One firm, one verification
The carrier verifies your legal business once. Every location you add afterwards reuses it.
Phone and texting setup
How a location gets a number families can call and text, and how every conversation lands in one shared inbox. Four steps, done once per location, with business verification shared across the firm.
Before you start
- Your legal business name and address, exactly as registered
- Your EIN confirmation letter from the IRS, or a note that you are a sole proprietor
- The office number you want to keep, and the name of its current provider
- The phone, or phones, that should ring when a family calls
An administrator does the setup. Your tax details go into the carrier’s secure form and are never typed into FuneralHQ or a support message.
Where it lives
Settings, then Integrations, then the Phone & messaging card.
One location, one number
Each location keeps its own number, its own call routing and its own texting. Pick the location in the header, then set it up.
Yours to take with you
A number set up here stays your firm’s. You can release it to another carrier at any time, and the card shows the record they will ask for.
The four steps
The card shows the same four steps, marks the one you are on, and says what each one still needs.
- 01
Choose your number
Keep your existing office number or ask for a new one in your area code. Enter the number and its current provider, say whether your business has an EIN, and save. Saving changes nothing about your phone service and starts no transfer.
- 02
Verify your business
Open the secure verification form and enter your legal business name, address, authorized contact and EIN. The carrier reviews it, usually within a few business days. Check the status on the card; you do not need to submit again.
- 03
Register texting
Describe the updates you send to families, review the sample messages, and show how families agree to receive them. Once the carrier approves, texting from your number is registered and deliverable.
- 04
Connect and test
Set where incoming calls ring, apply the routing, and place one live call to the number. Then send one test text from Messages. The card reads Connected when calls and texting are both active.
Keeping your existing number
A transfer moves calls and texts to FuneralHQ. Your current provider keeps working until the carrier confirms the date.
What the carrier asks for
- A phone bill from the last 30 days, as a PDF or photo
- The account name, service address and account number from your current provider
- The transfer PIN, if your provider uses one
- An authorized signer who will receive and sign the transfer authorization by email
- A requested transfer date at least seven days away
What to expect
- Business verification and call routing must be ready before a transfer can start
- The carrier confirms the actual date; keep your existing service active until then
- RingCentral customers: download the CSR for porting out from Phone Numbers, All Numbers, and use its details to avoid a rejection
How texting works once you are connected
Families text one number per location, and every message lands in the shared Messages inbox for that location.
Consent first
A family agrees to texts on the first call sheet or at the arrangement conference, and the consent is recorded per number. A reply of STOP always wins, and START turns it back on.
Milestone updates
Nine short courtesies, such as “in our care” and “remains ready”, are sent once each as the case reaches that step. None states a cause, a price or a decision.
Quiet hours
Set a window for each location in Family messaging preferences. Non-urgent texts wait until morning; a director can still send an urgent one from the conversation.
Signature
Each location adds its own signature so a family always knows which funeral home is writing.
Shared inbox
Staff with access to the location read the same thread, see who replied, and file the conversation to its case.
Delivery status
Every outgoing text shows the carrier’s own delivery state, so nobody assumes a message arrived.
Questions firms ask
How long does it take?
Saving your number takes a minute. Business verification and texting registration are reviewed by the carrier and usually clear within a few business days. A number transfer takes one to three weeks depending on your current provider.
Do we lose our number if we leave?
No. The number is your firm’s. Release it from the Phone & messaging card, hand the record it shows to your new carrier, and it keeps working here until their cutover completes.
Can each location have a different number?
Yes, and each should. Business verification is shared across the firm, but the number, call routing, signature and quiet hours belong to one location.
Why can I not verify my business yet?
The card says “FuneralHQ is completing its carrier connection” while your firm’s carrier account is being prepared. Your saved number is kept, and verification opens when that connection is ready.
What if a family never agreed to texts?
They are not texted. Milestone updates go to the arrangement contact only where consent is on file for their number, and a family without consent is reached by phone or email instead.
Set up your first location with us
In 20 minutes we save your number, open business verification, and set where calls ring, then walk one test call and one test text together.