When you transition onto Gladly Voice, there are two options for your number management that you must coordinate with your provider in advance.
Forward
Port
See the table below for additional details for each option.
| Option | Process | Fees | Lead Time | Best If |
| Forward | Forward calls from your number to an internal Gladly number. | You pay your provider to keep your number and for Gladly Voice. | Typically, carriers need 1–2 weeks’ notice | You don’t have much lead time; not all communications for this number will are routed to Gladly. You do not need to use this number for SMS communication. |
| Port | Change RespOrg (responsible organization) for your toll-free number from your carrier to Gladly Voice. The process includes coordination between your existing telephone service provider and the Gladly third-party upstream provider. | There are currently no porting fees for U.S. numbers. International porting may entail fees and is only currently available for numbers in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, or Canada. | Porting can take up to four weeks, depending on the type of number being ported and the country the number is located in. | All communications for this number will be routed through Gladly. You have an adequate lead time. |
Forwarding Your Number(s) #
- Purchase local phone number(s) on Gladly. Note that each unique IVR experience will need its own local phone number. We’ll call these Forwarding Numbers.
- Associate each Forwarding Number with its desired IVR on Gladly, and use the Entry Points page to map them to the correct Inboxes.
- Map your current phone number to the Forwarding Number(s) you just purchased (e.g., +1 650 123 4567 should be forwarded to +1 650 321 4567).
- Contact your telephony provider and tell them which Gladly Forwarding Number(s) to forward to and when. You will want to tell your provider at least one week in advance to give them an adequate heads-up. Some providers (e.g., Five9, Zendesk) may allow you to do this out of the box via their user interface!
- If you are working with a Gladly implementation team member, you may want to verify that Gladly is allowed to make outbound calls as your number via the Gladly Forwarding Number(s). To do this, your Gladly team will provide you with a six-digit code that you must input via your customer support line during a live phone call. This typically occurs immediately after call forwarding is implemented.
Note – SMS capabilities
If you choose to forward phone calls from an external provider to Gladly, your phone number cannot be utilized to receive inbound texts / send outbound texts on Gladly, even if the number is SMS-capable. In order to allow SMS, you must either port your number into Gladly or purchase a net new text number on Gladly.
Note – Calls forwarded from Comcast
Comcast and certain telecom providers can’t preserve a Customer’s phone number when calls are forwarded. This means forwarded calls from Comcast will look like it’s coming from the same number instead of the Customer’s number. This can be avoided or fixed by porting your number to Gladly.
Note – Forwarding Google Voice phone numbers (Personal Edition)
Calls forwarded from phone numbers associated with the Personal Edition of Google Voice will go to Google’s voicemail when forwarded to Gladly since they are intended for personal use only. Please plan on porting the phone numbers before they can be used with Gladly.
Porting Your Number(s) #
Take note of the following before you port numbers to Gladly.
- When your phone number ports/transfers into Gladly, you will no longer have access to old integrations you built on this number. To clarify, numbers cannot be partially ported (e.g., keep SMS integrations on another platform but port Voice to Gladly to avoid forwarding fees).
- Porting or transfer may require a small Services fee due to the amount of coordination required to transfer a number. Please inquire with Gladly Support if you are interested in porting additional numbers not defined in your Implementation Package.
Twilio to Gladly Number Transfer #
Twilio numbers can be easily transferred to Gladly. Popular providers that use Twilio as their end carrier include Aircall and Zendesk.
Follow the steps below to transfer a phone number to Gladly.
For U.S. and Canadian Phone numbers, provide Gladly with the following information for all numbers being ported:
- The phone number.
- The number’s Twilio Sub-account ID (if available – if not, please tell us which CX provider you purchased the number from).
- Twilio account manager email address (if available – if not, please tell us which CX provider you purchased the number from).
- The target date and time of your phone number transfer.
- Whether or not to enable this number for SMS.
- Which IVR in Gladly to associate this phone number with.
For All Other Phone Numbers Only – Review Twilio’s regulatory guidelines for your country and provide the appropriate documentation to Gladly. Each country has its own unique requirements, so please follow the directions carefully.
- After you have provided this information, a member of the Gladly team will coordinate with you on the number transfer. Please note that target dates and times may change depending on the available resources.
- Finally, Gladly will file a support request on your behalf with Twilio to transfer the numbers. You may be asked to provide additional approval over email to authorize the transfer.
- Once transferred, Gladly will smoke-test your number and notify you that the transfer is completed.
Other Carrier Number Port #
U.S. and Canadian Phone Numbers
Follow the steps below to port a non-Twilio number to Gladly.
- Provide Gladly with all the porting request information outlined in the table below under Porting Request Information.
- Gladly will submit the information to our voice provider.
- Requests get approved by Gladly’s voice provider (this can take up to 24 hrs).
- Gladly voice provider submits the port request to your carrier (this can take up to 24 hrs).
- Your carrier approves the porting Away request (this can take anywhere between one to four weeks or more).
- Gladly’s voice provider will provide Gladly with the porting date and time range (typically between 8:30 – 10:00 AM PT)
- Gladly works with you to verify your number is transferred and configured.
- Close your account with your former carrier.
| Porting Request Information | Details |
| Signed Twilio Letter of Authorization | Please complete this form. |
| Latest telephony bill | A copy of your latest telephony bill. |
| Google Voice PIN | Only applicable to Google Voice numbers Let us know your Google Voice PIN. |
All Other Phone Numbers
Please work directly with your Gladly Services representative on the exact requirements for all other country ports.
Rejected Port Requests #
When a porting request is rejected, it could be due to many reasons. Some of the most common reasons are listed below.
UNSATISFACTORY BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
- This typically means you have an unpaid balance, or the carrier charges a port Away fee. You must pay your current carrier any outstanding balance/fee to resolve this rejection. Once this is resolved, Gladly can resubmit the porting request.
DATA MISMATCH
- Your Letter of Authorization (LOA) information differs from what is on file with your carrier in their Customer Service Record (CSR). A CSR is a copy of how your telephone records appear in the telephone company’s database. To ensure the chances of success for your port request, the information on the LOA – particularly the authorized user, service address, and zip code – should match exactly with the information on the CSR. To resolve this rejection, contact your carrier to update your information. Once they update your information, Gladly will resubmit the port request.
- Alternatively, you can send us a new LOA with the correct information.
UNAUTHORIZED SIGNATURE
- The person authorized to make changes to the account is not the person who signed the Letter of Authorization (LOA). To resolve this rejection, contact the carrier to update the person authorized to make changes to the account. Once they correct your information, Gladly will resubmit the port request.
- Alternatively, you can send us a new LOA with the correct signature.
INCORRECT / MISSING ACCOUNT INFORMATION
- Contact your carrier to obtain the account number on file to resolve this rejection. Once you have this information, Gladly will resubmit the port request.
LOCKED GOOGLE VOICE
- All Google Voice numbers must be unlocked before they can be ported out. To unlock the number, visit www.google.com/voice/unlock. Once you have unlocked your number, Gladly will resubmit the port request.
