If your business serves customers in another country, an international phone number lets them call a familiar local number while you answer wherever you already work. Below we explain what these numbers are, why companies use them, and how to set one up.

What is an international phone number?

An international phone number is a telephone number from a specific country that is not tied to a physical line in that country. Incoming calls are routed over our network and forwarded to your existing landline, mobile phones, your existing phone system or a SaaS system. To the caller it behaves like any domestic number, which means your business looks local even when your team sits abroad.

Each number carries the country’s dialing code — +1 for the United States, +44 for the United Kingdom, +49 for Germany — followed by an area or service code and the subscriber number. The caller pays their normal domestic rate, while you manage everything from one platform.

Why businesses use an international phone number

Customers hesitate to call a foreign number because they worry about call costs, connection quality, or dealing with a company that has no presence in their market. A local number removes that hesitation, so you capture leads and support requests you would otherwise lose.

For companies expanding into new markets, an international number is the fastest way to signal commitment without opening an office. E-commerce brands can show a local support line at checkout, recruitment agencies give candidates an easy way to call back, and professional-services firms project a permanent local presence in regions where they work with clients.

How to get an international phone number

You do not need hardware or a local office to start. Choose the country and number type, point the number at the phone or team that should receive calls, and the provider handles the rest. Browse the available countries on our virtual phone numbers overview, and most numbers are active within one working day.

There are three common number types to choose from:

  • Local geographic numbers carry a city area code, which builds immediate regional trust but often requires a verifiable address in that area.
  • National numbers work across a whole country without being tied to a city, which suits businesses that operate nationwide.
  • Toll-free numbers are free for the caller, so they work well for customer support and sales lines where you want to remove every cost barrier.

How international call forwarding works

When a customer dials your international number, the call travels through the provider’s network and is forwarded to whatever destination you set, so you answer it like a normal call. You can route calls by time of day or by team using call forwarding and a selection menu, which keeps you reachable during local business hours and sends out-of-hours calls to voicemail or another destination.

Because the number runs in the cloud, you can change where it rings as often as you like and add features such as a welcome message or call recording without new equipment.

Premium routing over fixed networks, not the cheapest path

Call quality is where most international-number providers cut corners. Many carry calls over the cheapest available internet route, which adds delay, echo and dropped words on long-distance calls. We do the opposite: calls are routed over the traditional fixed telephone networks rather than a cheap internet path, so your callers get the clarity of a domestic landline even across borders.

That choice is deliberate. We focus on B2B companies expanding across Europe, where a missed word on a sales or support call costs real business, so we route over the best networks instead of the cheapest ones. You still receive the calls wherever you work — a landline, mobile, your own phone system or a SaaS system — while the connection itself runs on premium carrier routes.

We are also a licensed operator in 14 of the largest EU countries and run our own platform, so we are not a reseller. That means we control the routing end to end: when you need special routing or a change made quickly, we arrange it directly, whereas a reseller can only open a ticket with its upstream provider and wait.

Get a local presence in any market

An international phone number gives your business a local face in markets where you want to grow, while your team keeps working from one place. Pick a country on our virtual phone numbers overview and start receiving calls on your own line, usually the same working day.