Integrations · Your phone line
A real phone number that rings your agent
Pick a number in your area code and your agent answers it — every call, in two rings, at three in the morning if that is when it rings.
On the paid plans. This comes with the paid plans — email us about one. Free answers on your website today.
Answers on it
What it does
Search your area code and claim it in a minute
You search live carrier inventory from the dashboard, pick a number and buy it. There is nothing to configure afterwards: buying the number, binding it to the carrier's call control application and registering the routing record happen as one action, and all three are re-checked every time the platform boots. That last part exists because a gap in any one of them produces a number that bills monthly and never rings — which is a failure you would discover from a customer rather than from a dashboard.
Answers every call at once
There is no queue and no hold music, because it is not one receptionist holding one line. Two callers at once are both answered in two rings. So are the fifth and the sixth. The busiest hour of your week costs you nothing extra and loses you nobody.
Hands you the calls that need you
When the caller asks for a person, or the conversation needs one, it transfers them warmly to the number you set — announced, not dumped into a silent line. If that number does not answer, it goes back to taking a proper message rather than leaving the caller listening to nothing.
It rings out, too
The same number places calls. Ring a client back, call them with a note you wrote — “tell him the part arrived, we can fit him Thursday” — remind them about tomorrow's appointment, or tell your whole list you are shut on Monday. Automated dials keep to 9am–8pm in your timezone and never reach anybody who has asked not to be called.
Every call becomes something you can act on
A recording, a transcript, a contact record, and — where it could not answer something — the caller's exact words filed as a knowledge gap. You answer that once and it is answered forever after.
Turning it on
- Email us about Essential or above, which is what includes a number.
- Search by area code in Integrations and claim the one you want.
- Set a transfer number, so the agent has somewhere to hand a caller who asks for a person.
- Point callers at it — put it on your website and your listings, or forward your existing line to it.
What this actually takes
- The Essential plan or above. A number is a real recurring carrier charge, which is why the free plan runs on your website instead.
- A transfer number, if you want warm transfer. Without one it takes a message — and tells you that is what it did.
- Nothing on your handset. The number answers wherever the agent is; you are not forwarding anything from your mobile unless you choose to.
the part nobody else prints
What it will never do
- Take over your existing number without you porting it. You point callers at the new number, or forward your old one — both are your call to make.
- Transfer to somebody who is not there. A transfer that rings out becomes a message, not a dead line.
- Keep answering after your plan's minutes are spent. You are warned at 80% and again at zero, and no call is cut off mid-sentence.
Questions people ask about this one
Can I keep my existing number?
Yes, in either of two ways. Forward your current line to your Harkbell number and callers never learn anything changed — that takes about two minutes with your carrier and is what most people do. Or port the number to us: tell us and we start it, though the process is run by the carriers rather than by us and takes days rather than minutes. A number you port in stays yours — our terms say so — and we release it for porting out whenever you ask, free, whether or not you stay with us. Forwarding is reversible in a minute; porting is the tidier end state, and it is not a one-way door.
What happens if two people call at once?
Both are answered immediately. There is no queue, because there is no single receptionist to be busy. This is the difference that matters most against a human answering service, where a second simultaneous caller waits or is lost.
Does it work outside the US?
The agent answers calls from anywhere, and replies in the language the caller speaks rather than insisting on English — though what it quotes is what you typed, in your words. Number availability depends on the country, so tell us where you need one and we will tell you plainly whether we can get it.
Hear it before you connect anything.
The free plan has real answered minutes. Put it on your own website, ask it the questions your callers ask, and add a phone number when you are convinced.