Setting Up Your Phone System
Fieldwork includes a full business phone system: buy local or toll-free numbers, make and receive calls from your browser or mobile app, route calls with ring groups, and enable voicemail and call recording. This guide covers setup from start to finish.
For Voice AI and Inbox AI features, see the AI Features-Voice and Inbox Receptionist collection in Fieldwork Intelligence.
1. Purchase a Phone Number
Go to Settings > SMS & Voice Calls > Phone numbers & SMS registration. Open the number search, then either enter an area code to find local numbers or leave it blank to browse nationwide. Select a number and click Buy — it's ready to use immediately. Each number has three toggles:
Toggle | What it does |
SMS | Send text messages from this number (requires completed A2P registration) |
Voice | Receive and place voice calls |
Voice AI | Let the AI voice agent answer inbound calls (requires Voice AI enabled) |
You can purchase multiple numbers — for example, a main office line and a separate sales line, each routed to its own ring group.
2. Set Up Your Inbound Call Flow
Configure this under Settings > SMS & Voice Calls. Calls move through these stages in order until someone answers:
Voice AI (optional) — answers with your custom greeting and business knowledge. Skipped if off, busy, or not enabled for the number called.
Ring groups — rings your team's browser softphones, routed by number called or IVR menu digit pressed, and skipped if no ring groups exist.
Main account phone — final fallback. If voicemail is on, the caller can leave a message.
You can also enable Bypass to skip this flow entirely and forward all inbound calls straight to your main account phone. Outbound calling still works as usual.
Changes save automatically.
3. Configure a Greeting
In the Greeting panel, add a message played to callers before your team is rung (e.g., "Thanks for calling Acme Pest Control."). Leave it blank to connect callers with no greeting.
Note: Voice AI uses its own separate greeting and ignores this one.
4. Set Business Hours
In the Business Hours panel, choose your open days and hours (24-hour format). Outside these hours, your team won't be rung.
After-hours callers will hear:
Your after-hours message, or
Voice AI, if enabled for after-hours calls
The option to leave a voicemail, if enabled
Changes save automatically.
5. Set Up Ring Groups
Manage ring groups under Settings > SMS & Voice Calls > Manage Ring Groups. They control which team members' phones ring for a given call.
To create one:
Click New Ring Group.
Name it (e.g., "Sales" or "Service").
Choose a ring strategy:
Ring all — everyone's phone rings at once; first to answer gets the call.
Ring in order — members are called one at a time; unanswered calls move to the next person after the timeout.
Rotate across calls — each new call goes to the next member in rotation, spreading calls evenly.
Set a ring timeout (default: 25 seconds).
Choose how callers reach the group:
Dedicated number — a specific number rings this group directly.
Menu digit — callers press a digit (0–9, *, #) from an IVR menu.
Neither — this group is the default fallback.
Select team members and set their ringing order.
Click Save.
A default ring group is created automatically and can't be deleted — it's the fallback when no dedicated number or IVR digit matches. Team members can toggle Do Not Disturb to pause calls without leaving the group.
6. Enable Voicemail
In the Voicemail panel, check "Take a voicemail instead of hanging up."
Voicemail plays whenever a call goes unanswered — no pickup, empty ring group, or the office is closed.
Customize the greeting, or leave it blank to use the default: "Sorry, we can't take your call right now. Please leave a message after the tone, and we will get back to you."
Voicemails arrive in your Inbox with the audio attached, plus a transcript when available.
7. Call Recording and Transcripts
In the Call Recording & Transcripts panel:
Record calls — starts recording team-answered calls; each recording attaches to the call record.
Announce the recording to the other party — plays a notice to callers. Many states require all-party consent — only turn this off if you've confirmed your state allows single-party consent.
If sentiment analysis is enabled (configured under Voice AI — see the AI Features guide), recordings are also transcribed, summarized, and flagged as positive, neutral, or negative.
8. Placing Outbound Calls
Calls go out from your company number, so customers see a professional caller ID instead of a personal cell number.
Browser — click any phone number in Fieldwork to call through the built-in softphone; a call widget appears in the corner of the screen.
Mobile app — tap a customer's phone number to call through the app.
Outbound calls use the same recording settings configured in Telephony settings.
Viewing Call History
Go to Recent Calls on the Telephony settings page for a log of all inbound and outbound calls, including caller, number called, duration, answer status, and any recording or transcript.
Calls tied to a customer also appear on that customer's record for full interaction context.