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You can keep the number your customers already know. There are two ways to do it: forward calls from your existing number to a Brilo number, or import your number into Brilo so it answers directly. Forwarding takes minutes and needs nothing technical. Importing takes about fifteen minutes and gives you texting on the same number.

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Which one to choose

Neither route moves the number away from your provider. If you want to stop paying your current provider altogether, that is a number move, which is a phone company process rather than a setting. Email support@brilo.ai before you start one. Start with forwarding if you are still evaluating. It is reversible in a minute, and nothing about your existing service changes.

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Forwarding calls to your agent

  1. Buy a Brilo number and attach it to your agent.
  2. Call the Brilo number yourself and check your agent answers.
  3. In your existing phone provider’s settings, forward your business number to the Brilo number.
  4. Call your business number. Your agent should answer.
Your callers keep dialling the number they know, your provider passes the call to Brilo, and your agent picks up. You can forward all calls, or only the ones nobody in your team answers, depending on what your provider supports.

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Importing your number instead

Importing connects the number itself to Brilo, so your agent answers it directly and can also text from it. The number stays in your provider account and you keep paying them for it. Brilo can import numbers held at Twilio, Telnyx and Plivo. Start in the dashboard under Phone Number, choose Import existing number, enter your number and select your carrier. The exact steps depend on your provider, and the full walkthrough is here: For Telnyx and Plivo, contact support@brilo.ai before you start, since the steps on your provider’s side differ. If your number is somewhere else, including RingCentral, forwarding is the route. See Connect Brilo to RingCentral for a worked example.

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You will know it worked when

  • Someone dials your original business number and your agent answers.
  • The call appears in your call history in Brilo.
  • If you imported and enabled texting, a text to that number reaches your agent.

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If it did not work

Your business number still rings your old phone. Forwarding has not taken effect. Check the forwarding setting saved on your provider’s side, and that you forwarded to the Brilo number rather than your own mobile. Your agent answers but the caller cannot hear it, or it cannot hear them. This is usually a setting on the provider side of an import. See Import a phone number from Twilio, which lists the common causes. Your imported number cannot send texts. US numbers must be registered before they can text. See Register your business. Anything else: I cannot buy or change a number.

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FAQ

Yes. Either forward calls from it to a Brilo number, which takes minutes and changes nothing at your provider, or import the number into Brilo so your agent answers it directly. Your customers keep dialling the number they already know either way.
Forwarding passes calls on to a Brilo number and works with any provider. Importing connects your number to Brilo directly, which adds texting and needs the number to be at Twilio, Telnyx or Plivo. Both leave the number with your provider. Forwarding is reversible in a minute.
Forwarding does not interrupt anything: calls route to Brilo the moment you save the setting. An import involves changes on your provider’s side, so do it outside your busy hours and test with your own phone as soon as it completes.
If you forward, your existing service is untouched, so your team carries on calling out as before. If you import, inbound calls go to your agent, so plan how your team will make and take calls on that number before you connect it.
No. Buying a number from Brilo needs no phone provider account at all. Twilio only comes into it if you already own a Twilio number and want to bring it across. See Buy a phone number.
Twilio, Telnyx and Plivo. Twilio has a full step by step guide at Import a phone number from Twilio. For Telnyx and Plivo, contact support first, because the setup on your provider’s side differs. Numbers at any other provider, including RingCentral, reach Brilo by forwarding instead.
Yes, the number stays yours throughout. Forwarding is a setting you can turn off in a minute, and an imported number can be disconnected from Brilo and left with your provider. Contact support@brilo.ai first so nothing is interrupted while you change it.