Written By Chelsey Craig
Last updated 29 days ago
Enable SMS With Your Existing Carrier
With Hosted SMS, Clerk can be used to send and receive SMS messages on your phone number, while the voice portion continues to run on your existing phone system. It is possible to import your current phone number to Clerk for SMS and also keep your voice with your existing carrier. SMS Only feature does not affect your voice calling capabilities of the number. Not all carriers support splitting the Voice and Text portion of a number.
If we only host the SMS portion of your phone number with Clerk then you will continue to receive phone calls via your existing carrier. If you completely port the number, you can leverage the calls through our add-ons such as Call Forwarding or Voicemail.
Landlines
We can often host SMS functionality while leaving voice functionality with your existing provider.
💡 In order for us to host SMS on an existing VoIP line, you’ll need to contact your current carrier to have them relinquish control of the SMS functionality by removing the SPID from your number.
Once your provider has confirmed that the SPID has been released, we can enable your number in Clerk in about 3-4 hours.
Toll-Free Numbers
Depending on the number and the carrier, we can often text-enable or host SMS for toll-free numbers.
Mobile Phones
If you have a cell phone number you'd like to utilize with Clerk, we will need to port the number entirely in order to use it. Please contact us and provide a copy of your phone bill with the phone number & account number visible, as well as the PIN for your account. Keep in mind the phone number will be moved over in its entirety both voice and SMS.
What is porting?
Porting a number to Clerk is the transfer of a phone number from your existing provider to Clerk. The process involves providing the right documentation to prove ownership of the number and coordinating between the existing provider and Clerk Chat on the porting date. When a port request is submitted to Clerk we will port both Voice and SMS by default.
To enable your phone number in Clerk please reach out to support@clerk.chat and we can verify your eligibility.
Troubleshooting
Since we are only hosting the phone number, we are subject to the authority of the voice carrier. If you are running into issues where you lose your SMS capabilities, it is most likely due to the voice- owning carrier taking back the number. When we initially host the phone number we request provisioning from the voice carrier but unfortunately, if they do provision back (be it intentional or incidentally) it can put the hosted SMS functionality down. Though it cannot be prevented, if you find yourself in a situation like this you can reach out to our team for a resolution. Clerk is able to remedy/resolve and reach out to our carrier peers as needed to mitigate if this becomes a more regular occurrence.