Call Masking: let technicians call customers without exposing numbers

Call Masking puts a company number between your technicians and your customers: the tech dials through Dispatch Bros, the customer's phone shows your masking number, and neither side ever sees the other's real number. Techs can't take your customers with them, and customers can't ring your tech's personal cell at midnight. You manage it all in Phone System → Masking — a master switch, a dedicated masking number per job source, and smart rules for what happens when the customer calls back.

Before you start

• You need owner or admin access (or a role with settings edit permission) to change masking settings.
• Each job source you want masked needs a spare LOCAL number to act as its dedicated masking line. The number can't be your main line, can't be toll-free, and can't be assigned to a call flow — the page sums it up: "No eligible numbers." means every number you own is already doing another job. Buy a number if you need one.
• Masking is organized per job source, so each brand keeps its own caller identity.

Step 1 — Turn on the master switch

1. Open Phone System in the left sidebar, then the Masking tab.
2. In the Call Masking header card, flip the Masking toggle on. The status chip switches to "Live" once masking is actually routing (it shows the blocking reason when something still needs setup, and "Off" while disabled).

Step 2 — Give each job source a dedicated masking number

Under Masking per job source, every active source has a row:

1. Pick a number in the dropdown (it starts on "No dedicated masking number"). Only eligible numbers appear — spare local lines with no call flow. No spare number? Click Buy masking number to jump to the Numbers tab with this source pre-selected; the first local number you buy is assigned back here automatically.
2. Flip the row's toggle on. It stays disabled until a number is assigned — hover shows "Assign a dedicated masking number first".
3. The row confirms what your customer will see: "Customer sees" followed by the masking number.

Step 3 — Choose what happens when a customer calls back

In the When a customer calls back card, turn on smart callback and pick a routing rule:

• "Forward to assigned technician" — the customer connects directly to their tech.
• "Forward to the number that called the customer" — rings the exact phone the tech used, even one not in the system.
• "Forward to company number" — the customer goes through your normal call flow (IVR, ring team, etc). Optionally enter a specific fallback number, or leave it blank to use your main call flow.

Then set Reach the tech for up to — the window (15 minutes to 24 hours) during which the customer and tech can keep reaching each other through the masked number. It applies to calls AND texts: after the window, callbacks follow your fallback, and masked texts are held for your team in Messages instead of being relayed to the tech.

Click Save routing. The What happens when someone calls card shows live previews of each scenario — staff caller, known customer, unknown caller — that mirror the runtime routing exactly.

What your customer sees

An outbound call or text from the technician arrives from your masking number — a consistent company line per job source — never the tech's cell. When they call or text that number back inside the window, they reach the right person without ever learning a personal number.

Troubleshooting

• The status chip shows "Disabled by platform" — masking is switched off at the platform level for your account; the page says "Contact your Dispatch Bros administrator to enable it."
• A source's toggle won't turn on — no dedicated number is assigned. Pick one in the dropdown or click Buy masking number.
• A source row warns "Pick a dedicated number to mask" — masking is on for the source but its number went away (released or repurposed). Assign a new one.
• The dropdown is empty — every number you own is your primary line, toll-free, or attached to a call flow. A masking number must be a spare local number that isn't answering incoming calls; buy or free one in Numbers.
• The smart callback toggle refuses with "Enable Call Masking first" — the master Masking toggle at the top is off. Turn it on before configuring callbacks.
• A customer called the masked number after the window and got the main line — that's the designed fallback. Lengthen Reach the tech for up to if your jobs run longer than the current window.