How Can You Use Any Phone with a Virtual System?

Many virtual phone systems are known for being compatible with any type of phone, and any carrier. That’s a great asset for small businesses, but how is it possible?

If you’re unfamiliar with virtual providers like Talkroute, then this fact can sound kind of ridiculous; however, the system truly does work with whatever phones you already have.

What does this mean?

As long as the phone has active service and its own 10-digit phone number, it will work with the service. Use your personal cell phone and those of your employees, your landlines at home or at the office, VoIP desk phones, Skype numbers, Google Voice numbers, or even a satellite phone if you actually have one.

The system can route your calls to any of them, and any mixture of them, no matter what carrier they are with.

How Does the System Do It?

Instead of wiring all your phones together with a hard line, as with a traditional system, you don’t need to make any changes to your phone or their service.

It’s 100% virtual, so when a call comes in, the system forwards the call to any or all of your phones through their phone numbers, connecting them using their existing networks. If you’re using a cell phone, for example, then the call is routed over the cellular network; if you’re using a landline, then it’s routed over the PSTN wired network.

There is no new equipment or service changes required. All you have to do is add each phone’s number as a forwarding number from your online control panel.

Some Services Need an Internet Connection; Some Do Not

There are a wide range of virtual providers out there, and they use different methods to connect calls. There are many providers, in fact, that use your own Internet connection, without which it just wouldn’t work.

VoIP (Voiceover Internet Protocol) providers are one of these services, as are the multitude of cheap phone apps you can find, which are marketed to businesses. There are other virtual providers like Talkroute, on the other side of that coin, that don’t work using an Internet connection.

Talkroute connects calls using the traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) which is known to be far more reliable and have better call quality, as well.

When shopping around for a new virtual phone service, you have to research each provider because they are all different, and some will not actually work with any phone, such as VoIP providers which usually require certain makes and models of phones that are compatible. Talkroute does work with any phone, however, and you can try it free to see if it works for you.