Voice minutes and phone numbers

Voice lets people talk to your bot instead of typing, either through the call button in your website widget or by ringing a number on the phone channel. Both draw from the same voice add-on, which measures call time in minutes. Anything the bot does during a call (looking things up, running power-ups) also uses your plan's message tokens.

You buy and manage voice on your billing page under Voice calls.

Packs and minutes

Monthly examples

These prices are added to your Chat Thing plan and exclude applicable taxes. Your existing phone carrier may charge you for forwarding calls to your Chat Thing number. Subscriptions bought before the switch to 60-minute packs keep their original price and allowance, shown on the billing page.

Launch offer

When a launch offer is running, eligible teams get $5 off their first voice invoice (for example, one pack costs $5 in the first month, then $10/month). The discount applies once per team, however many packs you buy. Phone numbers and your main plan aren't discounted. Your billing page shows whether you're eligible and the amount before checkout. Cancelling and subscribing again doesn't reset eligibility.

Phone numbers

• Phone numbers for the phone channel cost $5 a month per number. They're added to your voice subscription and charged pro rata from the day you get the number.
• You need a voice subscription before you can rent a number.
• Numbers are available in the United States and the United Kingdom.
• Releasing a number stops calls to it immediately and adjusts the charge on your next invoice. Chat Thing holds a released number for seven days in case you need it back.

How minutes are counted

• When a call starts, it reserves up to the bot's Maximum call duration (1 to 15 minutes) from your allowance, or less if your team's remaining minutes, the bot's monthly limit or the time left in the billing period is smaller. This stops two callers spending the same minutes at once. The call ends when its reserved time runs out, and the bot starts wrapping up 30 seconds before. When the call ends, only the time actually used is kept and the rest goes back.
• A call needs at least 30 seconds of allowance to start.
• Call time includes silences and pauses while the bot is thinking.
• On the phone channel, time a person on your team spends on a call (after a transfer, or when Ring me first puts a call through to your phone) uses minutes at half rate: two minutes of talking uses one minute of your allowance. Those calls can last up to an hour.
• If your minutes run out, Ring me first still rings your phone. Only the bot stops answering. If you're low on minutes, a call you answer isn't cut short: it uses whatever minutes are left.
• Your billing page shows minutes used this period and minutes currently reserved by calls in progress.
• A per-bot monthly limit (set in the website or phone channel settings) caps what that bot can use, but doesn't set minutes aside for it. Every bot still draws from the same team allowance.

Free test minutes

The phone channel's shared test line gives every team whose plan includes the phone channel 10 free test minutes a month, tracked separately from your voice packs. You can use them without a voice subscription or a rented number. They reset on the 1st of each month (UTC).

Add minutes now

If you run low before your allowance renews, you can buy more packs and use the minutes straight away.

1. Go to Billing and find Voice calls, then Add minutes now.
2. Set Packs to add now. The button shows what you get and what it costs, for example Add 60 minutes now for $10.
3. Leave Also add these packs to every month ticked if you want the same packs on every renewal, or untick it to buy for this month only.
4. Select the Add ... minutes now button, check the summary, then select Confirm and pay. Your saved card is charged straight away.

How it works:

• Each pack costs the full pack price (the same as one pack in your subscription, for example $10). It isn't prorated for the days left, and the launch offer doesn't apply. Phone numbers aren't affected.
• The minutes are added to your current allowance as soon as the payment goes through, and the remaining minutes on the billing page update straight away. They expire when this period's allowance ends, like the rest of your minutes. They don't roll over.
• A pack added now gives the same number of minutes as a pack in your subscription, so a subscription that began with larger packs adds larger packs.
• If Also add these packs to every month is ticked, your monthly packs go up by the same number once the payment succeeds. That change applies from your next renewal, with no second charge today. You can have up to 100 monthly packs in total, so the tick box is unavailable if adding them would go over.
• Nothing is added unless the payment succeeds. If your card is declined, nothing is charged or added. If your bank asks you to confirm the payment, you get a link to do so. Minutes are added when you finish. Complete it within an hour: after that the attempt is cancelled and you can start again.
• You can't add minutes while your renewal payment is pending, if your voice subscription has a failed payment, or if you have complimentary voice. Wait for the renewal to complete or fix your payment method, then try again. If you cancelled voice renewal, you can still add minutes for the current period but can't add them to every month.
• Only team owners can open the billing page, so only an owner can add minutes.

Change or cancel voice

1. Go to Billing and find Voice calls.
2. To start, choose your Monthly packs and select Enable voice. You'll finish payment in checkout.
3. To change the number of packs for future months, set Monthly packs and select Update packs for next month.
4. To stop, select Cancel voice renewal.

What each change does:

• More monthly packs take effect at your next renewal. They don't add minutes to the current period. To get minutes now, use Add minutes now.
• Fewer packs also apply from the next renewal.
• Cancelling stops the add-on renewing. Your remaining minutes stay usable until the end of the paid period, and any rented phone numbers stop with it.
• If your main Chat Thing plan ends, the voice add-on ends with it.

Who can manage voice billing

The voice add-on is managed from the Billing page, which only the team owner can open. The owner buys, changes or cancels it there. Owners and admins rent and release phone numbers in the phone channel's Phone number section. Other team members can see the remaining allowance in the channel settings and can ask the owner to manage it. See Teams and roles.