A virtual telephone number is simply a phone number that doesn’t have a directly-associated phone line. It is a vanity number that points to your main phone account. If you use the regular phone service, you will get a local phone number with an area code showing your location. When your friends call you from other areas, they will be charged long distance fee. Nowadays, many companies offer virtual telephone number, you can get a local number in any cities or even in other countries. Your friends can call the virtual telephone number at no extra cost to them, and their calls will be routed to your existing phone line.
For example, if you are living in New York and you have friends in Seattle, you can get a Seattle virtual number. Your friends and relatives in Seattle can call your Seattle number as if they are making local calls. Their calls will be routed to your main phone line in New York. The virtual telephone number is for inbound calls only, you cannot make outbound calls on the virtual telephone number.
Who could use a virtual telephone number?
As indicated above, residential users can benefit from a virtual telephone number helping the callers to save on long distance calls. However, it is the business users who benefit the most from this service. Small businesses can get virtual telephone numbers in areas where they don't have local offices. They can serve the customers in those areas without asking them to make long distance calls. This can improve the company image and its presence in other areas.
Larger corporations would usually get a toll free number that starts with the numbers 800. These are also considered as virtual telephone numbers. The toll free number can entertain customer inquiries or customer orders from any locations. It also allows the companies to outsource the customer support services to other countries in order to reduce operating cost. Customers calling a toll free number may not realize that their call is being routed to customer service representatives working in other areas or in other countries. Hundreds of call center companies are using this virtual telephone number to conduct their business these days.
The virtual telephone number is being used extensively in different ways that most of us never thought would be possible before. It is truly a revolutionary system and many of us are indeed using this service in our lives everyday.