---
title: "Manage Phone Channels"
slug: "manage-phone-channels"
updated: 2026-07-23T10:07:21Z
published: 2026-07-23T10:07:21Z
canonical: "help.8x8.com/manage-phone-channels"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.8x8.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage Phone Channels

A phone channel processes inbound phone interactions in a **8x8 Contact Center** tenant. A tenant can have two types of phone channels:

- **Service channels**: A service channel is a regular phone channel associated with a telephone number. It is automatically created when a number is ordered for the tenant through provisioning. You can edit a service channel, and enable or disable it in **8x8 Configuration Manager**. An IVR script is linked to the service channel by default.
- **Agent channels**: An agent channel is associated with **8x8 Contact Center** agents and is automatically created when you create a **8x8 Contact Center** agent in **Account Manager**. You can edit an agent channel, and enable or disable it in **8x8 Configuration Manager**. A default IVR script is linked to the agent DID and agent PBX extension. The administrator can create a custom script and configure it for the agent. See [Phone Scripts](/documentation/docs/create-inbound-phone-scripts) for more details about the two default agent scripts. ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/e3a59e39-abd3-4423-964c-0a4008dc5673/Images/Documentation/CM_channelsType01.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-03T22%3A18%3A17Z&se=2026-11-03T23%3A18%3A17Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=d%2FoSB6AApJoP43G11GmBjw8B7bgNWKlDvtmtgM4Hfgg%3D)Both types of channels, Service and Agent, are listed under **Channels** in the **8x8 Configuration Manager**. **Channels > Phone** provides the following information under the **Channel** list:

| Phone Channel | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Status | Indicates if the channel is enabled. |
| Channel Name | Indicates the channel name. |
| Type | Indicates if this is a Service channel or an Agent channel. |
| Linked to Agent | Indicates if the channel is linked to a specific agent. |
| Calling Name Display | Refers to the Calling Name Display (CNAM) that is used when outbound calls use the associated public number as outgoing Calling Line ID (CLI). |
| Public Number | Indicates the external phone number or the Direct-Inward-Dial (DID) of the channel. |
| Script Name-Public Number | Indicates the IVR script associated with the agent's public number. It directs external callers to the agent's call-handling script. |
| PBX Number | This is the system-assigned number used for agent presence and internal calling to the agent. Channels linked to agents get a PBX number on migration. Adding and linking a new channel to an agent, adds the PBX number to the channel. |
| Script Name-PBX Number | Indicates the IVR script associated with an agent's PBX number. Internal calls to this agent's PBX number receives this script treatment. |