Phone Number Problems - Swaps, Spam Flags, and Routing

Summary

This article covers the most common phone number problems: calls not reaching the AI, needing to swap a number that’s been flagged as spam, handling swap cooldowns, errors during provisioning, and call forwarding setup. If your AI itself is answering but behaving oddly, see troubleshooting/ai-not-responding instead.

Prerequisites

• You must be signed in as an owner with the voice.settings.manage capability.
• You have at least one provisioned phone number visible on Settings > Voice > Phone Numbers.

Steps

Calls are not reaching the AI at all

1. Check that your landline call forwarding is set up. Dial *21*{your Torqueflow number}# on the landline to activate redirect, and #21# to check status. Most UK networks accept this code.
2. Go to Voice AI > Dashboard and confirm the channel status reads Live. If it reads Testing or Not configured, complete the voice setup wizard before expecting calls to land.
3. Try the Test Call button on the Voice Dashboard. This dials the AI from within the app and confirms the number is reachable end-to-end.
4. If the test call connects but your landline forwarding does not, the problem is at the network level, not in Torqueflow. Contact your phone provider.

Swap a number because it’s been flagged as spam

1. Go to Settings > Voice > Phone Numbers.
2. Find the mapping you want to replace and click Swap Number.
3. In the dialog, tick I’m swapping because this number has been reported as spam if that’s the reason. This flags the retired number in the shared pool so it is never reassigned to another garage.
4. Select a replacement number from the list of available pool numbers.
5. Read the confirmation: “Replace {old number} with {new number}? Your AI configuration stays the same. The swap takes about 30 minutes to fully propagate.”
6. If WhatsApp is connected on the old number, you will see an extra warning: “WhatsApp will need to be re-registered on the new number.”
7. Click Confirm Swap.
8. Both numbers remain active for a 30-minute propagation window. During this time, either number will route calls to your AI correctly.
9. After 30 minutes, the old number is automatically released back to the shared pool with a 7-day cooling-off period.

Understand the 30-day swap cooldown

1. After any successful swap, the Swap Number button is disabled for 30 days. This prevents accidental churn and protects the shared number pool.
2. The button tooltip reads “Next swap available in X days”.
3. If you have an urgent need to swap again inside the cooldown window (for example, a second spam flag), contact Torqueflow Support - we can override the cooldown.

Update call forwarding after a swap

1. After a successful swap, a blue reminder banner appears on the Phone Numbers page: “You recently swapped your number. Update your landline redirect: *21*{new number}#”
2. Dial that code on every landline that was previously redirecting to the old number.
3. Dismiss the banner when done.
4. Important: during the 30-minute propagation window, both old and new numbers work. After that, only the new number works - so make sure you update your forwarding before propagation completes.

Recover from a provisioning error during a swap

1. If an error happens during the swap (a provisioning step fails on the voice or SMS side), the dialog stays open and displays a red error panel with the failure reason.
2. Click Retry. The swap action is idempotent - retrying is safe and will not double-charge you or create duplicate mappings.
3. If the error persists across multiple retries, click Cancel to close the dialog. The old number remains active and fully working - you have lost nothing.
4. Contact Torqueflow support with the error message and the time it occurred.

Re-register WhatsApp after a swap

1. WhatsApp is tied to the specific phone number it was registered to. A swap creates a brand-new mapping, so WhatsApp starts in the Not started state on the new number.
2. Go to Settings > WhatsApp Integration and follow the reconnection flow (see settings/whatsapp-settings).
3. You will need to complete the Meta Embedded Signup flow again and pass OTP verification on the new number.
4. Your existing message templates, consent settings, and conversation history are all preserved - only the channel connection itself needs to be re-established.

Multi-location: calls going to the wrong location

1. Each location has its own phone-number-to-location mapping. Confirm the mapping on Settings > Voice > Phone Numbers - each active number should show the location it routes to.
2. If a call is reaching the wrong location’s AI persona, the number is mapped to the wrong location. Open the number’s settings and reassign it.
3. Cross-location awareness is intentional: the AI can answer general questions about any of your locations even when called on a specific branch’s number. If this is not what you want, check the voice persona settings for that location.

Expected Outcome

• You can swap a number cleanly, with zero dropped calls during the 30-minute propagation window.
• Your customers see a working number at all times, even during spam-triggered swaps.
• You know how to re-register WhatsApp and update call forwarding when you swap.
• Errors during provisioning are recoverable via retry without data loss.

Troubleshooting

Problem: Swap Number button is disabled and shows “Next swap available in X days”. Cause: You are within the 30-day swap cooldown from a previous swap. Fix: Wait for the cooldown to expire, or contact Torqueflow support to request an override if the reason is urgent (for example a second spam incident).

Problem: Swap dialog shows “No replacement numbers available”. Cause: The shared UK number pool is temporarily empty, or all available numbers are within the 7-day cooling-off window. Fix: Try again in a few hours. If the problem persists for more than a day, contact Torqueflow Support - we can top up the pool.

Problem: Calls to the new number ring but don’t connect to AI. Cause: Either the 30-minute propagation window has not completed, or the new mapping’s voice status did not carry over from the old one. Fix: Wait 30 minutes. Then open Voice AI > Dashboard and confirm the channel status is Live. If it shows Not configured, open the voice setup wizard and click Go Live manually.

Problem: Old number is still ringing after 30 minutes. Cause: The background cleanup job failed to deprovision the old number (rare). The dual mapping is harmless but should be cleaned up. Fix: Contact Torqueflow Support with the old number - we can manually deprovision it.

Problem: Landline is still redirecting to the old number. Cause: You haven’t updated the *21* redirect on your landline phone yet. Fix: Dial *21*{new number}# on the landline. Use #21# to verify.

Problem: Swap Number button is missing entirely. Cause: Your role does not have the voice.settings.manage capability. Fix: Ask the account owner to swap, or get the capability added to your role.

Problem: WhatsApp status shows “Needs re-registration” after swap. Cause: Expected. WhatsApp is phone-number-specific and must be reconnected after a swap. Fix: Go to Settings > WhatsApp Integration and complete the Meta signup flow on the new number.

Notes

• Number swaps are zero-downtime by design: both numbers stay active for 30 minutes so no call is dropped during the handover.
• The 7-day cooling-off period on released pool numbers stops the same number being reassigned to a new garage too quickly.
• Numbers retired due to spam are permanently flagged in the pool and never reassigned.
• The audit log records every swap with the previous number, new number, and reason - useful for defending against fraudulent spam reports.

Permissions

• voice.settings.manage - required to swap numbers and view pool options. Assigned to owners by default.