Outbound Calling Not Enabled – Request Telephony Access Activation

Support Help
1

Hello Retell Team,

I require assistance with enabling outbound calling for my Retell AI agent. My agent is active and configured, but outbound calls are not going through. I believe telephony permissions or outbound access may not yet be enabled for my account.

Could you please:

  1. Verify whether outbound calling is enabled for my account

  2. Confirm if any additional steps are required from my side

  3. Activate outbound calling if it is pending

This is critical for testing and deploying my agent.

Thank you,

2

Here’s what you need to verify for outbound calling with Retell AI:

Prerequisites for Outbound Calls

Before making outbound calls, you must have(1):

  • A phone number (Retell-managed or imported)(1)
  • An agent configured and bound to that phone number(1)
  • Your API credentials(1)

Step 1: Bind Your Agent to a Phone Number

You need to assign your agent to a phone number for outbound calls(1). You can configure an outbound agent specifically for making calls(1):

const phoneNumberResponse = await retell.phoneNumber.create({
 inbound_agent_id: "oBeDLoLOeuAbiuaMFXRtDOLriTJ5tSxD",
 outbound_agent_id: "oBeDLoLOeuAbiuaMFXRtDOLriTJ5tSxD",
});
console.log(phoneNumberResponse);

(2)

Step 2: Verify Phone Number Setup

The most common cause of outbound call failures is an improperly configured phone number(3). Your phone number must be purchased through Retell or properly imported to your account(3)(4).

If you haven’t purchased a number yet, you can do so from the dashboard or via API(2). US numbers cost $2/month, and toll-free numbers cost $5/month(2).

Step 3: Make the Outbound Call

Once your phone number has an outbound agent bound to it, you can initiate calls using the Create Phone Call API(4):

import Retell from 'retell-sdk';

const client = new Retell({
 apiKey: 'YOUR_RETELL_API_KEY',
});

const phoneCallResponse = await client.call.createPhoneCall({
 from_number: '+14157774444',
 to_number: '+12137774445',
});

console.log(phoneCallResponse.agent_id);

(4)

Important Notes

  • Retell-purchased numbers are currently limited to domestic calls only(1)
  • If using imported numbers, international calling depends on your telephony provider’s settings(1)
  • You can test outbound calls directly from the dashboard by clicking “Make an outbound call”(4)

If you continue experiencing issues after verifying these steps, please reach out for support: