Phone numbers
Turn Your Numbers Into Your Team’s Texting Line.
Connect your landline, VoIP, toll-free or Twilio numbers, and the whole team answers in one shared inbox, with no change to voice service.
Connect phone numbers
Four ways to connect numbers in MessageDesk.
Host it, port it, add a new number, or bring Twilio. Most teams host their numbers with us, but you can mix all four configurations in one workspace.
+ Many moreHost existing numbers
Landline or VoIP. We manage SMS. Your voice stays as-is.
Port existing numbers
The whole number moves to us, forward calls to any other number.
Get a new text-only number
Pick any US or Canadian area code. Free with your subscription.
Bring your Twilio numbers
Your existing Twilio setup keeps running, webhooks and all.
Most teams host
Hosting vs. porting phone numbers
The difference is whether your calls move.
Number hosting
Number porting
Works with most business phone systems
If your number isn’t tied to a mobile device, you can usually host it with us for texting.
RingCentral
Microsoft Teams Phone
Zoom Phone
Cisco Webex
8x8
Vonage
Ooma
GoTo Connect
Grasshopper
Aircall
Verizon Business
AT&T Business
+ many more providers
Don’t see yours?
Check your number for compatibility.
Carrier registration
Guided carrier registration, so your texts get delivered.
US carriers require registration before they deliver your texts. Registration tells them who you are and what you’re texting. We’ve helped hundreds of businesses get registered.
Guidance on SMS compliance
We help you dial in your SMS policies, terms, and opt-in before you submit.
We check your submission first
We review submissions before the carriers do to prevent resubmissions.
Monitor your status
Our Compliance Center tells you exactly where you’re at in the process.
The whole process typically takes 1–3 business days after your website is compliant.
Every line in one Inbox, no more asking “who’s got this.”
Hosted, ported, new, toll-free, and Twilio numbers sit side by side. A contact replies, and the right person responds.
Everyone knows which line a text came in on
Name each line, like Service, Sales, Billing, or HR.
Conversations stay with their owner
Set Owner, Editor, Viewer or no access for each line, label or teammate inbox.
Texts automatically route by phone line
Relays assign, label and reply based on which number a text came in on.
Adding a line doesn’t start a pricing conversation
Billing is per seat, not per line.
“We kept our same numbers and VoIP provider and were texting in a couple days. No downtime, no added configuration or headaches.”
Greg G. · IT Administrator, Legal Practice
Teams that use this
See how teams like yours use their phone numbers.
Phone number questions.
Yes, for most US and Canadian landline and VoIP numbers. We add texting to the number you already give out.
No. Once hosting completes, every text to that number comes into MessageDesk and nowhere else. Calls aren’t affected.
Carrier registration has to clear first. After that, a new number connects in minutes, hosting takes 5 minutes to 72 hours, and a port takes several business days.
Hosting moves texting to MessageDesk, so your current provider stops getting texts for that number. To move the whole number instead, port it. You sign the Letter of Authorization in the app.
Self-serve adds are capped at two numbers per day per workspace. The cap stops spammers from cycling through numbers. Twilio numbers don’t count toward it. For a bigger rollout, email support@messagedesk.com.
Yes. A hosted number is simplest: stop hosting and texting goes back to your original provider, though you may need them to switch it back on. A ported number moves out with a Letter of Authorization from your new provider.
Tell your new provider that texting stays with MessageDesk. If they move the whole number, they can pull texting back with it, and texts stop arriving in MessageDesk.
Yes, by a different route. Google doesn’t allow hosting, so you unlock the number and port it to MessageDesk. You can forward calls to a number you pick, or port to a VoIP provider first so we can host your number for texting. We set the port date with you. Google charges $3 to unlock numbers that started on Google Voice.
Verizon One Talk, because it’s tied to Verizon’s mobile network. Use a separate MessageDesk number and forward calls to your One Talk line. Virtual SMS app numbers and numbers outside the US and Canada aren’t supported either.
Yes. Email support and we submit verification for you. It’s free, has the same website requirements as local numbers, and typically takes 1 to 3 business days.
Connect your phone numbers to MessageDesk.
In a 20-minute demo, we look up your lines and walk you through connecting them.