> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveku.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Communications Overview

> A full VoIP and SMS phone system for your business

Hiveku Communications is a complete cloud phone system — voice, SMS, MMS, IVR, queues, and an AI voice agent — built on a FusionPBX backend with Telnyx as the carrier. Use it to run your sales floor, your support hotline, your AI receptionist, or all three at once. Numbers, devices, routing, recordings, and analytics live in one place at `/dashboard/communications/`.

<Info>
  This is the phone system that **runs your business** — not a tool for sending SMS from your app code. If you're looking to send SMS programmatically from a custom-built app, see [Connect Twilio](/how-tos/connect-twilio) instead. The two products solve different problems and can both be used on the same account.
</Info>

## Use cases

* **Inbound sales** — Buy a toll-free number, route to a ring group of reps, drop unanswered calls into a queue with hold music
* **Customer support** — IVR menu ("Press 1 for billing"), agent queues, recorded calls for QA
* **Sales team phone system** — Personal extensions for every rep, click-to-call from CRM, voicemail in the dashboard
* **AI receptionist** — Voice AI answers your main number 24/7, captures details, books meetings, transfers when needed
* **Multi-location business** — Different DIDs per region, time-of-day routing, shared queues across locations
* **Compliance-sensitive operations** — HIPAA-compliant recording with retention policies, E911 verified addresses, audit logs

## What's included

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Phone numbers (DIDs)" icon="phone" href="/communications/phone-numbers">
    Buy local, toll-free, and international numbers. Port existing numbers in.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Extensions and devices" icon="phone-office" href="/communications/extensions">
    SIP endpoints for desk phones, mobile softphones, and browser softphones.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ring groups" icon="users" href="/communications/ring-groups">
    Sequential, simultaneous, round-robin, or longest-idle call distribution.
  </Card>

  <Card title="IVR auto-attendants" icon="list-tree" href="/communications/ivr">
    "Press 1 for sales" menus with time-based routing and TTS prompts.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Call queues" icon="users-line" href="/communications/queues">
    Hold music, position announcements, callback option, agent presence.
  </Card>

  <Card title="SMS messaging" icon="message" href="/communications/sms">
    Threaded SMS and MMS inbox with auto-replies and templates.
  </Card>

  <Card title="AI voice agent" icon="microphone" href="/communications/voice-ai-agent">
    AI answers, qualifies, schedules, and transfers based on intent.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Compliance and recording" icon="shield-check" href="/communications/compliance">
    E911, HIPAA-grade retention, opt-in recording, toll-fraud guard.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Architecture at a glance

Hiveku Communications is **not** a thin wrapper around a carrier. The full PBX runs on FusionPBX inside Hiveku's infrastructure, and Telnyx is the underlying carrier for actual call origination, termination, and SMS delivery. You get carrier-grade quality with a full PBX feature set.

| Layer   | Component                                             |
| ------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| UI      | `/dashboard/communications/`                          |
| API     | `/api/communications/*`                               |
| PBX     | FusionPBX (registrations, routing, recording, queues) |
| Carrier | Telnyx (DIDs, SMS, voice trunks)                      |
| AI      | Hiveku Voice Agent (LLM + TTS/STT)                    |

## The dashboard tabs

<Steps>
  <Step title="Calls">
    Call history. Inbound, outbound, missed. Recording playback inline. Filter by direction, number, agent, queue, or date range.
  </Step>

  <Step title="SMS">
    Threaded SMS and MMS inbox. Send and receive from any of your DIDs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Numbers">
    Buy, port, configure, and release DIDs. Per-number routing and SMS settings.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Extensions">
    SIP endpoints for desk phones, mobile, browser. Per-extension voicemail and presence.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Ring groups">
    Hunt-group routing strategies for inbound calls.
  </Step>

  <Step title="IVRs">
    Menu trees, prompts, time conditions, holiday calendars.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Queues">
    Hold music, callback, agent presence, position announcements, ETA.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pools">
    DID pools for spam mitigation and outbound rotation.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Provisioning">
    Auto-provision Polycom, Yealink, and other SIP desk phones via MAC address.
  </Step>

  <Step title="AI Agent">
    Configure the AI voice agent — voice, persona, scripts, intents, escalation.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Analytics">
    Call volume, duration, abandon rate, queue performance, AI agent intent breakdowns.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Billing and Usage">
    Toll spend tracker, concurrent call cap, daily caps, alert thresholds.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Compliance">
    E911 addresses, recording retention policy, HIPAA controls, audit log.
  </Step>

  <Step title="API keys, Integrations, Audit">
    Programmatic access, third-party connectors, full audit trail.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Setup flow

<Steps>
  <Step title="Buy a number">
    Pick a country and area code, search for a vanity match, complete E911. See [Buy and Configure a Phone Number](/how-tos/buy-phone-number).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create at least one extension">
    Either a desk phone (provisioned by MAC), a mobile softphone (download the app), or a browser softphone (in-dashboard).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Decide routing">
    Direct to one extension, into a ring group, into a queue, into an IVR, or to the AI agent.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Test inbound and outbound">
    Call yourself, place a test outbound call, send a test SMS.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Layer on automations">
    Add the IVR, the AI agent, queues, and your CRM integration.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Compliance and safety

<Warning>
  E911 addresses are a legal requirement under the RAY BAUM Act for any DID assigned to a phone that can dial 911. You must register a verified physical address before activating an extension on a DID. Hiveku enforces this at provisioning time.
</Warning>

Built-in safeguards:

* **Toll-fraud guard** — Per-account daily spend cap, concurrent call cap, automatic suspension on anomaly
* **HIPAA controls** — Recording opt-in announcements, custom retention windows (down to 0 days), encrypted at rest
* **PCI-DSS** — Pause-and-resume recording for card capture moments
* **Audit log** — Every config change, listen, download, and recording playback is logged

See [Compliance and Recording](/communications/compliance).

## API

Every dashboard action is available over the API at `/api/communications/*`. Common endpoints:

| Endpoint                                  | Purpose                         |
| ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| `GET /api/communications/calls`           | Call history                    |
| `POST /api/communications/calls`          | Originate an outbound call      |
| `GET /api/communications/sms`             | SMS threads and messages        |
| `POST /api/communications/sms`            | Send SMS                        |
| `GET /api/communications/numbers`         | List DIDs                       |
| `POST /api/communications/numbers/search` | Search available numbers to buy |
| `GET /api/communications/extensions`      | List extensions                 |
| `GET /api/communications/queues`          | List queues and live position   |
| `GET /api/communications/analytics`       | Aggregated metrics              |

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Buy a phone number" icon="rocket" href="/how-tos/buy-phone-number">
    First-time setup walkthrough.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Set up an IVR" icon="list-tree" href="/how-tos/setup-ivr">
    Build a "press 1 for sales" menu.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Set up the AI receptionist" icon="microphone" href="/how-tos/setup-ai-receptionist">
    Let the AI answer calls 24/7.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Compliance and recording" icon="shield-check" href="/communications/compliance">
    E911, HIPAA, and toll-fraud guard.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>