There are almost as many smartphones in the United States as there are people.
With hundreds of millions of active smartphones in the country, the technology has managed to revolutionize the way we live. From ordering food to video conferencing people around the world, mobile technology has changed the way we communicate forever.
If mobile devices can offer such benefits, why do businesses still limit themselves to traditional landlines? This is why it’s so important to look at how virtual lines can transform the way your business communicates to see if they can improve efficiency, productivity, and save you money at the same time.
Interested in learning more about virtual phone lines? You’ve found the perfect blog. Here’s everything you need to know about the benefits of getting a mobile virtual line for your business.
1. What Is a Traditional Line?
2. What Are the Limitations of a Traditional Line?
3. Why Do Businesses Still Have Traditional Lines?
4. What Is a Mobile Virtual Line?
5. Why Should Businesses Switch to a Universal Virtual Line?
6. Get a Virtual Line for Your Business Today
What Is a Traditional Line?
Traditional lines refer to permanent phones that act as landlines for a business. These kinds of phones are essential for businesses and offer a wide range of services that businesses use to allow customers to contact them. The main difference between landlines and mobile phones is that they require a physical connection.
Landlines are built on physical cables that are serviced by local telecom providers. These cables can be copper or fiber but work in the same way. The term ‘landline’ is given to all hard-wired connections as they require local operators to physically add telephone lines to every home or business in the area.
In the past, these connections were manually operated, with people having to first phone a switchboard before being connected to the person that they want to call. While this technology has evolved over the years to be more digital, the fundamentals remain the same.
This means that modern landlines still require a physical connection and a network of cables to effectively make and receive phone calls. While this is widely accepted, there are major limitations that can make running a business incredibly frustrating at times.
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What Are the Limitations of a Traditional Line?
As mentioned above, landlines are hard-wired phones that rely on a physical network of cables to communicate. While there have been major improvements and upgrades to the system over the last few decades, the underlying technology has remained the same.
This means that there are tons of limitations to using a traditional landline, especially for businesses. Here’s a quick overview of some of the biggest issues people have when using traditional landlines.
Bad Weather Interruptions
Traditional landlines rely on physical connections in order to make and receive phone calls. These cables are fixed in place and are generally copper or fiber optic cables. In most places, the telephone wires are made using copper and are fixed to telephone poles around the city.
These poles are spread out, with copper wires connecting every home and business to a common network. This network allows people to seamlessly phone others. Due to the fact that these wires are generally above ground and exposed to the elements, bad weather can affect them.
Heavy rain, storms, and lightning can fry sections of the network and put it at a disadvantage. This is an issue because if a pole were to fall or go offline, it can affect the entire area. If a potential customer wants to phone you with their landline and it does not work, they could always use their mobile phone to call your business.
However, if your business relies on a landline and it goes down, it’s impossible for potential customers to reach you. This makes landlines a major risk for businesses that want to build strong and reliable relationships with customers.
Network Reliance
As mentioned above, traditional landlines rely on a network of cables to make and receive phone calls. While modern landlines do share a lot of similarities with mobile technology, their reliance on a physical network comes with a ton of risk.
Even the smallest of issues that happen to the network can have massive effects on how your business runs. The biggest problem with this is that the network is not entirely in your control. This means that external factors can cause your business to lose customers.
Costs
Traditional landlines are not as easy to set up and maintain compared to mobile phones. When installing a landline, professional technicians will need to come to your home or business to connect you to their network. This includes drilling holes and connecting wires in and around your office.
While the cost of these wires may be cheap, the entire installation is not. Additionally, traditional landlines will require you to buy special phones for the office. This adds to the overall cost of the entire system. Lastly, if anything goes wrong with the system, you may have to pay even more money for the professionals to come and have a look at it in person.
Immobility
Landlines require a physical connection at all times. This means that when you set up a traditional landline for your business, you can only receive business calls from your business. This limits your ability to effectively communicate with customers.
Modern business is never in one place. If you were to be out of town for work, no other clients would be able to contact you since you’re not physically near the business landline. While there are still email and other methods of contacting you when you’re not at your desk, none are as convenient and effective as a phone call.
Limited Functionality
While mobile phones offer a wide range of services and features, business landlines offer only a simple phone call. Mobile technology has evolved at rates never seen before, but traditional landlines have remained fairly the same for the last few decades.
This is shocking since traditional landlines cost more to install and maintain yet offer you less functionality than even the cheapest smartphone on the market.
Why Do Businesses Still Have Traditional Lines?
If business landlines are so terrible, the question is why do businesses still use them? The simple answer is professionalism. Just like with business emails, having a landline makes the business appear more professional than a mobile number.
However, modern services work around this to give you the same professionalism as a landline along with the dynamic benefits of mobile technology.
What Is a Mobile Virtual Line?
Mobile virtual lines are an effective way to create a dedicated phone number for your business. If you already have a business number registered to your name, you can even port it so that you can use it on your mobile device.
Mobile virtual lines make use of mobile phone technology to connect you to your customers. This means that you can effectively have your business phone connected to your phone instead of having to rely on fixed wires and a physical network of cables.
Mobile technology works in a very different way as it relies on cell phone towers to connect you to a network. This network is underpinned by satellites, radio waves, or underground cables. While these cell phone towers do sometimes make use of cables, they are much more reliable than telephone cables that connect individual homes.
Mobile virtual lines work through an app on your smartphone. This allows you to take business calls wherever you are in the world as long as you have mobile service. This service works completely wirelessly, allowing you and your employees to be completely mobile.
This is perfect for modern businesses that want a more flexible way to interact with customers and potential clients.
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Features and Functionality
While traditional landlines only offer the ability to make phone calls, a mobile virtual line comes with smartphone features as well. The most notable is the ability to send and receive texts from customers and clients that want to contact you quickly.
Since the virtual line relies on smartphone technology, it also comes with a host of additional features that you can control with just the tap of a few buttons. This includes storing and collecting business contacts, international texting, voicemail, email alerts, and cloud services.
Cloud services make things a lot more secure while also allowing you to keep an accurate record of everything you send to customers. These virtual lines are not limited to one kind of phone either, which means you can use the service on both iPhones and Android devices.
Why Should Businesses Switch to a Universal Virtual Line?
Virtual mobile lines are leagues ahead of traditional landlines. These lines are perfect for businesses as they are more reliable, cost-efficient, and offer a lot more features at the same time. Here’s a quick overview of why all businesses should consider switching to a virtual line.
1. Mobile Connectivity
The biggest difference between traditional landlines and mobile virtual lines is the fact that virtual lines don’t require you to have a physical connection to make and receive phone calls. Virtual lines make use of radio waves from local cell phone towers to connect customers to you.
This means that you can remain available even if you’re outside the office. No matter where you are, as long as you have cell phone service, you’ll be able to answer business calls. This kind of flexibility is perfect for employees that move around as part of their job.
If you have employees that are constantly going to visit clients or travel a lot, mobile virtual lines are the perfect solution.
2. Scalability
Mobile virtual lines can be scaled up a lot faster than traditional lines. If you want to add more lines to your office or building, you’ll have to set an appointment with the phone company and wait for them to come and install additional lines for you.
Mobile virtual lines make scaling up easier than ever, as you can just add new virtual lines with just the tap of a button. This makes it perfect for small to medium-sized businesses that are growing and need services that are able to grow with them.
3. Texting
The modern economy is all about convenience. This is why adding the ability for customers and clients to text you is so beneficial. This breaks down the distance between you and your customer base as they can simply contact you the same way they contact their friends and family.
While many may think this is not an important feature, it’s proven to go a long way in creating long-lasting relationships with customers.
4. Cloud Services
Mobile virtual lines work through an app on your smartphone. While this app makes using your virtual line safe and secure, it also offers a wide range of cloud features to make managing your line a lot more convenient. This includes cloud voicemail greetings, cloud storage, and a cloud-based management console.
5. Cheaper to Set Up
At the end of the day, every business wants to streamline its costs. While traditional landlines require professionals to come and install phones manually, setting up a virtual line is as easy as downloading an app. This saves you both time and money.
Get a Virtual Line for Your Business Today
Virtual lines offer the reliability and flexibility that traditional landlines just can’t compete with. While traditional landlines may have you tied to your desk to answer phone calls, virtual lines give you the freedom to answer business calls wherever you are on your mobile device.
While many may think this kind of convenience is going to cost an arm and a leg, the right plan can actually save you money every month!
If you want to learn more about virtual lines and the benefits they can have for your business, feel free to contact us today.
