Phone lines and call routing

A phone line is a group of phone numbers that share the same hours, routing and texting setup in Drop Cowboy®.

Set up a phone line

Use this to create a line and decide who answers it.

1. Open Phone Numbers in the left menu. The page is titled Phone Hub.
2. Click Add to open Set Up Your Phone Line.
3. On Name, name the line, like Sales. Click Continue.
4. On Numbers, buy a number or pick one you have. Click Reserve & Continue or Continue.
5. On Hours, pick Always Open, or Set Business Hours and set your days and times.
6. Choose what happens to calls. With business hours, set During Hours and After Hours separately:

1. For the first two options, pick who rings under Who should receive the call?: Everyone, Just Me, A Teammate or A Team. Ring timeout (seconds) sets how long to ring before the next step.
2. On Tracking, pick whether to use the numbers with your ads.
3. Check Review, then click Finish Setup.

To change a line later, click it. Users/Teams sets Who Answers This Line?. Normal Hours and After Hours set the routing. Click Save after each change.

If it doesn't work:

• Calls go to voicemail when agents are free. They aren't under Who Answers This Line?, or they're set to Do not disturb. See Answer calls from the queue.

If you don't see Phone Numbers, ask your account owner for access.

Build a phone menu

Use this to greet callers and let them press a key to reach the right place.

1. Open Phone Numbers in the left menu and click the phone line.
2. Open the Normal Hours tab, or After Hours for the after-hours menu.
3. Click Custom.
4. Under Call Flow, click GREETING. Under What should happen?, pick Play for a recording or Say for typed text, like "Press 1 for sales."
5. Under KEY PRESS ACTIONS, click Add. Pick the key under Assign to key, then what that key does:

1. Under FALLBACK, set No Input for callers who don't press anything.
2. Click Save.

To insert or remove a step, open it and click Add Rule Before, Add Rule After or Delete Rule. Switching back to Quick Setup replaces your keys and can't be undone.

Answer calls from the queue

Use this to take calls that wait for the next free agent.

1. Open Phone Numbers in the left menu and click the phone line. Check that you're under Who Answers This Line? on Users/Teams, and that Normal Hours uses Hold for next available or Ring a hunt group.
2. Click your call status at the top of the screen to open Incoming calls. Under How we reach you, pick Schedule to follow your hours, or Always ring.
3. Under Devices that ring, pick where calls reach you During hours and After hours: Computer, App, SIP phone, Mobile, Office or Home.
4. When a call comes in, click Answer, or Dismiss to pass. Click View Contact to see who it is.
5. Switch on Auto-answer next caller to connect waiting callers without clicking. Turn it off before a break.

Meeting, Vacation and Do not disturb stop calls from reaching you. Teammates still get them.

If it doesn't work:

• "End your call to answer." You're on another call. Finish it, then answer from Call waiting.
• Calls don't reach your computer. Pick Computer under Devices that ring, and keep the Drop Cowboy tab open.

Add a desk phone

Use this to give a teammate a physical phone on a phone line.

1. Open Settings in the left menu, then click Users. Click the person.
2. Under Desk & SIP phones, click Add desk phone.
3. Pick Grandstream, Yealink or All other SIP phones.
4. Optional: fill in a Nickname and Model. For Grandstream and Yealink, type the MAC address from the sticker on the back.
5. Pick the Phone line, then click the button that starts Add, like Add Yealink phone.
6. Follow the steps for your phone below. When it works, the phone shows Registered.

Calls from the desk phone use a number from its phone line. See Choose the caller ID people see. Always identify your business location truthfully when asked by recipients.

Yealink or Grandstream

• Yealink: click Copy URL. In the phone's web page, go to Settings, then Auto Provision. Paste the link into Server URL and confirm. The phone restarts.
• Grandstream: on the phone, open Menu, then System, then Upgrade. Set Config Server Path to the host shown (click Copy host), set Upgrade Via to HTTPS, then click Start Provisioning.

Other SIP phones

1. Click Copy server, Copy user ID and Copy password, and enter them in the phone's SIP settings. The password shows only once.
2. The phone uses TLS on port 5061. If it can't, switch on This phone does not support TLS.

If it doesn't work:

• The phone isn't Registered. Click Regenerate provisioning link (Yealink, Grandstream) or Regenerate password (other phones) and set it up again.
• "You need a phone line with at least one number before you can provision a desk phone." Buy a phone number for a line first.
• One person needs a second phone. Click Remove to replace the phone, or add another user for the second one.

Send texts from a phone line

Use this to let a phone line send and receive texts.

1. Open Phone Numbers in the left menu, click the phone line, and open the Settings tab.
2. Under Text Campaign, pick a registered campaign from Select a campaign.... A line takes one type: Conversational, bulk 10DLC or toll-free.
3. In Assign Text Campaign, click Assign Campaign. The section shows Pending: until you save. The choice is permanent; only deleting the line releases it.
4. Click Save. The section shows Campaign Assigned:.
5. On the SMS tab, under KEYWORD RULES, add Keywords for incoming texts and pick Forward To:, Auto-Reply Message: or Automation Flow: for each.

With no registered campaign, click Register a campaign, or see Register your SMS campaign. Text only people who agreed to hear from you. See How consent works.

If it doesn't work:

• "Cannot enable SMS:" The line has more numbers than a texting line allows. Move some to another line with Transfer to Route in the number's row menu, then pick the campaign again.
• Incompatible Numbers opens. Some numbers come from a different carrier than the campaign. Click Remove All & Continue to take them off the line, or Cancel.
• The line has the wrong campaign type. It can't be changed. Set up a new phone line for the other type.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Regulations vary by jurisdiction and use case. Always consult with qualified legal counsel to ensure your specific practices comply with applicable federal and state laws.