Inbound call handling: ring, forward, voicemail, transcribe

A call to a business number rings the configured targets at once, and if nobody answers it takes a voicemail, transcribes it into the conversation thread, and fires the missed-call text-back.

What it is

A single webhook that re-enters itself through step parameters: initial, after-dial, voicemail, transcript, and the browser-call legs. It dials every forward target simultaneously with the first to answer winning, uses answering-machine detection to tell a real answer from a carrier voicemail box, records and transcribes voicemails into the customer's thread, and routes the call to the number's assigned rep rather than the whole office.

Also called: number rings nobody · call forwarding · voicemail transcription · missed call text

See it
Inbound call handling: ring, forward, voicemail, transcribe
Day rate
$400
Days figured
5
Crew size
5
Fuel & equipment
$300
Finished 2 days early — $1,800 back to the crew
The call flow diagram from the route's own header: call in → forwards dialled → answered, or → voicemail → transcript in thread → text-back. Sample data — no customer information appears here.
How it works
  1. 1The called number's inventory row supplies the voice configuration and the owning account.
  2. 2Forwards and in-app clients are dialled together with a timeout; answering-machine detection runs on PSTN legs but never on browser clients.
  3. 3No answer falls through to voicemail: a greeting, a recording capped at 120 seconds, and a transcription callback.
  4. 4The voicemail lands in the conversation thread like a text would, and the missed call is recorded with its cause.
  5. 5The missed-call rescue and optional text-back fire immediately rather than after the beep.
Why we built it

The route exists because a bought number was mute: 'Until this route existed a call to any purchased number hit Twilio's default and dead-ended — a number that texts perfectly and hangs up on callers (FEAT-B22WCA).' Rep routing is its own correction (Keith 08-14): 'This used to ring every signed-in member of the org for every inbound call... That is right for a shared main line and wrong for a personal one: a rep builds their own relationships, and a customer ringing THEIR number should not land on a colleague's screen where anyone can pick it up.' There is also a browser-call bug recorded: a repeated form key let an empty value win, so 'every outbound call reached the webhook with no number and was answered with "No number was provided. Goodbye." — a hangup about a second after the rep hit Call.'

The problem
  • A purchased number dead-ended every caller.
  • Personal rep lines rang the whole office.
  • Voicemails lived outside the customer conversation.
  • A carrier voicemail box was indistinguishable from a real answer.
Sound familiar?
What you get
Calls ring the right person and are answerable in the browser.
Voicemails arrive transcribed, in the thread, alongside texts.
A missed call turns into an immediate text-back and a rescue task.

See it on your own jobs

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