Virtual phone number

These days, businesses need to be super flexible. Many are moving to a remote or hybrid work environment, and whether you need a phone number for your business or your employees who are now working from home, it isn’t always possible (or even desirable) to get phone numbers with the local telecom companies.

Plus, if you have employees who want to work in more remote places, there might not even always be landlines there.

So how can your business go remote—while still being accessible to your customers and prospects (and each other) over the phone? Virtual phone numbers, of course. And yes, you can get these with local area codes.

In this post, we’ll walk you through what virtual phone numbers are, how they work, and how to get one for your business or for work in literally just a few minutes. But first...

What is a virtual phone number?

A virtual phone number—sometimes called a softphone or virtual landline—is a number linked to an online account with a provider, as opposed to a specific location.

Old school telephony systems tend to use an analog setup with desk phones, and numbers are linked to local PBX exchanges / phone lines.

On the other hand, you can get virtual business phone numbers from a VoIP provider (Voice over Internet Protocol, which is essentially a technology that lets you make phone calls over your data or Wi-Fi—basically any kind of Internet connection) and use those numbers to make and receive calls.

People calling you on a virtual number won’t be able to tell the difference—to them, it’ll be as if they’re just calling a regular ol’ telephone number.

You can also get these virtual phone numbers on your desk phone or mobile, which makes them very flexible and ideal for employees (like salespeople) who need to make a lot of business calls from their personal mobile phones while on the go.

How to get a virtual phone number for your business with Dialpad in 2 easy steps

1. Sign up for a free 14-day trial at dialpad.com/signup. (Fun fact: Dialpad was built by the folks behind Google Voice.) You can sign up with your Google or Microsoft 365 account to speed things up even more, but it takes just a few minutes.

2. That’s pretty much it. You can pick a virtual business phone number in step 2. Signing up for Dialpad also gives you a virtual phone system—definitely take it for a spin over your 14-day trial and try it out. If it’s not for you, you can close your account at the end of the trial.

Why get a virtual business phone number with Dialpad?

Dialpad’s Talk plan starts at just $20 per user per month, but even the most inexpensive version comes with:

• The virtual phone number,

• A virtual business phone system,

• Unlimited calling within your home country, plus to the US and Canada

• A fully unified communications platform that lets you have video meetings and send instant and SMS messages

• Unlimited call recordings

• Other business essentials like custom voicemail greetings, an auto-attendant, call forwarding, custom outside-of-business-hours call routing, and more

Better call pickup rates for your outbound efforts

One of the major benefits of a virtual phone number is that it can give your business a local presence—without the need for having a physical one. You’ll be able to register a local number on third-party company directory websites like Google My Business, even if you don’t technically have an office in the area that relates to the local area code.

If your business makes a fair amount of outbound business calls to prospects, you or your reps usually have a much better chance of people picking up your call if the caller ID shows a local phone number.

You can use it across different devices

With traditional phone numbers, you usually have one number per physical phone. With virtual phone numbers and more modern business phone systems (like Dialpad), you can make and receive calls on a virtual phone number using your mobile phone, deskphone, or even computer.

No more being stuck to your desk to have phone calls. Need to run errands in the middle of the workday or pick up your kids? Dialpad’s app lets you make sure that anyone dialling your virtual business number will ring your mobile phone.

You don’t need two phones anymore

With the mobile (or “softphone”) app, what that also means is you can have your virtual phone number on your personal mobile phone. For example, if you run a plumbing or home services business, you can have your virtual business phone number on your personal mobile phone so that your clients can reach you throughout the day—without having to carry two phones, and without customers calling your personal number.

It’s cheaper

Physical landlines require an initial fee for all of your equipment because you’re basically building a mini telephone exchange in your office. You’ll also likely have to pay rental fees, maintenance fees, and fees for extra lines when your business is ready to expand. Ouch.

With Dialpad, you don’t have to pay any of these fees, and there aren’t really any costs beyond the price of your monthly or annual plan. If you need to add more (or remove) users, you can easily do that in your online account, which means you’re only paying for what you need.

How much does getting a virtual phone number with Dialpad cost?

If you’re looking for a virtual business phone number, you can get that with any of the three pricing plans for Dialpad Talk (Dialpad’s business communications product):