How to Connect Toll-Free Numbers to Your VoIP Phone System?

How to Connect Toll-Free Numbers to Your VoIP Phone System?

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Exceptional customer service with a reliable contact number is essential for every business, regardless of its size. Using toll-free numbers, businesses can improve the customer experience while encouraging them to contact your company more frequently.

Moreover, businesses can integrate toll-free numbers into VoIP phone systems to
create an even more advanced customer-centric communication platform.

In this blog, we will discuss how to connect toll-free numbers to a VoIP phone system, alongside its benefits and common challenges. Let’s get started.


What Is a Toll-Free Number?

A toll-free number is a telephone number that allows customers to call a business without any charges. The firm or organization that owns the number pays the call bills.

The toll-free phone numbers start with unique prefixes, which may differ for different countries. Toll-free prefixes, such as 800, 888, 877, 844, 833, and 866, are mostly used in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) region. Similarly, countries like New Zealand use 0800 or 0508, Australia uses 1800 or 1300, and Japan uses 0120 or 00531.

These numbers are mainly used for support lines, customer service, and sales inquiries, improving customer accessibility and encouraging frequent calls.

Why Connect Toll-Free Numbers to Your VoIP Phone System?

Connecting toll-free numbers to your VoIP phone system saves your cost, enhances customer experience, and allows you to integrate your phone system with different CRM tools while offering scalability and flexibility.
 

  1. Saves Cost: VoIP providers charge comparatively less than traditional carrier providers. Additionally, many providers may offer favorable packages, such as the higher the number of calls, the lower the cost.
     
  2. Enhanced Customer Service: A VoIP phone system offers call routing, forwarding, and transferring features. This allows customers to get faster assistance and easy access to their desired service.
     
  3. Advanced Features: Most VoIP service providers also offer features like call analysis and monitoring making it easy to analyze and monitor calls received on toll-free numbers.
     
  4. Integration with CRM Tools: The VoIP system integrates with CRM tools, making customer relationship management easy. For instance, agents can keep track of how successful a campaign is by integrating the phone system with the marketing tools.
     
  5. Scalability: Let’s say you are a hotel owner and get many calls during the holiday season. VoIP phone system allows you to easily add lines for your toll-free number and distribute inbound calls without much hassle.
     
  6. Flexibility: A VoIP phone can be accessed through multiple devices, whether a laptop, mobile, or computer. It allows you to receive calls on your toll-free number from anywhere, just with an internet connection.
     

Connect your Toll-free Phone Number to the VoIP Phone System Effortlessly

How to Connect Your Toll-Free Number to VoIP Phone System?

You can either port your toll-free phone number to a VoIP provider, get a new virtual toll-free number, or utilize the call forwarding method to connect a toll-free number to a VoIP phone system.

First Method - Port Your Phone Number

Here’s how to port your toll-free number to a VoIP phone system:
 

  • Step 1: Choose a reliable VoIP provider like CalilIo and sign up.
  • Step 2: Check if your number is portable before the porting process.
  • Step 3: Prepare and provide the required documents, such as a letter of authorization (LOA), a copy of the recent phone bill (COB), and a customer service record (CSR).
  • Step 4: Wait for the porting process to be completed.
  • Step 5: After completion, cancel your old service plan.

Note: While porting your phone number, you should be aware of any downtime or additional costs associated with it. Also, you must keep your current service active until the porting process is complete.

Second Method - Purchase a Virtual Toll-Free Number

You can get a virtual toll-free number directly connected to a VoIP phone system and avoid the porting hassle.
 

  • Step 1: Select a VoIP provider.
  • Step 2: Sign up and register with it.
  • Step 3: Subscribe to one of its plans and navigate to the number section.
  • Step 4: Pick your desired Toll-Free number.
  • Step 5: Purchase the number following the prompt instructions.

Third Method - Use The Call Forwarding Method

Here is a step-by-step guide on connecting a toll-free number to a VoIP phone system using the call forwarding feature.
 

  • Step 1: Get a virtual phone number from a VoIP provider.
  • Step 2: Contact your current carrier provider.
  • Step 3: Ask them to enable the call-forwarding feature.
  • Step 4: Redirect the call to your recently purchased virtual phone number.

Challenges While Connecting Toll-Free Numbers to Your VoIP Phone System

Common issues when connecting toll-free numbers to VoIP systems include porting delays, technical glitches, and impact on call quality.

1. Delay in Porting

Delay in porting often occurs due to incomplete documentation such as missing LOAs, CSRs, billing receipts, or incorrect information, such as misspelled names and wrong business addresses.

2. Technical Glitch

When the porting process is not executed correctly, it can result in call routing issues, inability to receive calls, or dropped calls.

If this happens, you should work closely with both providers to identify technical issues and resolve it quickly.

3. VoIP Call Quality

Latency and Jitter can affect your VoIP calls. A stable internet connection and proper bandwidth are necessary for clearer calls.

So, ensure you have a robust internet connection with everything configured properly to operate your toll-free number through a VoIP system.

Conclusion

As stated earlier, toll-free numbers allow customers to call businesses without being charged. Connecting a toll-free number with a VoIP phone system benefits firms by saving costs, offering advanced features, and enhancing customer service.

You can connect toll-free numbers with your VoIP phone system by porting your number, forwarding your calls to VoIP numbers, or simply getting a new number from VoIP providers.

Sign up with Calilio for hassle-free number porting or get a virtual toll-free number at an affordable price.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Port a Toll-Free Number?

Yes, you can port a toll-free number to a new service provider. However, it depends on the carrier provider whether the number is portable.

How Long Does It Take To Port a Number to VoIP?

Number porting can take up to 5-7 business days. However, it can take longer for complicated requests, including multiple numbers.


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