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DIDs (Direct Inward Dialing numbers) are the actual phone numbers your business uses — what customers dial to reach you and what you display on outbound caller ID. Hiveku provides DIDs in 60+ countries through our carrier network, supports porting in your existing numbers, and gives you fine-grained routing and SMS control on each number. Manage DIDs in /dashboard/communications/ under the Numbers tab.

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Buying numbers

1

Pick country and region

United States, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, and 60+ more. Pricing varies by country.
2

Pick number type

Local, toll-free, or international. See the comparison below.
3

Search

By area code (415, 212, 888), by digit pattern (*555*), or by vanity word (1-800-FLOWERS).
4

Verify E911 address

Required before activation. See Compliance.
5

Configure routing

Pick what happens when this number rings — extension, ring group, IVR, queue, or AI agent.

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Number types

Geographic numbers — area code 415, 212, 312, etc. Customers see a local presence. Lowest monthly cost. Both voice and SMS available on most local DIDs in the US and Canada.Best for: regional sales teams, support hotlines for a specific city, businesses where location matters.

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Number capabilities

Each DID supports a subset of capabilities depending on country and provisioning: The Numbers tab shows a capability badge on each DID. SMS on US/Canada local numbers requires 10DLC registration — handled automatically when you buy the number, but final approval can take 1-3 days.
Until 10DLC approval completes, SMS on a new US local number is rate-limited to about 1 message per second and may be filtered by carriers. Toll-free SMS goes through a separate verification flow.

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Porting in existing numbers

Bring your current business numbers into Hiveku without losing them. From the Numbers tab, click Port existing numbers — or go to Communications → Porting and click New port request. The wizard runs a free portability check on up to 100 numbers, guides you through provider-specific steps (CallRail, GoHighLevel, Twilio, or any other carrier), and handles the Letter of Authorization by e-signature. Most transfers complete in 1-3 weeks, and the numbers keep working with your current provider until the transfer date. After the transfer, ported numbers appear on the Numbers tab marked Needs setup — assign an E911 address, activate, and choose where calls ring. See Number Porting for the full walkthrough.
Don’t cancel your current carrier until after the port completes. Canceling early is the most common cause of losing a number for good.

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Routing a DID

Each number routes inbound calls to one destination. From the number’s detail page, pick:

Extension

Direct to one user’s desk phone, mobile, or browser softphone. Best for personal lines and small teams.

Ring group

Multiple extensions ring (sequential, simultaneous, round-robin). See Ring Groups.

IVR menu

“Press 1 for sales” auto-attendant. See IVRs.

Queue

Caller waits with hold music until an agent is free. See Queues.

AI agent

The AI answers and handles the conversation. See AI Voice Agent.

Forward externally

Forward to another number — your cell, an answering service, or a third-party carrier.

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Failover

Set a fallback for what happens when the primary route fails or doesn’t answer in N seconds:
Common pattern: ring group → queue → voicemail.

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Number pools

A DID pool is a group of outbound numbers used in rotation to mitigate spam labels. Carriers and call-blocking services flag numbers that make too many outbound calls in a short window — rotation across a pool keeps each number under the threshold.
1

Add multiple DIDs

Buy 5-10 local numbers in the same area code as your team’s outbound dialing target.
2

Create a pool

From the Pools tab, create a pool and add the DIDs.
3

Assign to outbound

Configure your outbound calling profile (per-extension or per-team) to use the pool. Calls rotate automatically.
Spam mitigation is most useful for outbound sales teams making 50+ calls/day per rep. For low-volume use, a single DID is fine.

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Forwarding and failover

Forward a DID to an external number when:
  • You’re transitioning between providers
  • After-hours calls go to an answering service
  • A specific number always rings to a cell
Forwarded calls use Hiveku’s outbound trunk, so per-minute charges apply on top of inbound. Set a forwarding caller-ID to either the original caller or your own DID.

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Troubleshooting

Check that E911 verification completed and a route is configured. Newly purchased numbers can take up to 15 minutes to fully activate on the carrier network.
Use a number pool for high-volume outbound, register your business with the FCC’s STIR/SHAKEN attestation (auto-handled), and avoid making calls flagged by call-blocking apps.
Most ports complete in 1-3 weeks. The most common cause of delays is a detail mismatch — account holder name, service address, account number, or PIN doesn’t match your current provider’s records exactly. Check the port’s order page under Communications → Porting: if the carrier flagged a problem, the page shows what went wrong in plain language with a fix, and you can correct the details and resubmit. See Number Porting.

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Next steps

Buy and configure

Walkthrough for first-time number setup.

Extensions

Connect a phone to take calls.