Virtual Phone Numbers provider profile: The Virtual Number Company

We're continuing our series this week of virtual phone number providers by looking at one of the leaders in the field - The Virtual Number Company. If you put virtual numbers into search engines they're one of the companies most likely to come up. Founded over 15 years ago, they offer virtual numbers for 479 UK towns and cities, covering Penzance to Perth and Cardiff to Coventry. In particular they have a special focus on virtual London phone numbers, which is hardly surprising considering London is the capital of the UK and accounts for approximately 1/8th of the general population.

The Virtual Number Company provides virtual numbers to small, medium and large UK businesses. They offer numbers which can be pointed to landlines, mobiles or a fax to email service. They're open 9am-5.30pm Monday-Friday, only require 30 days written notice to end your contract with them, will generally connect your new phone number within 24 hours, use pay per second billing (so you’re only charged for exactly what you use) and have a range of added value features such as call whisper. You can call them any time during working hours to change where your number is pointed to and they will do that as soon as possible for you. All in all, a great company!

What should you be looking for when buying a virtual number?

Right, lets go back to basics ...

What should you be looking for when choosing a company to provide you with a virtual phone number?

Firstly, they should have a wide range of different area codes to choose from. You would expect a decent provider to have a choice of around 500 different area codes - including 020 London numbers.

Secondly, they should not be VOIP numbers, as these are poor quality.

Thirdly, you shouldn't expect prices to be higher than 5p per minute to receive the call.

You should only expect to be charged for what you pay for - look out for pay per second billing.

Look out for companies that tie you in to contracts. You want companies that you only have to give a month's notice to. If they're locking you in for a year or two years then there might be something wrong with them and they think you're going to leave.

Finally, the company should reasonably be able to connect you the same day if you're calling within working hours.

Virtual fax to email numbers

Just a thought on something I read the other day ...

When you get a virtual local phone number, such as virtual 0207 numbers for London, you are presumably doing it to appear to be somewhere you're not. For example, to appear to be based in an office in London whereas actually you are driving around in a van in London, or based in an office just outside of London to save cost.

However, what people don't think about is that they need to get a fax number to match the virtual number too, otherwise you blow your cover when someone asks for the fax number for your office, and you have to give one which shows you're not in London, or wherever your virtual numbers are set up for.

Getting a virtual fax to email is also a great excuse for modernising the way you receive faxes. Instead of via a fax machine, they're turned into PDF and sent straight to your email account, so you don't have to print them, waste ink, paper, electricity, etc.

Interesting facts

Was having a browse through the OFCOM website, and found this to be quite an interesting read.

It talks about different telephone number codes and costs, from fascinating facts to 020 numbers.

Enjoy!

Demand increases for virtual London numbers ahead of olympics

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Of all the various virtual numbers available, London phone numbers appear to be particularly popular at the moment. Demand for 0207, 0208 and 0203 virtual numbers is increasing all the time. Presumably there are a lot of companies hoping to ride on the coat tails of the London 2012 Olympic Games and make their business appear to be London based when it actually isn't. Not that you can blame them - the price of property in London is incredibly expensive, so it is quite a good way of making sure your business gets some of the benefits that the London games are meant to be bringing to the UK without having to spend a fortune doing it.