Dedicated numbers
A UK mobile number of your own
Every account texts from shared UK mobile numbers by default. A dedicated number is yours alone: every text goes out from it, anyone can text it first, and nobody else ever sees what arrives.
What is a dedicated virtual mobile number?
A dedicated virtual mobile number is a UK mobile number reserved for one business. In CaptiFi Connect your one-to-one texts go out from it, replies to it reach only your account, and people can text it first, so keywords work from posters and adverts. It costs 250 credits a month, taken from your balance, and you can give it up at any time.
Shared numbers and dedicated numbers
By default your one-to-one texts go out from a pool of UK mobile numbers that several accounts share. That works well for conversations you start: a reply comes back to the number that texted, we match it to the account that texted that person in the last 30 days, and it lands in your inbox. What a shared number cannot do is take a text from someone you have never texted, because we would not know whose it was.
A dedicated number fixes that. It is assigned to your account and no one else. Every text you send without a sender name goes from it, every text sent to it is yours whoever it comes from, and the number on the poster is the number people reply to, year after year.
What a dedicated number gives you
A dedicated number is the right choice when any of these matter:
- Keyword opt-ins from anyone: put "Text JOIN to 07412 000001" on a flyer and new people can text in cold.
- One number for your business that customers can save, so your texts always come from the same place.
- A private inbox: texts to the number reach your account only, however they arrive.
- A consistent reply number on sender-name texts, when you put the number in the message.
- Conversations that never move between numbers, even when the shared pool is busy.
How to get one, and what it costs
Ask for a number under Numbers in the dashboard and tell us what it is for. We set one up on our network and assign it to your account, usually within two working days, and email you when it is live. From then on your sends use it automatically.
A dedicated number costs 250 credits a month, taken from your balance on the day it is assigned and on the same day each month, which is about £10 at the Starter pack rate and less on bigger packs. There is no setup fee and no minimum term. Give it up from the Numbers page and the charge stops at the end of the month you have paid for.
Each account can have more than one dedicated number, for example one per branch, and texts sent from the dashboard can pick which one to use.
How a dedicated number reaches phones
Dedicated numbers are real UK mobile numbers on our own gateways, so a text from one looks and behaves like a text from any mobile: it shows the number, it can be replied to, and it can be saved as a contact. Campaigns and texts sent under a sender name still travel on our business messaging route, because that is what is built for volume.
The number can send a few hundred texts a day. For a big list, run a campaign and put the dedicated number in the text for replies.
Questions people ask
How much is a dedicated number?
250 credits a month, taken from your balance. At the Starter pack rate that is about £10 a month, and it is less on bigger packs. No setup fee, no minimum term.
How long does it take to get one?
Usually within two working days of asking. We set the number up on our network, assign it to your account and email you when it is live.
Can people text my dedicated number first?
Yes. That is the main reason to have one. Anyone can text it, whether or not you have texted them, and the text goes straight to your inbox. Keywords work on it from posters, adverts and websites.
Do I still need a sender name?
Only if you want texts to show your business name instead of a number. Many businesses use both: the name for one-way campaigns, the number for anything that needs a reply.
Can I choose the number?
Not yet. We assign the next available UK mobile number. Tell us if you need more than one and we will set them up together.
What happens if I give it up?
The number is released at the end of the month you have paid for, your sends go back to the shared pool, and the number is rested before it is ever reused.
Send your first text this week
Set up your account and contacts now; we check every new account before it can send.