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What is a virtual phone number?

Our expert says...

Hi Scott, this is an interesting question - I know how important it is to stay in touch with friends and family while abroad.

The good news is that it is possible to forward your calls to a landline in Spain - or anywhere in the world for that matter. If you have a broadband connection at your home in Spain, you will be able to sign-up to an internet phone service and use a “virtual phone number” to have all calls forwarded to your new landline. As you are moving abroad, you will need an international virtual phone number.

Find out more about virtual phone numbers and internet phone services in my expert guide below…

What is a virtual phone number?

Virtual phone numbers (sometimes referred to as local numbers or ghost numbers) are low-cost secondary phone numbers, which you can use to have your calls forwarded to another landline somewhere else. They are usually used with internet phone services (VoIP), such as Vonage.

You can chose the area code of your new number, and have this number attached to your normal landline, so when someone dials your virtual number, it rings through to your home phone line. Friends and family elsewhere in the UK will be able to call you as though you lived locally, and avoid paying for a national call.

For example, if you have just moved from Edinburgh to London, you can set your virtual phone number to the Edinburgh area code (0131), so any friends or family that call you from Edinburgh will only be charged the price of a local call, not a national call - this will save them loads on their phone bills.

To set-up a virtual phone number for an area code in the UK with Vonage, it will cost £2.99 a month on top of your normal monthly subscription. Visit www.vonage.co.uk to sign-up to a VoIP call plan and to add a UK virtual number to your phone line.

What is an international virtual phone number?

International virtual phone numbers work on the same principle - except that you pick a different country dialling code. Anyone calling you from abroad can speak to you as though they live in the same country, so they don’t have to pay an overseas call rate.

For example, if you are moving to Spain but want your family to be able to call you from the UK, you can get an international virtual phone number attached to your Spanish landline so your family won’t be charged loads to call you while you’re abroad.

Internet phone provider Vonage lets you add as many virtual numbers or international virtual phone numbers as you need to your VoIP line.

To set-up a virtual phone number for an international area code with Vonage, it will cost between £2.99 and £5.99 a month on top of your normal monthly subscription, depending on the country. Visit www.vonage.co.uk to sign-up to a VoIP call plan and to add an international virtual number to your phone line.

Internet phone services

If you’ve got broadband at home, you can use your internet connection to make cheap calls using an internet phone provider (VoIP), such as Vonage. This can help you significantly cut your costs, especially if you make a lot of international calls.

Internet phone services work just like traditional phone services, and you can even use your existing touch tone phone to make calls to other home phones or mobiles. The difference is that with VoIP your phone is plugged into an adapter - the adapter is connected to your existing broadband router or modem, and converts the call to an internet call.

Vonage offers a range of calling plans, for both customers in the UK and overseas, so there’s something for everyone to choose from. Take a look at some of the packages on offer below:

Sign-up for a virtual phone number and have all your calls forwarded to your new landline in Spain - I hope this helps answer your question Scott.

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