Transferring your number
Moving a phone number is not a setting we switch on. It takes the number away from your current provider and hands it to us, and that has consequences worth understanding first. Here is everything we do, everything you do, and what changes the day it happens.
You do not have to move your number to use an AI receptionist. Most people start by keeping their number exactly where it is and forwarding their calls instead. Both routes are below, side by side.
A receptionist who works every hour of the day, answers the way you would, and hands you only the calls that deserve your attention.
Evenings, weekends, holidays, while you are driving or with a customer. No voicemail, no missed call, no caller hanging up to phone a competitor.
You tell us how calls should go: how it greets people, what it says about your products, prices and lead times, which questions it asks, what it refuses to answer. We write that into its call plan with you. Change your mind later and we change it.
Real customer, transferred to you, with who is calling and why said out loud before you answer. Price shopper, supplier, robocall: handled, or taken as a message you read when it suits you.
Each call arrives written down, with the caller's number, what they wanted and what was promised. Nothing is lost because you could not write while driving.
Your callers are served in the language they open with. Your assistant, your voice, both languages.
Your line and your call records live in our Canadian data centre, under Canadian privacy law.
Route 1 - keep your number where it is
You stay with your current provider. We give your AI receptionist its own number, and you forward your calls to it with one code dialled on your phone. Nothing moves, nothing is released, and you undo it with another code. You can be running the same day.
Best if you still want to answer your own phone first, or you simply want to try the AI.
See the forwarding codes →Route 2 - move your number to us
Your existing number leaves your current provider and lives with us. Every caller reaches the AI first, and it transfers to you the calls you want. This is the only route where the AI answers absolutely every call to your current number. It is also the one that takes that number off your cell plan.
Best if your number is your business line and you want it answered every time, 24/7.
The six steps are below →Who does what, and roughly how long each part takes. Step 5 is the one people are not expecting, so read that one twice.
We ask for the name and account number exactly as they appear on your latest bill, the service address, your account PIN if your provider uses one, and a copy of that bill from the last 90 days. You then sign the letter of authorization by typing your legal name.
Why so exact: a single mismatched character is the most common reason a provider rejects a transfer.
We send a link to your email address and a six-digit code by text to the number being transferred. Both must be completed. This is how we prove the request came from the person who holds the line, and not from someone trying to steal a number.
If that number cannot receive a text, tell us and we verify with you by phone instead.
A person on our side reads your form against your bill before anything leaves our hands. Nothing is filed automatically, and nothing is filed while you still have questions. If something is wrong or missing, we come back to you first.
You can stop the whole thing at this point by writing to us. Nothing has reached your provider yet.
They compare every detail to their own record and either accept the request or reject it. When they accept, they confirm the date and time the number will move. We write to you with that date as soon as we have it.
A date you chose on the form is a request, not a promise. Only your provider can confirm it, and we will never present a requested date to you as a confirmed one.
This step is yours, and the transfer is not much use without it. Once your number moves to us it is no longer on your cell plan, so your phone needs a number of its own. Call your carrier and ask for a new number on your existing plan. Then send it to us, because that is where your AI receptionist will transfer the calls you want to take.
Do this before the transfer date. If we do not have your new number on the day, the AI will answer your callers correctly but will have nowhere to reach you, and it will take messages instead of transferring.
On the confirmed date your number leaves your old provider and arrives with us. There is a short window, usually minutes, where a caller may not get through. We then activate your assistant on that number with the call plan we wrote together, point its transfers at your new number, and call it with you to hear it work.
Your 14-day free trial starts here, the day your line is actually live, and billing follows the trial. Waiting on a transfer costs you no trial days.
This is the part the legal authorization form does not say in plain words.
| Today | After the transfer | |
|---|---|---|
| Who provides the number | Your current carrier | MapleReceptionist, billed through your MapleWorkSuite account |
| The number in your phone | This number | A new number you get from your carrier |
| Who answers a caller first | You, or your voicemail | Your AI receptionist, every time |
| Your personal texts on this number | Yes | No. They move to your new number |
| Your bill from your old carrier | Includes this line | This line ends. Ask them about final charges |
Tell us how you want your calls handled and we will tell you honestly which route fits, including when the answer is to leave your number exactly where it is. We write your assistant's call plan with you either way.
Send a note straight to the team. We read every one and fix bugs fast.
🏆 Find a real bug? We pay a bounty — credit toward Maple products or services for any valid bug.
