Getting your numbers
How numbers are provisioned, how long it takes, how many you need, and how area codes affect response rates.
How it works
Your workspace runs on dedicated business numbers assigned to your account. You do not connect a personal phone or manage hardware. Choose how much customer messaging capacity you need and your preferred area codes. Beam handles the technical line mix so you can reach iPhone and Android customers from one managed inbox.
- Open Billing → Customer messaging. A signed-in company or agency owner chooses a published plan by total messaging capacity and adds up to three preferred area codes. Most customers do not need to choose a technical line type. Review the monthly total before opening checkout. Email is purchased separately.
- Complete payment once. Beam waits for a verified payment confirmation. Returning from checkout alone does not prove payment. If confirmation is pending, refresh status rather than paying again.
- Track Your number requests. The paid request records the workspace, total messaging capacity, and area-code preferences. Payment does not assign a number immediately.
- The fulfillment team assigns the right mix. An authorized agency or platform operator confirms payment, sources the required capabilities, and assigns verified available numbers to the correct workspace. Beam rejects unpaid, wrong-workspace, unavailable, and excess assignments.
- Verify before going live. Check the assigned numbers in Numbers. Attach the approved receptionist, then run the message and call checks in Launch a client workspace.
Agencies can track their own and their direct clients' requests. A client owner signed in normally pays Beam directly for these plans, even when an agency created the workspace. Opening Client view does not authorize a charge: the client must sign in with their own email to purchase. This is not agency Stripe rebilling or automatic resale collection; those require a separately configured and verified collection arrangement.
Lead time
| Request | Typical turnaround |
|---|---|
| Standard lines, no area-code preference | Confirmed by the operator after sourcing |
| A specific area code | Confirmed after availability is checked |
| A larger block for a launch | Give as much notice as you can |
Area codes are preferences, not reservations. There is no guaranteed delivery date at checkout. The fulfillment team confirms availability and timing after sourcing; request larger blocks early.
How many you need
Size your plan on daily conversation volume, not total list size. See How much can I send for the arithmetic. If you are unsure, choose the closest published plan and share your expected daily volume; the fulfillment team will translate that into the right technical mix.
Area codes and customer trust
Choose area codes based on where your customers recognize your business. Beam treats them as preferences because inventory changes. The fulfillment team confirms the closest available fit after payment.
Technical detail for agencies and operators
For text messages, a local number matters. A number from another state texting about a local service reads as spam to a lot of people, and response rates show it. Our client data favors Texas numbers, and matching the recipient's region is worth asking for.
For blue-bubble messages, area code matters much less. The first thing the recipient registers is that it is a blue bubble from someone with a contact card, not where the number is from. Set a contact card and the geography question mostly disappears.
Keeping a line healthy
- Respect the daily ceiling while a line is warming.
- Watch reply rate; below roughly 70% is a warning, not a rounding error.
- Never send the same text to a large batch at once. Vary it.
- Keep a spare line available so one degraded number does not stop a campaign.
If a line does degrade, we move the conversation to a healthy line and the thread continues. Nothing is lost.