Verification and your text number

Why does texting need verification before I can send?

Phone carriers require every business that sends texts to be registered first. It is their rule, not ours, and it is what keeps business texting out of the spam bucket. HiveThread submits the registration for you using the business details you gave during signup, so there is no form to fill in twice and no button for you to press. If you chose to provide your verification details later during signup, nothing is submitted until you finish that step from the Complete your SMS verification banner in the app, or the link in the email we send you.

What gets submitted depends on where you are: in Australia it is a single sender registration. In the United States and Canada a toll-free number goes through toll-free verification, and a local number goes through the carriers' 10DLC process, which is slower and carries a one-time carrier registration fee (shown to you before you choose it, passed on at cost). You can see where yours is up to in Settings, then Verification.

How long does approval take and how will I know?

It depends on the country and the type of number, and carrier review times do vary:

• Australia: typically 1 to 3 business days.
• United States or Canada, toll-free number: typically 3 to 5 business days.
• United States or Canada, local number: typically 2 to 3 weeks, because the carriers review the messaging campaign as well as your business.

We email you as soon as your number is live, and Settings, then Verification, always shows the current status. Once it is submitted, nothing is needed from you while it is in review: if something does need fixing, we will get in touch. Those windows are the usual case, not a guarantee, so if yours has clearly run long, email [email protected] and we will chase it.

What can I do while my number is being verified?

Plenty. Connect Facebook Messenger and Instagram and you can start talking with customers straight away, since those channels do not need carrier approval. It is also a good time to invite your team, add your knowledge base so the AI drafts sound like you, and set up your auto-responders.

HiveThread does not hand out a temporary number to text from in the meantime. In the United States and Canada a toll-free number is reserved for you during signup and switches on the moment it is approved. In Australia you choose your number once your registration is approved, and we email you when it is time to pick.

Can I use my existing business number?

Not today. HiveThread sets up a new text number for your business as part of signup, and there is no self-serve way to move (port) your current number across. Your existing phone line keeps working exactly as it does now, and plenty of businesses run the two side by side: calls on the old number, texting on the HiveThread one.

If keeping your current number for texting really matters to you, email [email protected] with the number and who your provider is, and we will tell you honestly whether we can do anything about it.

Why can I receive texts but not send them yet?

That is verification still in progress. Your number can take incoming messages from the day it is reserved, so nothing a customer sends you gets lost, but the carriers will not carry your outgoing messages until the registration is approved. Sending switches on by itself at that point, and your website chat widget starts working then too.

Check Settings, then Verification, for the current status. If it says approved and sending is still blocked, work through my texts are not sending, since the cause is usually something else: the contact has opted out, your monthly text allowance is used up, or the number is in a different country from the one you are texting.