FAQ

Getting Started

What Services Do You Offer?

We supply businesses with international, toll free and local phone numbers in over 100 countries. Our phone numbers include robust features such as a call forwarding, hosted PBX, schedule based call routing, click to call and outbound calling.

Can Secondline.com Help My Business?

Secondline.com expands your business into new markets by allowing you to use phone numbers that will appear local to your international customers. Your customers can conveniently dial a number in their home country and forward their calls to your phone, softphone or SIP device. You can also use your virtual number to call your customers using our softphone.

Why Types of Phone Numbers Can I Get?

We offer several types of phone numbers including:

  • Toll Free numbers in several countries that allow your customers call you at no charge to them
  • Local phone numbers assigned to a designated geographic area by an area code or city code.
  • National phone numbers, which are considered a local call from any given city within a country. The UK, Spain and France are countries where national phone numbers are available.

Where Can I Get a Phone Number?

We have numbers in over 120 countries and 900 cities. Click here to see which countries we have phone numbers for.

Will Callers Know That Their Calls Are Being Forwarded?

No. Your callers will dial a number locally and will hear the appropriate ringtones for added authenticity. When you call your customers using our softphone, your virtual number will show up as the caller ID.

Do You Require a Minimum Term Commitment?

No. You can cancel your service at any time. Contact Us to cancel your service.

How Many Phone Numbers Can I Have On My Account?

You may add and activate as many phone numbers as you need.

Technical

What is Call Forwarding or Call Routing?

Calls to your virtual phone number can be forwarded/routed to any phone number in the world, softphone or SIP device. We support simultaneous and sequential ringing.

  • Simultaneous ringing forwards calls to multiple phone at the same time. When the call is answered by one phone, ringing on all other phones stops.
  • Sequential ringing forwards a call to different phones in a timed order. For example, you might set up call forwarding to ring your office phone for up to 24 seconds, then your mobile phone up to 30 seconds, and then your home phone. If no phones answer, the call may be sent to voicemail or forwarded to a call center.
  • You can combine simultaneous and sequential ringing together. For instance, you could set up a group of three phones to ring simultaneously, then another three phones to ring, then another three phones.

Do You Support Interactive Voice Response (IVR)?

This feature is also referred to as an automated attendant, voice menu, or phone tree. You can set up custom voice menus that recognize key inputs or DTMF tones. Using an IVR, callers can be redirected to the proper person, extension or department. For example, an IVR may prompt callers to: "Press 1 for Sales Press 2 for Technical Support."

How Does Call Scheduling Work?

Call Scheduling allows you to route your incoming calls based on a calendar. You can schedule your calls based on the day, time or month. For example, you may schedule your calls to be answered by your agents from 9-6pm Monday through Friday. However, during the winter holiday season, you may have different hours and may even have your agents answer calls on the weekends.

What is Click to Call?

Click to Call allows visitors to your website to place a call using their browser. Our service will generate HTML code that you can place on your website, allowing your visitors to click a button and have their calls instantly forwarded to any phone number, smartphone or SIP device. No coding experience is required. Web calls answered by a Softphone will display caller location, browser & OS, web page location and caller’s local time. Optionally, you can prompt the caller to enter their name, phone number and email address before placing the call.

Can I Place Outbound Calls Using My Virtual Number?

Using our Softphone, you can place calls from anywhere you have Internet access. All calls are placed over the Internet and usage is charged to your SecondLine.com account. Your callers will see your virtual number as the caller id.

Can You Forward Calls To SIP Devices?

You can forward calls to your SIP devices. Additionally, you place calls to SIP addresses using our Softphone. We support G.711 μ-Law and G.729, and can support almost all other codecs.

How Can I Get Technical Support?

Please refer to our Contact Page.

Billing

How is Pricing Determined?

The price of your plan is based on the type of number you choose. Plan pricing may vary depending on the minutes you use, and the destinations where you forward calls. Refer to the pricing page to see monthly pricing, included minutes, and additional per-minute rates.

What If I Go Over My Plan Minutes?

If you use more than your included minutes, you will be charged for additional minutes. Your additional per minute rate will be based on the type of number and pricing plan you choose. Please view the pricing page to see rates.

What Forms of Payment Do You Accept?

We currently accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover credit cards. It is recommended that you keep a backup credit card on file so you won't experience and interruption in service when your primary credit card expires.

What Taxes, Fees, or Surcharges Will I See In My Billing Statement?

None. There are no hidden fees. Secondline.com includes all taxes and fees in the plan shown on our pricing page.

How Do I Access My Statement?

You can login into your account to access statements, real-time billing and call reports, including itemized charges for each call.

Who Can I Contact For Questions About My Bill?

Please refer to our contact page, or email Billing@SecondLine.com.

Glossary

Call Forwarding

Sending calls to a designated phone numbers or softphones. For example a local number in Los Angeles can be routed to a call center in Mumbai, or an office in Mexico City, or a cell phone in New York. Call forwarding lets you have a virtual presence in a different geographical region.

Call Schedule Routing

Call rules that you set up based on the month, day and time of a call. For example, you might want to send calls to your call center during business hours and straight to voicemail at all other times. Or you might route calls to a different call center on the weekends or holidays.

DTMF

Dial-Tone Multi-Frequency. The keys on your telephone pad each make distinct touch-tones. Our system can recognize DTMF tones, which allow your callers to navigate custom voice menus (IVR) when they call into your business.

Extension / Virtual Extension

A sequence of three or more digit number that directs a call to a specific person, department or call action. When used with an IVR, our service offers you unlimited virtual extensions.

International Phone Line

A phone number in the city or country that is connected on the back-end to our international network. When a caller dials the number locally, the call can be sent to any destination telephone in the world. An international phone line may be referred to as a virtual number or smart number.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response. Our service allows you to set up custom voice menus that recognize keypad inputs. This way, incoming calls go to the right department or extension. You might also hear IVR referred to as an automated attendant, voice menu, or phone tree. An example of an IVR prompt might be, "Press 1 for accounting."

Origination / Inbound Leg

The origination or inbound leg of a call is how the call is initiated. Once a call is originated, it is sent via PSTN or SIP/VoIP to what is known as the termination leg, or endpoint. A call may originate in PSTN, and terminate in SIP/VoIP, or vice versa.

PBX / Virtual PBX / Hosted PBX

Private Branch Exchange. It refers to the telephone system that handles the inbound and outbound calling, extensions, voicemail, fax and other telecom services for a particular office. A virtual (or hosted) PBX offers these services via PSTN and/or the Internet rather than through the use of expensive on-site hardware.

RespOrg

A RespOrg is an industry contraction for Responsible Organization. A RespOrg is a company that administers and is responsible for individual toll-free numbers in the US and Canada, including the 800, 888, 866, and 877 prefixes.

Ring-To Number

A ring-to number, or destination number, is where you want calls to be answered. A ring-to can be any existing mobile phone, landline, SIP device, or PBX. We usually refer to your ring-to number as your existing phone number.

Ringback Tone

The ringback tone is what the caller hears while waiting for a call to be answered. Because ringback tones vary from country to country, our system offers authentic ringback tones. Callers will not realize their calls are being answered out-of-country unless you tell them.

Sequential Ringing

Sequential ringing forwards a call to different phones,softphones or SIP devices in a pre-determined order. Once the call is answered, the sequence stops. For instance, you might set up a sequence to ring your office phone first, then your mobile phone, then your home phone. Or you might have a larger application, such as different phones within a call center.

Shortcut

A one-digit keypad response to an IVR (voice menu). You can customize rules for each keypad digit, such as forward calls or send to voicemail. Shortcuts are one digit, while extensions or virtual extensions are three to six digits.

Simultaneous Ringing

Calls may be forwarded to up to 15 phones at the same time. Once the call is answered, ringing on all other phones stops.

SIP

Session Initiation Protocol. This term refers to enterprise-grade VoIP, where calls are routed via the Internet rather than the traditional global PSTN.

Termination

The termination leg of a call is how the call reaches its dialed party. A call may originate in PSTN, and terminate in SIP/VoIP, or vice versa.

WebRTC

WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is a browser technology that supports voice and video applications without the need for plug-ins.

Virtual Number

Despite its name, a virtual number is a real telephone number. When a caller dials your virtual number, the call is sent transparently to any destination (or ring-to) telephone in the world. Other names for a virtual number are smart number and international phone line.

VoIP

Voice Over Internet Protocol. Refers to routing calls via the Internet rather than the traditional global PSTN. Enterprise-level VoIP is known as SIP.