Looking for a better way to manage a college student’s phone needs? Consider virtual number call forwarding.
You can use virtual number call forwarding in several ways to reduce your student’s long distance bills and ensure that you can be reached no matter where you may be located.
In order to understand how you and your college student can benefit from virtual number call forwarding, you’ll need to understand what virtual number call forwarding is. At its most basic, virtual number call forwarding is a phone number that is not attached to a physical phone. You can set your virtual number to ring to any phone.
Get Your Own Toll Free Virtual Number
As the parent of a college student, you don’t want to miss a single call. While cell phones are a great choice, they do have limits. For example, what happens if your cell phone’s battery is dead? What if you’re traveling in an area with spotty coverage? With virtual number call forwarding, you can receive calls on your cell phone if desired or you can set up your virtual number to ring to a different phone such as your home phone, office phone, or hotel room phone.
Parents who pay their students’ phone bills one way or the other should consider getting a toll free virtual number. Since the number is toll free, your student does not need to worry about costs or running out of minutes on a prepaid phone card. Meanwhile, toll free virtual number call forwarding plans are available with low per minute rates. You may even find that ordering a toll free number for your college student is one of the cheapest ways to receive long distance calls.
Once you have your number, give it to your college student and any other children, family members, or friends you want to be able to reach you no matter what. Use the online account management tool or voice menu to set up your default ring-to number and access other features. You may even want to enable simultaneous ringing (a feature that rings several designated ring-to numbers at the same time) or sequential routing (a feature that tries several designated numbers in a predefined sequence).
Get Your Child a Virtual Number
In addition to getting a virtual number call forwarding plan for receiving calls from your college student, it may make sense to get one for calling your student. When picking a number, keep in mind that even if your child is located in another city or state, it’s often smarter to choose a number that’s local to you because you’ll be dialing the number and paying for the calls you make. Consider either a toll free number or a number that’s inside your local calling area. Either way, you will incur a low per minute fee for the call forwarding service. Choose a toll free virtual number call forwarding number if you frequently travel outside of your local calling area to keep your costs as low as possible.
It’s up to you how you allow your child to use the virtual number. For example, some parents set up simultaneous ringing so that the virtual number call forwarding automatically rings the child’s dorm line and cell phone. Others teach their kids how to change the ring-to number at will. If your child is likely to forget to change the number, activating simultaneous or sequential ringing is recommended.
It’s also up to you whether or not you tell your child what the number is. For example, if your child shares the virtual number with casual friends and acquaintances, you’ll end up paying for their calls. If you’d prefer to contain your costs and limit them to only the calls you make, then order virtual number call forwarding, set it up, and keep the details to yourself.
Virtual Numbers and International Travel
Another benefit of virtual number call forwarding is that you can use your virtual number when traveling internationally. If your child will be spending a semester overseas, you can simply change the ring-to number to the overseas destination and dial your child as you normally do. Likewise, if you must leave the country, you can change your ring-to number to your international location and receive phone calls from your college student no matter where in the world you might be.
Using virtual number call forwarding to make and receive phone calls from a college student is a terrific choice for any parent. Order one for your college student to use to reach you and one for you to reach your college student. You’ll both be better able to find each other, and you can enjoy low per minute rates.