The phone channel is currently in Alpha state and not publicly available yet. Please reach out to your account manager if you want to test it.
You can find more information on requirements here, please read first:
Connect your phone number via SIP-Trunk
Learn in this tutorial how to set up your own AI Voice Agent for phone customer support. We guide you step-by-step to create an intelligent phone bot that handles calls naturally.
The calls are handled by one of your AI Agents in combination with your SIP provider. While you are technically able to have the same AI Agent handle phone and text-based conversations at the same time, we recommend to add a specific AI Agent to exclusively handle calls.
In addition to the requirements above, your organization has to confirm the "Data processing notice for voice agents" before voice agents can take calls. Voice agents are the AI Agents that answer your phone calls. If an AI Agent also handles text conversations, that part keeps working as before. If the notice changes, it has to be confirmed again; until then, phone channels take no calls (see the end of this page).
To confirm, your role needs "Edit" for "Chat settings". It also needs "Edit" for "Organizations", unless it is the Owner role. By default, the Owner and Manager roles meet both. Confirming applies to your whole organization; if your account has several organizations, each one confirms separately. If you cannot confirm, ask an operator whose role can, by default an Owner or a Manager.
Open Settings » Channels » Phone, as in the first step below. If you can confirm, the notice opens there by itself. It describes where the data of your voice agents is processed. Read it and click "Confirm and activate". The page then lists your phone channels. "Cancel" closes the notice without confirming. If nothing opens and the page lists your phone channels, your organization has already confirmed the notice. If the page shows "Voice agents not activated" instead, see the last section of this page.
First, create a new phone channel in your Lime Connect Dashboard.
- Navigate to Settings » Channels » Phone in your Lime Connect Account.
- Click the “+ Add” Button to create a new Phone Channel.
You can find explanations below the following screenshots (can be enlarged via double click):
General & Agent Configuration
The fields marked with an asterisk are required: "Channel name" and "AI Agent". The "Phone number" is optional.
- Channel name: Enter a descriptive internal name for this communication channel (e.g., Testing Voice Channel or Main Support Line).
- Phone number: Enter the phone number associated with this voice channel, including the country code (e.g., +49 221 12345678). The number is optional, see "Leaving the phone number empty" below. Once you enter one, the channel also needs SIP protection (see "SIP Trunking & Security Configuration" below).
- AI Agent: Select the specific AI Agent that will manage and answer incoming calls. Every AI Agent starts with a voice already chosen, so you can leave this as it is. To pick a different one, click the "Agent settings" button next to the select: it becomes active once an AI Agent is selected, and opens that agent in a new browser tab, on its "Voice" tab. The voice belongs to the AI Agent rather than to the channel, which is why this form has no field for it. It then applies to every phone channel this AI Agent answers.
- Primary call language: Choose the default language the AI Agent will use to open and conduct the conversation. This does not change the AI Agent's voice.
- Dynamically pick the language based on the caller’s country code: Toggle this on if you want the system to automatically match the call language to a supported main language derived from the caller’s country code. If no supported language matches the caller’s country code, the call uses your primary call language.
- Maximum call length (minutes): Define a time limit for how long the AI Agent can talk to a caller before the call automatically disconnects. Once the AI Agent hands a call to a colleague with "Stay on the line and transcribe", this limit no longer applies; such a call ends after 4 hours at the latest. If you leave the field empty, the limit shown as grey hint text inside the field applies. You can only enter a shorter value, never a longer one; a longer one is rejected when you save.
- End-of-call message: Type a custom closing statement for the AI to speak right before the call terminates at the maximum length. Leave blank to use the built-in system message.
- Message when AI Agent unavailable: Enter a fallback message (e.g., "We are not available at the moment. Please try again later") to be read to callers if the AI Agent cannot take the call.
Leaving the phone number empty. Leave the field empty to try the channel on the test page first. Such a channel is marked "Test only". It takes test calls from your browser (open the channel and click "Test call", see "How do I test my phone channel from the browser?" below), but no calls from your SIP provider, because no SIP trunk exists for it. In the channel overview under Settings » Channels » Phone, "Test only" appears in the "Phone number" column instead of the number.
To take real calls, open the channel, enter the number and click "Save". Calls to the number then reach the AI Agent. If you clear the number of a channel again, it becomes test only, and calls to that number no longer reach the AI Agent. In test calls on a channel without a number, the AI Agent cannot use a transfer call action set to "Stay on the line and transcribe"; an action set to "Forward the call" still works.
SIP Trunking & Security Configuration
These settings apply to channels that have a phone number. A channel without a number has no SIP trunk, so it needs no SIP username, password or allowed source address. The SIP Trunk Address below is shown on every channel, but it only works once the channel has a number. Once you enter a number, the channel needs either a SIP username and a password, or at least one allowed SIP source address; otherwise the form refuses to save it, because it would accept calls from anyone.
- SIP Trunk Address: Point your telecom/SIP provider to the provided URL to route inbound calls. Note that your provider must connect over TLS and send SRTP-encrypted media. Find more information here: ‣
- SIP username: Enter the authentication username provided or required to secure your SIP trunk connection.
- SIP password: Enter the security password for your SIP trunking credentials. Leave blank if you are updating settings and want to keep your current password.
- Allowed SIP source addresses: Input the trusted IP addresses or CIDR blocks if you want to have an extra security layer to your setup. This ensures only your official provider can connect. (Note: Ranges wider than /8 for IPv4 or /29 for IPv6 are rejected for security reasons.)
How do I test my phone channel from the browser?
Once you have created the phone channel with "Create", or saved your changes with "Save", you can test it with a test call: you talk to its AI Agent straight from your browser, using your computer's microphone and speakers, and read a transcript as you go. You do not need a phone for it, and it also works for a channel without a phone number.
Test calls are billed like real calls, and the AI Agent's actions really run. That is because a test call is handled like a real call to the channel, except that nothing is dialled: your browser takes the caller's place. Each test call appears under Connect AI » Execution history » AI Agent, with a reserved test number as the caller that belongs to no real phone (see "Test caller number" below). Your SIP provider is not involved in a test call, so to check that your number can be reached from outside, still call it from a real phone once the channel has a number.
A test call needs the following:
- Channel: The phone channel is saved, not locked, and connected to an AI Agent that is active and not locked. A channel is locked when your plan does not include phone channels. An AI Agent is locked when your plan does not cover it, for example when you have more AI Agents than your plan allows.
- Role: Your role needs "Edit" for "Chat settings", the same as for editing the channel. By default, the Owner, Manager and Admin roles have it. If your organization has not confirmed the data processing notice yet, an Owner or a Manager has to confirm it first: by default, an Admin can test but cannot confirm.
- Data processing notice: Your organization has confirmed the "Data processing notice for voice agents" (see the notice at the top of this page).
- Microphone: Your computer has a microphone and speakers, or a headset. Your browser asks for microphone access when the call starts.
- Number of calls: You can start up to 20 test calls per hour, and your organization up to 60 per hour.
After you create a channel, the page returns to the list of your phone channels. Open the channel you want to test there and click "Test call" at the top right. The button is only on the page of a saved channel, not in the form for a new one. If it is greyed out, hover over it to see why (see the next section).
The test page has two tabs, "Chat" (not needed here) and "Phone". It opens in a new browser tab on its "Phone" tab, with your channel picked under "Phone channel".
Under "Test caller number", pick the number you call from. The list has one reserved test number per language, each shown with the flag of its country, for example +49 000000000 for German. Type a language name to find its number. When the page opens, the number for the channel's primary call language is picked. If "Dynamically pick the language based on the caller’s country code" is on in the channel, the AI Agent answers in the language of the picked number's country, which is how you test other languages. Otherwise it always answers in the channel's primary call language. A note above the pickers says which of the two applies. Finnish has no test number: for a channel whose primary call language is Finnish, the page opens with the German number. With the language switch off, the AI Agent still answers in Finnish, and the note reads "The AI Agent always answers in Finnish."; with it on, it answers in the language of the number you pick, so Finnish cannot be tested that way.
On the right, a phone illustration shows which AI Agent you will speak with, in which language and with which voice. Click "Start call" and allow microphone access when your browser asks.
The phone shows "Calling…" until the AI Agent answers, which can take a few seconds. The AI Agent has answered when the phone stops showing "Calling…" and starts counting the call duration. If it has not answered after 20 seconds, the call stops with an error (see the next section). The AI Agent speaks first and greets you. Wait until the greeting has finished before you speak: until then, the AI Agent does not hear you. Then talk to it as a caller would. Under "Transcript", your words and its answers appear as you speak. A separate transcription model creates this transcript, so the text may differ from what the AI Agent understood.
"Mute" turns your microphone off until you click "Unmute". "End call" hangs up. Like a real call, a test call also ends at the latest when the channel's maximum call length is reached, unless the AI Agent has handed it to a colleague with "Stay on the line and transcribe". After a call has ended, the phone shows "Call ended" and the "Call again" button. After a call has failed, it shows "Call failed", the "Try again" button and the "Open channel settings" link. The transcript stays until you start the next test call. If you close the browser tab or leave the test page, the call ends; switching to the test page's "Chat" tab does not end it.
What if my test call does not work?
Your account manager helps with anything that depends on your plan or on Alpha access, such as a locked channel or AI Agent or access to the phone channel. Support helps when a test call fails although everything is set up. To reach support, click the "Help" icon at the bottom of the side panel in the Message Center and choose "Contact support". Tell them the time of the call, the channel name and, if there is one, the call's entry under Connect AI » Execution history » AI Agent.
Before the call:
- The "Test call" button is greyed out: Hovering over it shows why. "This channel is locked." means your plan does not include phone channels; contact your account manager. "This channel is not live." means no AI Agent is connected; pick one under "AI Agent" and click "Save".
- "Phone testing isn’t available for your organization yet.": This text appears instead of the tabs. You reach it through a link to a phone test, for example a saved link, not through the "Test call" button. It means the phone channel is not enabled for your organization. During the Alpha, the phone channel needs two things: the "Early access" option, which only an Owner can switch on in the organization's settings under Settings » Account » Organizations, and our activation. Contact your account manager.
- "This channel has no AI Agent connected. Connect one in Channel settings.": This warning on the "Phone" tab greys out "Start call". Its link opens the channel's settings: pick an AI Agent under "AI Agent", click "Save", then click "Start call".
- "This channel’s AI Agent is locked. See AI Agent settings.": Your plan locks the AI Agent, so it cannot be enabled. Contact your account manager.
- "This channel’s AI Agent is deactivated. Activate it in AI Agent settings.": The link opens your AI Agents under Connect AI » Setups » AI Agent, where this AI Agent has the status "Disabled". Choose "Enable" in its row, then click "Start call".
After you click "Start call":
- "Microphone access is blocked. Allow it for this page in your browser settings, then try again.": Your browser does not let the test page use the microphone. This warning can also appear before you click, if the browser already blocks the microphone for the page. Allow access in the browser's settings for this page, then click "Try again" (or "Start call").
- "Microphone access is blocked by your system’s privacy settings. Allow this browser in your system settings, then try again.": Your operating system does not let the browser use the microphone. Allow the browser in the system's privacy settings, then click "Try again".
- "No microphone was found. Connect one and try again.": The browser finds no microphone. Connect one, then click "Try again".
- "Your microphone is in use by another application. Close it and try again.": Another application, such as a video meeting, holds the microphone. Close it, then click "Try again".
- "You’ve started many test calls in a short time. Try again in a few minutes.": You started 20 test calls within the past hour, or your organization 60. The limit counts the last 60 minutes, so you can start the next call as soon as the earliest of those calls is an hour old, then click "Try again". A start that a microphone error stopped does not count, because the microphone is checked before the call is requested; every other start counts, even if the call then fails. Calls that reached the AI Agent are listed with their start time under Connect AI » Execution history » AI Agent.
During the call:
- "The AI Agent didn’t answer the call. Please try again. If it keeps happening, contact support.": The call connected, but the AI Agent did not answer within 20 seconds. Click "Try again"; if it keeps happening, contact support.
- "The AI Agent couldn’t start the call. Please try again in a few minutes. If it keeps happening, contact support.": The AI Agent ended the call before saying anything, for example because a service it needs is unavailable. Wait a few minutes, then click "Try again"; if it keeps happening, contact support.
- "The AI Agent can’t hear you" and "We can’t hear you": The two warnings sound alike. The first means your browser lost access to the microphone during the call: allow access again, then click "Restart microphone" in the warning; the call keeps running. The second means the microphone is connected and not muted but picks up nothing: check that it works. Neither warning ends the call.
- "Your browser blocked the AI Agent’s audio. Click “Play audio” to hear it.": Your browser refused to play the AI Agent's voice. Click "Play audio" in the warning.
- "Something went wrong with the test call. Please try again.": The connection could not be made or was lost. This can appear right after you click "Start call" or during the call. Click "Try again". If it appears right at the start every time, check your role and the data processing notice at the top of this page.
How many phone calls can run at the same time?
Your account can have a limited number of phone calls running at once, counted over all your phone channels and organizations. By default the limit is 5 calls; your account manager can set a different one for your account. A call counts from the moment it reaches the AI Agent until it ends, so test calls count too. If a transfer call action set to "Forward the call" passes the call on, its slot is free again as soon as the call is forwarded. With "Stay on the line and transcribe", the call keeps its slot until the caller and your colleague hang up, which can be up to 4 hours.
While the limit is reached, a new caller does not reach the AI Agent. The caller hears the message saved in the channel under "Message when AI Agent unavailable" (see "General & Agent Configuration" above). A channel without one plays the built-in message. As soon as a running call ends, the next caller gets through again.
The refused call appears under Connect AI » Execution history » AI Agent as a missed call. Click it to open its details. They show the "Phone channel", the "Caller", the "Reason" and the "Started at" time. The reason reads "Concurrent calls limit reached. Your account allows 5 calls at the same time. Please contact your account manager to increase your concurrent calls limit." with the limit of your account in place of 5.
To raise the limit, contact your account manager. You cannot change it yourself.
What does "Voice agents not activated" mean?
Your organization has not confirmed the "Data processing notice for voice agents" yet. To fix it, click "Review notice" and confirm. If there is no button, ask an operator whose role can confirm, by default an Owner or a Manager.
Until the notice is confirmed, Settings » Channels » Phone shows the heading "Voice agents not activated" instead of your phone channels, and the following applies:
- Phone channels cannot be added or changed.
- Existing phone channels do not take calls. Callers hear the message saved in the channel under "Message when AI Agent unavailable" (see "General & Agent Configuration" above). A channel without one plays the built-in message for this case.
- The refused calls appear under Connect AI » Execution history » AI Agent with the reason "Data processing notice not confirmed".
- In Connect AI » Setups » AI Agent, the "Voice" tab of each AI Agent shows the same heading. The notice opens there by itself as well and can be confirmed there.
Once the notice is confirmed, the channels take calls again.
If you can confirm, the notice opens by itself on every visit to the page until it is confirmed. If you closed it with "Cancel", the "Review notice" button opens it again.