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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 Telnyx, 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:
CapabilityDescription
VoiceInbound and outbound calls
SMSSend and receive text messages
MMSSend and receive picture/video messages
FaxInbound fax (T.38) — older lines only
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 number into Hiveku without losing it.
1

Start the port

From the Numbers tab, click Port a number. Enter the number, your current carrier, and account info.
2

Submit LOA

Letter of Authorization — Hiveku generates a pre-filled PDF. Sign and upload.
3

Wait for carrier approval

Typically 5-10 business days for US/Canada, longer for some international. Status visible in the Numbers tab.
4

Cutover

On the scheduled date, the number activates on Hiveku. Set up routing before the cutover so calls have somewhere to go.
Don’t cancel your current carrier until after the port completes. Canceling early is the most common cause of port failures.

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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: 
Primary: Ring Group "Sales" (30 sec timeout)
Failover 1: Queue "Sales Hold"
Failover 2: Forward to +1-555-after-hours
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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API

# Search available numbers
curl -X POST https://api.hiveku.com/api/communications/numbers/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hk_live_xxx" \
  -d '{"country": "US", "area_code": "415", "type": "local"}'

# Buy a number
curl -X POST https://api.hiveku.com/api/communications/numbers \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hk_live_xxx" \
  -d '{"phone_number": "+14155551234", "e911_address_id": "addr_01HQ"}'

# List your numbers
curl https://api.hiveku.com/api/communications/numbers \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hk_live_xxx"

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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 5-10 business days. If it’s been longer, the most common cause is a mismatch on the LOA — name on the account, billing address, or PIN doesn’t match the losing carrier’s records exactly. Contact support to review.

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Next steps

Buy and configure

Walkthrough for first-time number setup.

Extensions

Connect a phone to take calls.