Virtual phone number

What is a virtual phone number?

A virtual telephone number is a number linked to an online account with a provider, as opposed to a specific location or device. It's sometimes called a virtual landline, and you typically use it through a softphone app on your computer or mobile phone.

Unlike traditional phone lines that are hardwired to physical addresses or specific phones, virtual numbers exist in the cloud. They let you make and receive calls over the internet on any device connected to a VoIP phone service (Voice over Internet Protocol), such as a mobile phone, computer, or desk phone.

How does a virtual phone number work?

Virtual phone numbers work using VoIP technology, which lets phone calls travel over the internet instead of traditional analog phone lines. When you sign up for a virtual number, it's linked to your online account with a VoIP provider rather than to a physical phone line or PBX exchange.

Once it's set up, you can make and receive calls from that number on a variety of devices using your VoIP provider's app, including smartphones, laptops, and desk phones, wherever there's a data or Wi-Fi connection.

That flexibility makes virtual numbers practical for employees, like salespeople, who make a lot of business calls from their mobile phones while on the go.

People calling your virtual number won't notice a difference. To them, it's like calling any other phone number, whether your team or an AI receptionist answers.

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

1. Sign up for a free 14-day trial at dialpad.com/signup. You can sign up with your Google or Microsoft 365 account to speed things up, and it takes just a few minutes.

2. That's it. You can now pick a virtual phone number for business use. Signing up for Dialpad also gives you a virtual phone system, so take it for a spin during your 14-day trial. 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 Connect starts at $15 per user per month, and even the Standard plan comes with:

• A virtual phone number

• Unlimited calling in the US and Canada

• Unified communications features, including video meetings, team messaging, and SMS

• Native AI transcription and post-call summaries

• Manual call recording, with automatic recording available on Pro and Enterprise plans

• Business essentials like custom voicemail greetings, an auto-attendant, a call forwarding service, custom after-hours call routing, and more

Better call pickup rates for your outbound efforts

One of the major benefits of a virtual number is that it can give your business a local presence without a physical office in the area. You can list a local number on directories like Google Business Profile, even if you don't have an office in the area that matches the area code.

If your business makes outbound calls to prospects, you or your reps may have a better chance of getting a pickup when the caller ID shows a local 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 modern business phone systems like Dialpad, you can make and receive calls on the same number from your mobile phone, desk phone, or computer.

Stepping away from your desk? Dialpad's app lets calls to your virtual business number ring your mobile phone.

You don't need two phones anymore

With the mobile (or "softphone") app, you can use a virtual business number on your personal mobile phone. For example, if you run a plumbing or home services business, clients can reach you throughout the day without you carrying two phones and without customers calling your personal number.

It can cost less

Physical landlines typically require upfront equipment costs, because you're essentially building a small telephone exchange in your office. You may also pay rental fees, maintenance fees, and fees for extra lines as your business grows.

With Dialpad virtual numbers, there's no on-site equipment to buy or maintain. Costs generally come down to your monthly or annual plan, plus any add-ons you choose, such as extra numbers or international calling. You can add or remove users in your online account, so you pay for what you need.

How much does a Dialpad virtual phone number cost?

If you’re looking for a virtual business phone number, you can get that with any of the three pricing plans for Dialpad Connect.

Virtual phone numbers for inbound and outbound contact centers

When your team handles higher call volumes, virtual numbers become the entry point to your contact center. Dialpad Support for contact centers adds the tools inbound teams use to staff, coach, and measure performance. Dialpad Sell adds outbound capabilities for sales teams. The features in this section are available with those plans.

Use virtual numbers and WFM scheduling to staff smarter

Forecast and staff with confidence

Dialpad virtual phone numbers give you visibility into call traffic across teams and regions. Combine that data with Workforce Management forecasting tools to predict call volume by time, channel, or campaign, so you can staff where and when you need coverage.

Automate scheduling and reduce guesswork

Once you know the demand, WFM scheduling helps create optimized shift plans automatically. Connect your virtual numbers to agent profiles and route calls based on skill, language, or queue load, so calls reach the agent best suited to answer them.

Stay agile in real time

If call volumes spike, live dashboards tied to your virtual numbers show real-time activity, adherence, and performance metrics. Managers can adjust schedules quickly and keep service levels on track without manual coordination.

Improve forecasting with virtual number insights

Turn calls into data you can plan with

Dialpad virtual numbers capture analytics like call volume, duration, resolution time, and topic trends. Those insights feed into forecasting tools to help you understand seasonality, marketing impact, and customer demand.

Plan ahead for peak periods

Use historical data from your virtual numbers to model future workloads. Whether you're scaling for holiday rushes or new product launches, you can make staffing and resource decisions based on real contact trends.

Guide agents during live calls

Real-time guidance on the call

When customers reach you through a virtual number, AI Live Coach Cards surface speaking points, recommended workflows, and best practices while agents are still on the call.

Unified knowledge for faster resolutions

AI Live Coach pulls answers from your knowledge bases during conversations, so agents can find policies, workflows, and product information without switching tabs or putting customers on hold.

Improve performance with data-driven coaching

After calls, AI Coaching Hub brings AI Scorecards, AI CSAT, and playbook adherence together in one supervisor dashboard. Coaches can spot trends, identify who needs support, and give targeted feedback.

Coach and guide in real time with call monitoring

Dialpad's call monitoring tools give supervisors real-time visibility during live calls. You can listen in, whisper feedback to agents without the customer hearing, or barge in when escalation is needed, with support from Dialpad AI's live transcription and sentiment analysis. Monitored calls become opportunities for coaching and quality assurance, with recordings and insights feeding into analytics and workforce management.

Get the complete picture with virtual numbers, AI, and WFM

When you combine virtual phone numbers with Dialpad's workforce management scheduling, forecasting, and analytics, you get a data-driven view of your whole contact center operation.

Dialpad's live dashboard brings together call volume, handle time, queue health, sentiment, and abandonment rates across teams and channels. Heat maps show when and where spikes occur, so you can forecast demand and schedule agents before peak times hit.

Live transcription and sentiment analysis let supervisors see how conversations are unfolding, identify at-risk calls, and step in when an agent needs support. Keyword tracking with Custom Moments helps surface the topics and trends coming up across calls.

IVR and routing analytics show which menu options callers use, so you can refine self-service paths and reduce unnecessary transfers. With BI-style custom reporting, you can combine real-time data with historical trends to track KPIs such as average handle time or first-call resolution and connect them to your WFM forecasts.

Beyond operations, contact center analytics can reveal training needs, coaching moments, and service-to-sales opportunities inside customer conversations.

Virtual numbers for outbound sales teams

For outbound teams, Dialpad Sell builds on your virtual numbers with tools designed for high-volume calling:

• Local Presence: Automatically matches your caller ID to a local area code when reps call prospects in the US, which may help more calls get answered. Return calls route back to the rep who placed the original call. Local Presence is included in Dialpad Sell Advanced and Premium plans and is available as an add-on for other plans.

• Voicemail drop: Reps can leave a pre-recorded message and move on to the next call.

• Dialpad Dialer: Available on Sell Premium, Dialpad Dialer runs outbound campaigns through imported lead lists or lists built from integrations like Salesforce.

Virtual phone number with area codes for local presence

Here are the area codes you can get a number for with Dialpad:

Western US

Midwestern US

Northeastern US

Southern US