Regional routing ensures that your telephony data stays within a specific geographic region. When using Twilio with ElevenLabs in an isolated environment (such as EU residency), you must configure regional routing correctly to maintain data residency compliance.
This guide explains what regional routing is, why it matters, and how to configure it properly in both Twilio and ElevenLabs.
Regional routing is Twilio’s mechanism for ensuring that call data is processed and stored within a specific geographic region. Think of it as data residency for your telephony infrastructure.
By default, Twilio phone numbers are configured to route through the US region (us1), even if
the phone number itself is from another country. For example, an Italian phone number will still
route through the US unless regional routing is explicitly configured.
When using ElevenLabs in an isolated environment (such as EU residency), all data processing must remain within your designated region. Without proper regional routing configuration:
us1 region, causing API calls to be sent to the wrong region even when Twilio has routed the call correctly on the backendWhen you import a Twilio phone number into ElevenLabs:
us1, ie1 for Ireland, au1 for Australia, etc.)If the routing region is not specified or is incorrect, operations like call transfers will fail
because the API requests will be sent to the default us1 region while the actual call is being
handled in a different region.
First, verify which region your Twilio phone number is configured to use:
Common Twilio regions:
us1 - United States (default)ie1 - Ireland (Europe)au1 - Australiabr1 - Braziljp1 - Japansg1 - SingaporeIf you’re using an isolated environment (like EU residency), ensure your Twilio numbers are
configured to route through the matching region (e.g., ie1 for EU).
If your phone number is not configured for the correct region:
Regional routing configuration in Twilio may require additional setup or account permissions. Contact Twilio Support if you need assistance enabling regional routing for your account.
When you import or configure a Twilio phone number in the ElevenLabs Phone Numbers page:
If you’re using regional routing, you must use a regional API key from Twilio that corresponds to your routing region. Your standard US API key will not work for non-US regions and will result in authentication errors. Generate a region-specific API key in your Twilio Console.
To verify that regional routing is configured correctly:
Monitor your first few calls in the Calls History dashboard after configuring regional routing to ensure everything works as expected.
This typically indicates a regional routing mismatch. Verify that:
The phone number’s geographic origin doesn’t determine routing behavior. You must explicitly
configure regional routing in Twilio. By default, all numbers (including European numbers) route
through us1 unless configured otherwise.
If you’re using the standard ElevenLabs environment (not EU residency or another isolated environment), regional routing configuration is optional.
Choose a region that:
ie1 for EU data residency)If you’re seeing authentication errors when using regional routing, verify that you’re using the correct regional API key:
ie1, au1) in the Twilio Console