Connecting your Twilio account

Calls and texts in Lodway run on your company's own Twilio account. Your number stays yours, Twilio bills you directly for the number and the minutes, and you can disconnect at any time. Lodway never buys numbers, changes your billing or creates sub-accounts on your Twilio account.

Once connected, everyone in your office who answers a number gets a phone inside Lodway:

• calls in and out on your business number, through a headset or the laptop's microphone;
• incoming calls that show who's ringing, and their live job, before anyone answers;
• voicemail when nobody picks up, played back in Lodway;
• every call and text recorded against the driver, customer or job it was about.

What you need

• A Twilio account. Sign up at twilio.com if you don't have one.
• A phone number in that account. In the Twilio console, buy one under Phone Numbers → Buy a number. A UK number needs your business address and proof of identity, which Twilio checks before the number works.
• A Lodway plan that includes calls and texts (the free trial has everything switched on).
• To be an administrator in your company's Lodway account.

Connect it

1. In Lodway, open Settings → Phone and text.
2. In the Twilio console, the Account SID and Auth Token are on the front page, under Account Info. Copy each into the box with the same name.
3. Press Connect. Lodway checks the details with Twilio, then sets up calling in the browser on your account (see below). If anything is wrong, the screen says what.
4. Your Twilio numbers are listed. Press Use this number beside the one to answer in Lodway. You're added as someone who answers it.
5. Under Who answers, add anyone else who should take calls on that number, and untick “Can dial out” for anyone who should only answer.

That's all. Each person who answers a number now has a phone button in the bottom corner of Lodway. The first time they make or take a call, their browser asks to use the microphone — they choose Allow.

What Lodway sets up on your Twilio account

So you know exactly what appears in your Twilio console, and why:

• An API key called “Lodway phone — calls in the browser”. It signs a short-lived pass (one hour) for each person's browser phone, so the browser never holds your Auth Token.
• A TwiML app called “Lodway phone”. When someone in your office starts a call, Twilio asks it what to do; Lodway answers by connecting the call from your number.
• Each number you choose has its incoming-call address, its call-status address and, if it takes texts, its incoming-text address pointed at Lodway. If the number had a TwiML app of its own for calls, that is taken off it so calls can reach Lodway.

Already have an API key and TwiML app you would rather use? Open Advanced on the connect form and enter them instead.

Keeping it safe

• Your Auth Token is encrypted before it is stored, and never shown again — not even to you.
• Every request from Twilio is checked against Twilio's signature before Lodway acts on it.
• Only people you've allowed to dial out on a number can call out on it.
• The phone only rings UK numbers, and refuses premium-rate (09) and personal (070) numbers.
• Call recording is off unless you switch it on for a number — and if you do, callers must be told.

Costs

Twilio charges your account directly for the number rental, call minutes and texts, at Twilio's own prices. Lodway adds nothing on top.

Disconnecting

1. In Lodway, open Settings → Phone and text and press Remove on the account. Lodway stops answering your numbers straight away.
2. In the Twilio console, point your number's calls and texts wherever you want them now, and delete the “Lodway phone” API key and TwiML app if you like — the search box at the top of the Twilio console finds both.

If something isn't working

• “Twilio rejected those credentials” — copy the Auth Token again (press Show beside it in Twilio first) and save.
• “Twilio sends this number's calls somewhere else” — press Send them to Lodway beside the number.
• The phone says the microphone is blocked — click the padlock beside the web address in the browser, allow the microphone, and try again.
• Calls go straight to voicemail — someone who answers the number needs Lodway open, with “Ring me for incoming calls” ticked in the phone panel.
• “Can't reach Twilio” — check the internet connection; the phone keeps trying by itself.

Still stuck? Email mateen@strategro.co.uk.