---
title: "Number rotation"
description: "Three tabs. Each one picks the number a text or call goes out on."
---
> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://guides.channelautomations.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Number rotation
[Open original guide with interactive examples →](/originals/number-rotation/)
**The short version** Open **Number Rotation** from the dock (under **More**) or the app launcher. It has three tabs: **SMS**, **AI voice** and **Human dialing**. Each tab is a separate system with its own rules, and turning one on never changes the other two. Owners and admins can change them.
When one phone number sends every text and makes every call, it takes all the risk. The busier it gets, the sooner carriers start filtering its texts or showing "Spam Likely" on its calls, and then every conversation on it suffers at once. Number Rotation shares the work across several of your numbers, can give people a number with a local area code, and takes a struggling number out of use before it does more damage.
**Rotation is not a way around carrier filtering.** It spreads volume; it doesn't hide anything. If texts are being blocked because of what they say, rotating numbers won't fix that, so change the message instead. All the numbers you text from should be registered under the same messaging campaign.
## The three tabs at a glance
Tab 1
### SMS
Which number a board **texts** a new lead from.
Picks
Once, when the lead arrives
Same number?
Yes, for life
Nothing free?
Uses the board's usual number
Tab 2
### AI voice
Which number an **AI calling campaign** calls from.
Picks
On every call
Same number?
No
Nothing free?
The campaign waits
Tab 3
### Human dialing
Which number an **agent's call** goes out on.
Picks
On every call
Same number?
First call: their texting number
Nothing free?
Call still goes out
| If this happens… | …then |
| --- | --- |
| A number is **parked** for texting problems | It also sits out of agent call rotation until it's back. |
| The SMS tab gives a lead a number | That's normally the number your agent's first call to them uses too, so the lead sees one familiar number. |
| You change an AI caller pool | Nothing changes for texting or for agent calls. |
## Follow a number: what happens, step by step
Pick a tab to see the order of decisions, from the moment a lead arrives or a call starts.
**SMS** **AI voice** **Human dialing**
## Try it: send leads into an SMS box
A board with three numbers in its box. Send new leads in, then park a number and watch what changes. Leads that already have a number keep it.
Strategy **Send a new lead** **Park (312) number** **Reset**
Press "Send a new lead" to start.
## SOP 1: Set up SMS rotation for a board
**Use it when** one board sends a lot of texts, or your leads come from many area codes. If a board only ever needs one number, leave the box off and nothing changes.
1. **Open Number Rotation → SMS.** Under **Board number boxes**, boards that already rotate come first. Click **Show** next to _boards without rotation_ to find yours. Shortcut: open the board in **Lead Intake**, click its gear, and press **Set up rotation** on the **Number rotation** card. It jumps straight to that board.
2. **Click Set up rotation** on the board.
3. **Tick at least 2 numbers.** Each row shows the number's state, its recent delivery, and whether another board already uses it. Search by number, area code or state (e.g. 414 or WI). Two to five is typical. Use numbers registered under the same messaging campaign.
4. **Choose a Strategy** (table below) and click **Turn on rotation**. The button stays grey until 2 numbers are picked, so a board can never be switched on with nothing to rotate.
5. **Check the safety rules** under **Auto-park rules** (they apply to every board): **Park on carrier filtering**, **Park on low delivery**, **Daily send cap** and **Cooldown before re-entry**. The defaults suit most accounts. Click **Save changes**.
6. **Confirm it worked.** After a few new leads come in, the board's card shows **contacts on it** growing on each number, and the activity feed shows each assignment.
| Strategy | How it picks a number for a new lead | Good for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Weighted by health** (default) | Favors numbers with the best recent delivery, so a struggling number gets fewer new leads. | Most boards |
| **Round-robin** | Simple turn-taking: each new lead gets the number that's waited longest. | Even, predictable spread |
| **Local presence** | Picks a number in the lead's area code when the box has one, otherwise falls back to weighted. | Leads from many states |
| Safety rule | Default | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Park on carrier filtering** | more than 5% filtered over 6 hours | Takes a number out of rotation when carriers start blocking its texts. |
| **Park on low delivery** | under 85% delivered over 24 hours | Takes a number out when too many texts fail to arrive. |
| **Daily send cap** | 2,000 texts a day per number | A number at its cap stops getting new leads until its volume drops. |
| **Cooldown before re-entry** | 24 hours | How long an automatically parked number rests before it comes back by itself. |
A number needs at least 25 texts in the window before a rule can park it, so one bad text never parks a number. The last working number in your account is never parked automatically.
**Good to know.** Rotation applies to leads that arrive through your lead webhooks. Contacts you import, create by hand, or who text you first keep the number they came in on.
## SOP 2: Set up an AI caller pool
**Use it when** an AI campaign makes enough calls that one number would wear out. A pool gives the campaign a set of numbers with a daily budget and a minimum gap on each.
1. **Open Number Rotation → AI voice.** Type a name and press **Create pool**.
2. **Add numbers.** Use **Load available** to add numbers you already own, **Import** to bring in one that already answers for your AI agent, or **Create a number** to make a new one in an area code you choose. A number must have an AI agent answering callbacks, so anyone who calls back reaches someone.
3. **Set each number's budget:** a **daily cap** (calls per day) and **spacing** (the minimum gap between two calls from that number). A number you add to two pools shares one budget, so it's never double-counted.
4. **Pick the pool's distribution** (table below).
5. **Attach the pool.** In the AI campaign builder, choose the pool under **Caller selection**. You can only change this while the campaign is a draft. In a flow, choose the pool in the **Voice AI Call** action.
6. **Watch the first day.** The pool shows **Reserved today** and each number's calls against its cap.
| Distribution | How it picks |
| --- | --- |
| **Balanced by remaining allowance** | The number with the most of its daily cap left goes next. |
| **Local presence** | A number in the area code being called goes first; otherwise balanced. |
| **Adaptive by human answers** | Favors numbers people actually pick up. Until enough calls have been sorted into "person" or "machine", it behaves like balanced. |
| Number state | Can it call? | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **active** | Yes | Normal. |
| **activating** | Not yet | A new number still being switched on. It joins by itself once it's live. |
| **watch** | Yes | Fewer people are picking up than before. It's being watched. |
| **cooldown** | No | The drop held up, so the number is resting. |
| **trial** | Yes, up to 3 a day | Back from rest on a small budget while it proves itself. |
| **parked** | No | Taken out by a person. Only a person can bring it back. |
**A pool never cheats.** If every number is at its cap or inside its spacing gap, the campaign waits and tries again a minute later. It never calls from a number outside the pool. If a call's outcome is unclear, for example the phone system didn't confirm it, the contact is held in **Needs review** rather than called twice.
## SOP 3: Set up Human dialing rotation
**Use it when** your agents call the same people several times, or make many calls a day from the same few numbers. It's **off** until you turn it on.
1. **Open Number Rotation → Human dialing** (the same controls are also under **Settings → Contact Center → Number rotation**).
2. **Press Check numbers** if the table shows numbers as **unchecked**. This confirms which numbers can place calls and which ones ring back to your team. Nothing is added, removed or renamed.
3. **Turn on Rotate the caller ID for outbound calls.**
4. **Set Daily limit per number.** The default is `12`. When a number reaches it, rotation stops choosing that number for the day.
5. **Leave Don't repeat a number to the same person on** unless you have a reason not to. From the second call on, the contact gets a number they haven't seen.
6. **Choose a Distribution** (table below).
7. **Confirm it worked.** Make a test call, then open **Recent Calls**. Under the call you'll see "via" and the number used, with a tag for how it was chosen.
| Distribution | First call to a person | Later calls |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Balanced by remaining allowance** | The number they already text with, so they recognize you. | A number they haven't seen, choosing the least-used one. |
| **Local presence** | A number in their area code, if you have one. | Another local number they haven't seen; otherwise balanced. |
| Status in the table | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **ok** / **near limit** / **at limit** | How much of today's limit the number has used. |
| **unchecked** | Not confirmed yet. Press **Check numbers**. |
| **SMS only** | It can text but can't place calls, so it stays out. |
| **answers elsewhere** | Calls back to this number ring a different phone system, not your team, so it isn't used as a caller ID. |
**It never blocks a call.** If every number is at its limit, the agent's call still goes out on your usual number. If you use a caller ID intelligence service, that service picks first, and rotation only steps in when it doesn't.
## When a number is parked
- **New leads skip it.** A parked number gets no new SMS leads and isn't chosen for agent calls.
- **Existing conversations continue.** Contacts already on that number keep texting with it, so nobody gets a message from a strange number mid-conversation.
- **Automatic parks come back by themselves** after the cooldown. If the number is still unhealthy, it gets parked again.
- **Manual parks stay parked** until someone clicks **Unpark**.
- **Moving existing contacts off a bad number** is a separate, deliberate change. Ask your account manager.
## Your weekly routine (5 minutes)
| Check | Where | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Any numbers parked? | SMS tab → **Parked** tile and the activity feed | Read the reason. Filtering usually means a message needs rewording, not a new number. |
| Is one number doing all the work? | SMS tab → board cards (**contacts on it** per number) | Add numbers to the box or switch to round-robin. |
| Numbers hitting their limit every day? | Human dialing → per-number table | Add numbers. Raise the limit only if you're confident about your call reputation. |
| AI campaign stalled? | AI voice → pool → **Reserved today** and **Needs review** | Add a number, raise a cap, or resolve held calls. |
| Local presence working? | Human dialing → area codes covered | If all your numbers share one area code, only those leads get a local match. Add numbers where you call. |
## Troubleshooting
| What you see | Likely cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| New leads all get the same number | The box is off, has one number, or the others are parked or at their cap. | Check the board's card in the SMS tab. |
| A new lead got no texts | Every number in the box and the board's usual number were parked, so no number was assigned. | Unpark or add a healthy number, then ask support to assign that lead a number. |
| A number is parked for filtering | Carriers are blocking its texts, often because of the message content. | Review the wording of recent messages. Don't just swap numbers. |
| The AI campaign shows nothing dialing | Every pool number is at its cap, in its spacing gap, resting, or still activating. | Add a number or raise a cap. Activating numbers join by themselves. |
| A pool number never gets picked | It's parked, resting, or its activation was never confirmed. | Open the pool and check the number's state. |
| Agents still call from one number | Rotation is off, or most numbers are unchecked, SMS only, or answer elsewhere. | Turn it on and press **Check numbers**. |
| A Recent Calls tag says "Fallback" | Your caller ID intelligence service didn't give a usable number, so the usual rules chose one. | Nothing, unless it happens on most calls. Then contact support. |
| A Recent Calls tag says "At daily limit" | Every number had reached the daily limit. | Add numbers or spread calls through the day. |
## Questions
### Will turning a box on change my existing contacts?
No. Only new leads get a number from the box. Everyone else keeps the number they have.
### Why did two leads on the same board get different numbers?
That's rotation working. Each lead still keeps their own number for every future text.
### Can one number be in several boxes or pools?
Yes. Its health and limits are counted once across all of them.
### Does rotation remove a "Spam Likely" label?
No. It spreads activity so labels are less likely, but it can't undo one that already exists.
### Do AI calls count toward my agents' daily limit?
No. AI caller pools and human dialing keep separate counts and separate limits.
### Where can I read this inside the app?
Open Help Docs and search "number rotation", or hover any tab in the Number Rotation window and follow its link.
Channel Automation · Help · Last updated 2026-10-07.
Questions? Ask your account manager, or open **Help Docs** inside the app — the same guidance lives there.
Source: https://guides.channelautomations.com/numbers/number-rotation/index.mdx