What Is a Virtual Landline? How a Local Business Number Works

The phone number on a business card tells a caller something before they dial. In mainland China, landline numbers carry a city area code, 10 for Beijing and 21 for Shanghai, while mobile numbers have no area code at all: they are eleven digits long and start with 1. A number with a foreign country code can suggest that the business is based somewhere else.

A landline number belongs to a phone line installed at one address. A virtual landline keeps the city number and drops the physical line. Calls are routed wherever the business decides: to a receptionist who answers in the company's name, to a mobile or office phone in another city or country, or to voicemail.
For a company with no office in China, this means a Beijing or Shanghai number can be in place before anyone is based in either city. The number also stays the same when people travel, relocate or change roles.

How Calls Reach You Without a Desk Phone

A virtual number is held by a provider and runs on instructions the business gives it. Callers dial an ordinary local number and see nothing of the routing behind it. 

Some providers keep it self-service, sending every call straight to the owner's mobile or to an app. Others put a person on the line first, which is worth considering when the team works in another time zone or cannot always take calls itself. 

A Receptionist Who Answers in Your Company's Name

With a staffed telephone answering service, a receptionist picks up using the company's name and the greeting the business has chosen, then follows its standing instructions. Those instructions can be specific: a key client put straight through to the sales director, a supplier asked to send details by email, a job applicant's message passed on at the end of the day. A caller in Shanghai hears the company's name while the team behind it may be in Hong Kong or Frankfurt.

Forwarding to Another Phone, Including Overseas

Forwarding sends a call on to another number: a colleague's mobile in Beijing, the regional office in Tokyo or a manager's phone in London. Where a receptionist answers first, they transfer the call as instructed; on a self-service line, it rings straight through. 

Messages and Voicemail When Nobody Can Take the Call

When a call cannot be put through, a staffed service takes a message and passes it on, so the business knows who called and why. On a line without a receptionist, or outside the hours one covers, voicemail takes the call, and an interactive menu can let callers press a key to reach a mobile or a colleague without leaving a recording.

Calls that turn into follow-up work, such as arranging a meeting or chasing a document, go beyond answering the phone. For that, a receptionist can work alongside a secretary, as part of wider reception and secretarial support in China.

Fixed Line, Mobile or Virtual Landline?

The three options differ in where calls ring, who picks up and what happens when people move on.

A fixed line suits a business with an office and someone at the desk through the working day. A mobile suits a person who takes every call personally and is happy for clients to have that number. A virtual number pairs the city area code of a fixed line with the reach of a mobile, and the routing behind it can change as the team does.

Why the City in the Number Matters in China

For a buyer, distributor or partner in China, a Beijing or Shanghai number is a domestic call, and its area code associates the business with that city. A foreign mobile or overseas office number means an international call, and it can leave the caller unsure whether anyone will answer during China's business hours. A local number can remove that small obstacle to picking up the phone.

The choice of city follows the clients. A company selling mainly to Shanghai importers may want a 21 number, and one working with organisations in Beijing may want a 10 number. A business active in both cities can hold a number in each, with both routed to the same team.

With a staffed line, the first point of contact also works on China time. A buyer calling at three in the afternoon Beijing time can reach a receptionist or leave a message while the company's own staff in Toronto or New York are asleep.

Situations Where a Local Number Helps

In each of these cases, calls from China need to reach the right person without depending on one desk or one handset:

• A European manufacturer that has started quoting for Chinese buyers wants enquiries to arrive on one Shanghai number, not on several sales managers' personal mobiles.
• A company's only China-based representative is leaving, and client calls need to stay with the business instead of following that person.
• A founder splits the year between Beijing and home, and wants one number on the business card wherever they happen to be.

A virtual number can stand alone or come as one part of a virtual office, alongside a business address for correspondence, mail handling and meeting rooms. For companies that need more than a phone line, what a virtual office includes for foreign businesses in China sets out the wider arrangement.

What to Settle Before the Number Goes on Your Cards

A few details decide how well the number works from the first call, so they are worth agreeing with the provider at the start:

• The greeting: the company name exactly as callers should hear it, in Mandarin, English or both
• The order of calls: who is tried first, who next, and what happens if nobody picks up
• The hours: where calls go during China's working day, and where they go in the evening and at weekends
• Messages: how they should reach you, whether by email, text or a call, and who else should receive them
• Overseas forwarding: which numbers outside China calls may go to, and whether forwarding them costs extra

Servcorp's Communications Package is one example of a staffed line. It gives a business a local Beijing or Shanghai number, answered in the company's name and with its chosen greeting by a dedicated receptionist at the chosen location. Calls are handled as instructed, whether transferred to an office, a mobile or a number overseas, or taken as a message, and interactive voicemail runs 24 hours a day. The receptionists are bilingual, and the package runs on month-by-month terms.

Final Thoughts

A virtual number gives a company a fixed point of contact in a Chinese city without a desk phone or a person permanently in place. The area code links the business with that city, and the instructions behind the number decide what happens once a client rings.
For a company still working out how much presence it needs in China, the number is a modest first step. It can be published now, while the routing behind it changes as the team grows, travels or relocates.

Frequently Asked Questions