FAQ

Clerk Chat offers a free plan, giving you the opportunity to thoroughly explore the application without any obligation or commitment. This free plan allows you to experience all the features and functionalities of Clerk Chat, helping you make an informed decision before deciding to subscribe.

If your Clerk number is SMS Only, it only supports text messages. Should someone attempt to initiate a call to your Clerk SMS-only number, the default behavior is to terminate the call without any further action.

Message count resets on the first day of the month.

The maximum number of characters per single message being sent to carriers depends on the encoding used, and the encoding used depends on the content of the message. Refer to our SMS Limits doc for a detailed breakdown.

SMS is really hard to filter as anyone can send you random spam messages. We are working on a filter and will release it in the next few months. You can reply "STOP" to the number & they will never send you unsolicited spam again. As it is illegal to send spam SMS without the receiver's consent.

Ensure notifications are not muted and that platforms like Microsoft Teams or Zoom have the correct permissions. If you are still having issues please contact support@clerk.chat

Due to security protocols and fraud prevention measures, Clerk Chat restricts access from certain countries. Your location might be on the restricted list and may require special approval. Additionally, Clerk Chat may not be accessible in certain regions while traveling. We suggest using a VPN when accessing Clerk Chat from outside the US to maintain seamless connectivity.

Clerk Chat supports multimedia messaging (MMS), including the ability to send images and PDFs.

Yes. Clerk currently provides toll-free numbers to the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In the United States and Canada, toll-free numbers can be enabled for both voice and SMS messaging.

A toll-free number is a number with 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877, or 888 area codes that can be dialed without incurring long-distance charges.

Local numbers are better suited for outgoing calls. When you make a lot of outgoing calls, local numbers are perceived as more trustworthy compared to toll-free numbers due to an increased number of spam calls. Toll-free numbers ensure your callers from across the US and Canada never pay long-distance charges. This is especially important if your main use case is customer support.

Please note: Clerk Chat and other telephone carriers do not support MMS via a toll-free number. If you would like to use MMS please use a local area code.

Microsoft's Operator Connect is a feature within Microsoft Teams that provides a seamless way for organizations to integrate with telephony operators. It simplifies the process of connecting Teams to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by allowing organizations to use approved operators directly from within the Teams admin center. For more details refer to our Operator Connect page.

Bandwidth is the underlying phone carrier that powers Microsoft Teams calling plan. When enabling the phone numbers with Clerk you are enabling SMS and going “wholesale” directly to the phone carrier resulting in added features and cost benefits. For more information refer to our carrier page on Bandwidth.

Operator Connect requires Teams Phone Standard or E5 license to work. For more details refer to our Microsoft Teams Licenses page.

By enabling your Microsoft Teams phone number with Clerk Chat you are updating your phone number from Teams Phone Calling to Operator Connect. This is done by instantly enabling your phone numbers directly with the phone carrier that powers Microsoft Teams calling. This results in added benefits such as added functionality and reduced pricing.

Should you choose to move the number back to Microsoft, you will need to submit a port-in request to Microsoft from the Teams Admin Portal. You can expedite the port-in request by submitting a ticket with Microsoft Teams Voice team. For more details refer to the Microsoft documentation.

Once you’ve enabled your Microsoft Number for text inside Clerk Chat, if you are having trouble calling, kindly follow the steps below to ensure your numbers are properly assigned to users as well as the correct license.

1. To ensure you have the proper license, kindly head into your Microsoft 365 admin panel and navigate to Active Users.

2. Ensure only Teams Phone Standard License is applied to the user and any other calling licenses such as Communication Credits, Teams Calling Plan or Domestic Calling Plan is disabled for the user.

3. Once done, please head back to Teams Admin → Users → Manage Users and select edit and assign the number as Operator Connect under Phone Number type.