Twilio number forward to virtual phone system

Question

I have a local twilio number that I send/receive SMS with. I also want to allow people to call that number but I don't want to build a whole voice system for it. Seems like I should be able to have calls to the twilio number go to a virtual phone system like Grasshopper or something like that.

Someone else had a similar question - Grasshopper Voice + Twilio Text

The answer given was really good, except that it suggests sending SMS from an 800 number whereas I want the SMS to come from a local number.

I have an existing twilio and grasshopper account but I can easily make another acccount for either.

I tried just forwarding incoming calls to my grasshopper number using the <Dial> XML from twilio, but it doesn't work. I get a dialup type sound on the other line, as if I called a fax machine.

I don't need a complicated voice system, I just want the ability to have voicemail and a couple extensions like Grasshopper has. I also don't mind using a different service other than grasshopper.

Any thoughts? Greatly appreciated any help.

Answer 1

Twimlets sound perfect for your use case. You can chain together the forwarding twimlet and the voicemail twimlet to achieve your desired functionality. There's a video guide on setting up such a system here.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

With Twilio functions this is easier now. You don't have to host anything anywhere and you can have multiple extensions. Just create a new Function linked to Incoming Voice Call events, then set your provisioned number to call that Function when a new call arrives. Here's a working example you can modify to fit your preferences. It also has basic business hours (but doesn't support daylight saving).

https://gist.github.com/ChristopherThorpe/521bfdbd903ac7628ac01f8bb1d651a5