What we actually checked
Rather than take the plan at face value, we went through the provider documentation line by line, because two of the assumptions in it turn out to work differently than expected — and one of them is the kind of mistake you only find out about after the number has stopped working.
- Aircall's port requirements for the UK specifically — which number types they accept, what paperwork the carrier demands, and how long it really takes.
- What WhatsApp is actually tied to: the SIM, the handset, or the number.
- Meta's current route for bringing an existing WhatsApp Business number into an API without deleting the account — and what it costs you in features.
- The live wiring on c1clearance.co.uk, including the destination of the WhatsApp button, which tells us what the van's QR code is almost certainly pointing at.
- Meta's messaging rates, including the change landing on 1 October 2026 that nobody selling you a WhatsApp inbox this month is likely to mention.
The three numbers, and what happens to each
Everything in this project hangs off treating these as three separate assets with three different risk profiles — not as one "phone problem" to be solved in a single move.
WhatsApp · mobile
07440 517077
Lycamobile SIM · in a van
Office · national
0330 133 9144
Signwritten on the van & site-wide
hello@c1clearance.co.uk
On the van, in the footer
The van carries the 0330, the email, the website and the QR code — but not the mobile number. That's lucky. It means the printed exposure on 07440 517077 runs entirely through that QR code, which is exactly what the next section is about.
The QR code is the constraint that sets the whole design
You said the QR code is why you can't afford any issues with the WhatsApp number. You're right, and we can now be specific about why.
Finding · scan for a free quote
The number is printed inside the code
The QR on the van is too low-resolution in the photo you sent for us to decode it outright — but it's a dense code, which means a long URL rather than a short domain. And the WhatsApp button on your own website points here:
wa.me/447440517077?text=Hi%20C1%20Clearance…&utm_source=website
If the van's QR is the same style of link — and the density says it is — then the mobile number is physically printed on the vehicle, just encoded rather than legible. Change the number and the QR points at a dead account. That's a re-wrap, not a settings change.
Scan the actual van with a phone and screenshot where it lands. Two minutes, and it settles the single biggest unknown in this project. If it resolves to a wa.me/447440517077 link, the recommendation below becomes non-negotiable rather than merely sensible.
Point future QR codes at a short link on your own domain — c1clearance.co.uk/q — which then redirects to WhatsApp. The printed code never has to change again, you can repoint it to a different number or channel whenever you like, and you get scan counts per vehicle. Right now every scan is invisible to you; you can't tell the van from Google. That's a fortnight of work for a permanent piece of flexibility, and it's reusable for every signwritten client stato.tech takes on.
Three corrections to the original plan
The instinct — get everything into one place, use Aircall because it records and integrates cleanly — is right. Three of the mechanics need changing.
Original plan: transfer the WhatsApp number from Lycamobile to Aircall.
WhatsApp is tied to the number, not the SIM — and that cuts both ways
You don't need to move the number to get WhatsApp off a phone in a van. WhatsApp lives against the number, and Meta will let that number run on their API while it stays on its existing SIM. Porting it into Aircall doesn't help you and introduces a real hazard: the number stops living on a mobile network, so the next time WhatsApp asks to re-verify it — new handset, wiped phone, lost device, account check — you're depending on a verification code reaching a VoIP line. If that fails, the number printed inside the QR code on your van no longer has WhatsApp on it.
Instead: leave 07440 517077 on a SIM and bring it into the lead centre through Meta's Coexistence route. Same number, same chat history, staff can still answer on the handset, and the QR code never notices anything happened. If the reason for the move was getting off Lycamobile, port the number to a proper business mobile plan instead — that keeps it on a real network where verification is reliable.
Original plan: forward the number to Aircall while the 21-day port completes.
A divert carries calls, not WhatsApp
Call forwarding is a voice-network feature. WhatsApp traffic doesn't ride on it — messages keep arriving at whatever device holds that WhatsApp account, regardless of where the calls go. So the divert is a fine bridge for the office line, but it does nothing for the actual problem you're trying to solve, which is WhatsApp enquiries being stuck on one handset.
Instead: treat the two as separate jobs. Voice gets diverted on day one. WhatsApp gets joined via Coexistence, which takes hours, not weeks — and is the part that immediately stops leads getting lost.
Original plan: 21 days to port.
Aircall's own documentation says up to six weeks for the UK
UK ports also need paperwork that trips people up: a Letter of Authorisation, a provider invoice from the last 30 days, the CUPID code or current carrier name, and — critically — the Main Billing Number confirmed with your existing provider. If the number you're porting is the main billing number, everything billed under it has to move or be disconnected at the same time. Mobile ports need a PAC as well, which you get by texting PAC to 65075 and which expires after 30 days.
Instead: plan for four to six weeks and don't let the timeline matter. The divert means recording, routing and logging are live in week one; the port is just tidying up the plumbing behind it.
What we'd build
Five inputs, one lead record. The lead centre in stato.tech owns the customer history; Aircall and WhatsApp are just pipes into it.
The bit that matters for a clearance business specifically
Clearance quoting runs on photographs. Someone points a phone at a garage full of stuff, sends four pictures, and wants a price. A generic CRM treats those as attachments and buries them. The lead centre should treat them as the primary content of the lead: photos on the record, on the quote, and on the job sheet the crew sees, with the postcode, access notes and volume estimate pulled out of the conversation and pinned to the top. That is the difference between a shared inbox and something that actually shortens the time from scan to quote.
Reusable across stato.tech
Almost none of this is C1-specific. Channel adapters, identity matching on phone numbers, the unified timeline, the pipeline engine, source attribution, SLA alerting — these are the module. C1 is tenant one, and the next trades client is a configuration exercise rather than a rebuild. That's the argument for building it properly now.
What Coexistence costs you in features
This route protects the number, which is the priority. It isn't free of trade-offs, and the client should see them before signing rather than discover them in month two.
| Constraint | What it means day to day | Severity for C1 |
|---|---|---|
| The Business app must stay installed | Someone has to open WhatsApp Business on that handset at least once every 13 days, and it must not be uninstalled, or the connection drops. Needs to be a named person's job. | Manage it |
| Set the profile photo first | Profile picture can't be changed after onboarding. Get the logo and business details right in the app beforehand. | One-off |
| No green verified badge | Official Business Account status isn't available on this route. Meta Verified for Business is the alternative if it matters commercially. | Low |
| WhatsApp calling API unsupported | You can't take WhatsApp voice calls through the API on a coexistence number. Voice stays on 0330 133 9144, which is where you want it anyway — that's the recorded line. | Low |
| Linked devices get reset | Any WhatsApp Web or desktop companions unlink at onboarding. Only supported ones can be re-linked; WhatsApp for Windows isn't one of them. | Tell the team |
| Eligibility is Meta's call | Requires the WhatsApp Business app at version 2.24.17 or later, an account with genuine trading history, and a supported country. C1 qualifies on history; we confirm the rest before committing. | Verify first |
| Group chats don't sync | Groups keep working in the app but won't appear in the lead centre. Not how clearance enquiries arrive, so no practical impact. | None |
Sequence
Deliberately ordered so the risky, irreversible steps happen last and the visible wins happen first.
Establish the facts
- Scan the van QR and record exactly where it goes.
- Pull the Lycamobile account details — registered name and address must match the port paperwork exactly, since mismatches are the main cause of rejection.
- Confirm who holds 0330 133 9144 and whether it's the main billing number on that account.
- Check the WhatsApp Business app version, fix the profile photo and details, back up the chat history.
Calls recorded and logged
Aircall account, a temporary number, IVR and routing set up, and a divert from the office line onto it. Recording, voicemail and call logging go live immediately — no waiting on any port. Aircall webhooks wired into a staging lead centre so calls start creating records.
WhatsApp into the lead centre
Coexistence onboarding on 07440 517077 through a BSP, then Cloud API webhooks into stato.tech. Chat history preserved, handset still works, QR code untouched. This is the phase that stops leads being lost, and it's the fastest one.
Port the office line
Submit the port for 0330 133 9144 with the LOA, a recent invoice and carrier details. The divert stays in place throughout, so the cutover is invisible to callers. Nothing is cancelled with the existing provider until the port completes.
The rest of the funnel, and the actual product
Email, website form and Meta lead ads into the same record. Then the parts that earn their keep: pipeline stages built around how clearance jobs really run, photo-led quoting, response-time alerts, and source attribution so you finally know whether the van, Google or Meta is paying for itself.
Automation, once the data is clean
Call summaries, automatic extraction of postcode, access and volume from a conversation, first-response auto-replies out of hours. Worth doing after the foundation is live, not before — automation on top of messy data just produces confident nonsense faster.
Running costs
Indicative, to be confirmed at quote. Aircall publishes in dollars and prices per licence with a three-licence minimum, which is the figure that surprises people.
Aircall
Three-licence minimum. Annual billing is roughly 25% cheaper than monthly.
~$90–150/month
3 licences on Essentials to Professional, annual.
- Essentials, per licence, annual$30
- Professional, per licence, annual$50
- Extra numbers~$6
- AI Assist (included on Professional)$9
- PortingFree
No licence fee to Meta. You pay per message, plus whatever your BSP charges.
~£40–70/month
At roughly 400 enquiries a month from October onwards.
- Marketing message, UK~£0.038
- Utility / service, UK~£0.016
- Replies from the handsetFree
- Click-to-WhatsApp ad window72h free
- BSP platform fee£0–50
Meta is changing this on 1 October 2026. Free-form replies inside the 24-hour customer service window have been free since November 2024 — from October they're charged per message at the same rate as utility templates, and in-window utility templates lose their free status too. Exact UK rates are due from Meta by 1 September.
Two consequences worth designing around. First, budget for it: at 400 enquiries and eight outbound replies each, that's roughly £50 a month rather than nothing. Second, messages sent from the WhatsApp Business app itself stay free — which is another quiet argument for Coexistence over a full API migration, because you keep a free channel for long back-and-forth threads while the API handles logging, automation and reporting. Conversations that start from a click-to-WhatsApp ad also keep a free 72-hour window, which makes ad-driven enquiries meaningfully cheaper than QR scans. That's a media-planning insight you can act on.
Risk ledger
| Risk | Exposure | How we hold it down |
|---|---|---|
| WhatsApp number becomes unverifiable | Severe | Don't port it. Keep it on a SIM, use Coexistence, set a two-step verification PIN and store it where more than one person can reach it. |
| QR code points at a dead number | Severe | Number never changes. Next print run goes through a redirect you control. |
| Port rejected on paperwork | Moderate | Verify account holder, address and main billing number before submitting. Request a Customer Service Record from the losing provider first. |
| Numbers lost by cancelling too early | Severe | Nothing is cancelled with any provider until the port has completed and been confirmed. This is the one rule with no exceptions. |
| Coexistence link silently drops | Moderate | The 13-day app-open requirement becomes an owned task, plus a monitor in the lead centre that alerts if no WhatsApp events arrive for 48 hours. |
| Meta raises prices again | Moderate | Keep the Business app as a free reply path, favour ad-driven entry points, and don't build workflows that depend on high-volume outbound templates. |
| Recording without proper notice | Moderate | Announcement on the IVR, a lawful basis recorded, a stated retention period, and no recordings kept longer than that period. |
| Provider lock-in | Low | Lead records live in stato.tech, not in Aircall or the BSP. Either can be swapped by rewriting one adapter. |
Compliance, briefly
Not legal advice, and worth a short conversation with whoever handles C1's data protection — but these are the four things this build touches.
- Call recording. Callers need to be told at the start of the call, there needs to be a lawful basis for it, and a retention period that's actually enforced. Aircall keeps recordings for a year on the entry plan and indefinitely higher up — indefinitely is a liability, not a feature, so set a deletion rule.
- WhatsApp marketing. Replying to an enquiry is fine. Sending marketing templates to a list needs opt-in, and Meta polices this through message quality ratings independently of UK law.
- Photos of people's homes. Interior photographs of a property, tied to an address and a name, are personal data with a slightly awkward flavour. Retention limits, sensible access controls, and don't keep them past the invoice.
- Chat history. Migrating history into the lead centre widens who can see past conversations. Worth a line in the privacy policy and a role-based access model rather than everyone seeing everything.
What we need from you to start
- A scan of the van's QR codeA screenshot of where it lands. This is the one blocker to a firm recommendation.
- The Lycamobile account detailsRegistered name, address and whether the account is in the company's name or a director's. Determines whether a move off Lycamobile is straightforward.
- Who currently supplies 0330 133 9144And a recent invoice. 0330 numbers often sit with a call-handling provider on a contract that has to be unwound first.
- How many people answer enquiriesAircall bills per licence with a minimum of three, so headcount changes the number materially.
- Whether the crew should keep answering WhatsApp on the handsetThey can, and after October it's the cheaper path. But it changes how we design ownership of a conversation.
- How long recordings and photos should be keptYour call, and it needs to be a decision rather than a default.