Connections: telephony and AI providers

Connections are where your voice agent gets its two essentials: a phone line to talk over, and an AI provider to think and speak with. Set them up once and every agent you build can use them — you bring your own provider accounts, so you pay their direct prices with no markup and keep full control of your usage.

This guide explains the two connection types, what they have in common, and where to go for each provider's credentials.

Quick start

1. Understand the two types — SIP for telephony, API for AI.

2. Add a SIP connection so your agent can make and receive calls.

3. Add an API connection for the AI provider your templates need.

4. Enable and test both before you launch an agent.

The two connection types

A working agent needs at least one of each. You can keep several of both and point different agents at different ones — a test line and a production line, or separate provider accounts per client.

What you manage where

All provider billing stays on your own accounts. BSG stores the credentials and uses them for your agents' calls.

Finding your connections

Open Connections in the Voice Agent cabinet. Everything you've created is listed there with its name and type.

The search box filters the list by name and shows how many entries matched — useful once you have several connections, since names are generated from the provider and a short suffix, such as openai_50529_YgrKue. You can rename any connection to something clearer at the top of its edit screen; the original identifier stays underneath so you can still match it against logs.

Adding a SIP connection

Click Add SIP connection and choose your provider. Provider is read-only afterwards — it's fixed when the connection is created — so if you pick the wrong one you'll need to create a new connection.

The Settings tab asks for the details your telephony provider gave you:

• Server — the SIP registrar or proxy used for call setup

• Username and Password — the credentials that authenticate the connection

• Phone — the caller ID or access number assigned to this connection

• Register — turn on when your provider expects the connection to stay logged in

The form is provider-agnostic, so Provider reads generic and you can connect whichever carrier you already work with. Exact values differ by carrier — for what to ask yours for, see SIP provider and telephony setup.

Adding an API connection

Click Add API connection and choose your AI provider. As with SIP, Provider is read-only once the connection exists.

Two providers are available, and they cover different template types:

Each provider's keys come from its own console, and the steps differ:

• Google needs two keys, because Google issues separate credentials for its Gemini services and its classic speech services. See Adding Google provider keys to a Connection.

• OpenAI needs one key, which covers the whole Realtime session. See Adding the OpenAI provider key to a Connection.

You don't have to choose one provider forever. Add both and you can run either type, then compare them on the same script before deciding what goes to production.

How agents use connections

Connections are shared: you create them once, and every agent draws on them.

An agent picks its Connection on the Locales tab, per locale, alongside the language and voice settings for that locale. That's what makes a multilingual agent practical — each locale can use a different connection and a different voice, while the SIP side stays the same.

Two consequences worth knowing:

• A connection has to be Enabled before agents can select it. Disabling one takes it out of service for every agent using it.

• To run a campaign from an agent, the agent must be enabled and you need an active SIP connection — the telephony leg is what turns a configured agent into calls that actually go out.

Enabling and testing

Every connection, SIP or API, shares the same controls:

Enabled — the switch that makes a connection available to agents. A new connection starts disabled, so tick it once the credentials are in. Clearing it takes the connection out of service without deleting anything, which is the safe way to pause a line or rotate a key.

Test API / Test Call — an immediate check that the credentials work, without building an agent first. API connections get Test API; SIP connections get Test Call.

Logs — the second tab on every connection, and where a test result lands.

API connections show Latest Requests: the Method that ran, its Status and Reason, and the Date. SIP connections show Latest Calls: the number dialled, Status, Reason, Date, Duration, and a play button for the call audio. Both lists are newest first with a refresh control.

The Reason column carries the provider's own explanation — BSG passes it through rather than substituting its own message — so you can match it against your provider's documentation, or quote it to their support.

Save — connections are only stored when you save. Credential fields are masked; use the eye icon to reveal what you've pasted before saving, since a trailing space copied along with a key is a common cause of a rejected credential.

Recommended order

1. Create and test the SIP connection first — a working line makes everything after it easier to diagnose.

2. Create and test the API connection for the provider your chosen template needs.

3. Pick a template for the conversation you want — see Working with templates

4. Build the agent, select the connection and voice on its Locales tab, and place a test call end to end.

Related guides

• Adding Google provider keys to a Connection

• Adding the OpenAI provider key to a Connection

• SIP provider and telephony setup

• Adding Twilio as a telephony provider

• Working with templates