Numbers

Your numbers live in Numbers. Each number is charged monthly. The Buy number window shows your price before you buy.

#Buy a number

Open Numbers and click Buy number. The Buy a number window opens. If you have sub-accounts, pick the Sub-account it’s for at the top.
Pick a kind. iMessage is lower volume with 2 to 3x the replies and needs no registration. Give it a Name people see and an optional Photo. Ready picks the area code, and it comes with a green number for people on Android. SMS is higher volume and reaches every phone. US numbers need a registration.
For SMS, pick the Country, then search Area code or city and pick one. A code with no numbers left shows Sold out. Where there is no area code to pick, Ready picks the number.
Click Buy number (Buy iMessage for an iMessage line). The price a month shows beside the button. If the number is ready, it’s live right away. If it has to be ordered, you’ll get a text once it’s live, usually within a few minutes.

Need a card on file first? Add one in Settings → Billing. Already have numbers somewhere else? Move them to Ready.

#Toll-free numbers

A toll-free number (800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 or 888) texts people in the US and Canada. It isn’t tied to one area. It’s verified with your business registration, the same business and sign-up page carriers already know.

Open Numbers, click Buy number and pick Toll-free. The number usually arrives in 1 to 3 days, and you’ll get a text when it does.
Verify it. Carriers block texts from a toll-free number until it’s verified. In Registration, under Toll-free numbers, click Verify. Pick about how many texts you send a month. We send carriers your business registration and its sign-up page, so register your business first.
Wait for the carriers. Review usually takes 1 to 2 weeks. The number shows In review, then Verified. Until then Ready won’t send from it, so no text is lost to a carrier block.

Once it’s verified, it works like your other numbers in the inbox, campaigns, automations and the API. Opt-outs, quiet hours and content checks apply to it the same way. If the carriers don’t approve it, the number shows Not approved with their reason. Fix your business registration, then click Send again.

#Manage a number

Open the menu on a number’s row:

Rename gives it a name you’ll recognize, like a rep or an office.
Forward calls rings another phone when someone calls this number.
Turn off texting keeps the number, but Ready stops picking it for new texts and campaigns. Replies in conversations already on it still go out from it, and so does a text you send from it on purpose.
Move to sub-account moves it to another account.
Change registration picks which approved registration it sends under.
Replace (US numbers) replaces it with a new one.
Release number gives the number up for good and stops its monthly fee; the month you’ve paid isn’t refunded. You can’t undo it.

#Number health

Each number shows its delivery rate, opt-outs and volume. A number marked Needs attention gets a Replace button. A Resting number is out of sending for now, and Resume brings it back. Two protections keep delivery up on their own:

Smart delivery is on by default and sends from your healthiest numbers when one starts getting filtered. It’s free.
Number protection, the button at the top of Numbers, buys a fresh number and moves sending to it if carriers start marking one as spam. The new number has the normal monthly fee.

Texts failing? See Why a text failed.

#Common questions

Why does a lead see a different area code than mine? Ready texts each lead from your number closest to their area code, an exact match first. For a local number everywhere, buy one in each area code you text most.
The area code I wanted says Sold out. It’s out of stock at our carrier right now. Search for a nearby code.
A people-search site shows the wrong name for my number. Those sites use old public records, often from the number’s last owner, and Ready doesn’t control them. Ask the site to correct the listing. Your callers see your business name.