transcript and summary are kept. Calls from your website's call button are never recorded.

Cost

• Connecting numbers is free on every plan. OrderInChat charges nothing per number.
• Twilio bills you directly for the number's monthly rental and the carrier's minutes for incoming calls, on your own Twilio account. OrderInChat adds no carrier charge on these numbers.
• Simultaneous calls: 2 USD a month each, billed with your subscription (see below).
• Call minutes are billed from your AI credits by the AI usage of the call, like calls from your store website. When your credits run out, callers can leave a voicemail instead (below).

Live calls

Every call appears live under Inbox → Calls: you read the conversation in your language, give the assistant instructions and can create a support ticket (see Calls). Calls are not transferred to another phone, and the assistant never sends text messages (SMS): links go by WhatsApp or email. To talk to a caller yourself, call them back from your own phone.

When the assistant cannot answer

If the voice assistant is turned off or your AI credits run out, callers hear a short message in their language and can leave a voicemail after the tone. Each voicemail becomes a support ticket with the caller's number and a link to listen to it. No AI credits are used for this.

Calls answered at the same time

You choose how many phone calls your assistant answers at the same time, for your whole store: one pool shared by all your numbers and your WhatsApp calls answered by the assistant. No plan includes any; each simultaneous call costs 2 USD a month, the same in every country and on every plan, Starter included. Web calls (the call button on your store website and calls from the panel) are not counted and have no such limit; their minutes are paid from AI credits.

Under 3. Simultaneous calls, set the number with − / + and click Update calls. It is billed with your subscription (Billing): adding charges the rest of the current month right away, lowering gives a credit. A store answers at most 20 calls at the same time. Example: with 3 simultaneous calls your assistant answers 3 callers at once on any mix of your numbers, and the 4th caller hears a busy tone: the assistant does not answer, no AI credits are used, and the call is listed in Inbox → Calls as missed (call limit) so you can call back. A new call is also answered only when your AI credits cover the minimum start of every call already running plus this one.

When your subscription ends

If your subscription ends (cancelled or unpaid), your simultaneous calls end with it: your numbers stay connected, but callers hear a busy tone until you subscribe again and buy simultaneous calls. Your numbers stay in your Twilio account either way.

Remove a number

Remove from assistant puts the number's previous Twilio routing back and stops the assistant from answering it. The number is never deleted: it stays in your Twilio account, and you can add it again at any time. If your Twilio credentials no longer work, the panel tells you to fix the routing in the Twilio console yourself.

Numbers that OrderInChat rented for you earlier keep working until you release them: Release number gives such a number back to the provider and cannot be undone.

Call length and blocked numbers

Phone and WhatsApp calls end at your maximum call length too; about 15 seconds before, the assistant tells the caller that the time is up and that they can continue on WhatsApp. Numbers your team blocks (Customer 360, Inbox → Calls, the Inbox or the Blocked tab) are declined before the assistant answers, with no cost and no voicemail. See Voice Assistant.