Help Center

Choosing your phone number & timezone

Your Talkybara number is claimed during signup, alongside the timezone everything else is scheduled against. Both can be changed later — one of them for free.

Searching for a number

On the wizard's Number step you can search by area code or by digits the number contains. Pick one from the results and it's yours — it's claimed and wired up to your agent before you reach the plan step.

You don't have to match your own area code. Plenty of businesses pick a number in the area they want to look local to, or one with a memorable run of digits.

Why the timezone sits on the same step

Choosing a number is the one moment in signup when where you are is already on your mind, so the timezone selector lives right there — and it's required. You can't reach the plan step without setting one.

The area code of the number you picked may pre-select a sensible default, but you have to confirm or change it. It's never silently assumed from the number, because a deliberately out-of-area number would otherwise set your whole calendar to the wrong zone without ever telling you.

The list is US timezones, each shown with a plain label next to the technical identifier — for example "Eastern Time (ET) — America/New_York". Abbreviations follow daylight saving on their own; there's nothing to update twice a year.

What the timezone actually controls

Which hours count as inside your business hours on a live call.
What times your agent offers when a caller asks for an appointment.
Which day a call is counted under on your dashboard and analytics charts.
What a whole-day blackout period actually covers.

Your agent uses it for all of that internally, but it doesn't say it out loud — a caller asking your hours hears "we're open nine to five," not "...Central Daylight Time," the same way a person answering the phone wouldn't.

To change it later: Account Settings → Business.

Changing your number later

You're not stuck with the number you picked. Phone Setup has a "Change my number" action: search for a new one exactly as you did at signup, type a confirmation to prove you mean it, and pay a one-time $5 charge that covers claiming the new number.

The warning you see first depends on how callers reach you. If you forward an existing number, the change is recoverable — you just redo forwarding. If you give your Talkybara number out directly, it's more consequential: anyone holding the old number can't reach you any more, so your signage, cards and listings all need updating.

Nothing is lost when a number changes

Call history, transcripts, contacts, appointments and your knowledge base are all unaffected — none of it is tied to which number is currently active. The only thing that resets is your "I've set up call forwarding" confirmation, so the reminder comes back and you redo forwarding against the new number.

More on the two modes: Call forwarding vs. using your Talkybara number directly.