In today’s global economy, appearing local is a strategic imperative. Whether you’re expanding into a new market or supporting international customers, the ability to offer a local or toll-free phone number in your target country builds trust and accessibility.
For UK-based businesses (and any business operating globally), understanding how to get an international phone number online is a crucial step toward unlocking international growth. But it’s not without challenges, from telco regulation to routing complexity and compliance concerns.
This guide walks you through the different types of international phone numbers, the opportunities, risks, and how to buy international numbers online with confidence.
Why Businesses Buy International Phone Numbers
Customers trust numbers that feel familiar. A +44 UK caller ID appearing in Germany or Greece, for example, can cause confusion, or worse, be ignored. But if that same call shows a local or universal international freephone number, the likelihood of pickup and engagement skyrockets.
Benefits of buying international numbers:
- Boost trust and engagement with local-looking or toll-free caller IDs.
- Simplify access for customers by using toll free international phone numbers.
- Route calls efficiently to your global or centralized teams. Appear local but service the calls from anywhere.
- Track campaign ROI by using separate numbers for each country or channel.
- Maintain a virtual presence without the overhead of physical offices.
Whether you need to get a UK phone number in the US for headquarters accessibility, or get a Canadian phone number for regional expansion, the right provider makes all the difference.
In short, having local or national numbers in each country you operate, or plan to operate in, is not just a nice-to-have. It’s a strategic growth lever.
What Are the Different Types of International Phone Numbers?
When buying an international phone number online, it’s important to understand the different types available. Each one is designed for a specific use case and regional requirement.
Geographic numbers, also known as local numbers, are tied to a specific city or area code. For example, a +49 30 number corresponds to Berlin. These are ideal for businesses looking to build trust in a particular city or region by presenting a familiar local identity to callers.
National numbers are not linked to a specific location but can be dialed from anywhere within the country. They’re great for organizations that want nationwide visibility without anchoring their identity to a particular area code.
Toll-free numbers (such as 0800 in the UK or 1-800 in the US) are designed to remove barriers for your customers. The caller pays nothing as the business absorbs the cost, making these numbers ideal for customer service lines, inbound support desks, and high-conversion sales outreach.
Universal International Freephone Numbers (UIFN) offer a single toll free number that works across multiple countries. While they provide a unified global identity, they come with additional setup requirements, higher costs, and limited country support, making them best suited for large multinational brands with consistent global reach.
Choosing the right number type depends on your business goals, where your customers are located, and how you plan to route and manage calls. From building local trust to scaling global accessibility, selecting the right format, whether geographic, national, toll-free, or UIFN, is key to your international voice strategy.
The Growing Challenges of Buying International Phone Numbers
As demand for international expansion has risen, so have the challenges. Buying an international phone number online used to be as simple as choosing a country and pointing the number at your main phone system. Not anymore.
Today, businesses face a growing set of challenges when purchasing international phone numbers online, from increasingly stringent local telecom regulations to limited routing flexibility and rising compliance risks. These common problems make it harder to manage global voice systems at scale, especially when routing calls to platforms like Microsoft Teams.
Here’s what you’re up against:
1. Complex Telecoms Regulations
Telecom regulation is tightening across the globe. Many countries now require businesses to provide:
- A registered local address in the target country
- A legal business entity
- Supporting documentation (e.g., passport, utility bill, business registration certificate)
If you’re trying to get a German phone number, buy a French number, or get a Canadian phone number, these regulations can block your plans if you don’t have a presence on the ground.
Some countries (e.g., Turkey, Mexico, France) will even audit your compliance post-provisioning, and numbers can be reclaimed without notice if regulations aren’t met.
Tip: Make sure your provider understands and navigates the compliance requirements in each country on your behalf. Bonus points if they can provide hosted address solutions where allowed, or if they already have their own regulated presence in-country.
That’s why working with an experienced international toll-free service provider such as Callroute, who can assist with compliance or offer hosted presence solutions, is critical.
2. Limited Routing Flexibility
Many providers offer numbers but lock you into static, one-size-fits-all call forwarding. That doesn’t cut it when you need to:
- Route calls directly to Microsoft Teams users or queues
- Forward to a SIP trunk or PBX
- Route calls to Webex Calling
- Simple forward to another PSTN number
If you’re buying phone numbers to support a global Microsoft Teams deployment, generic forwarding won’t deliver the experience or control your business needs.
Tip: search for a provider with full routing flexibility, allowing you to point inbound calls from any number to any destination, whether that’s Microsoft Teams, SIP trunks or just a regular PSTN call forward.
3. Lack of Phone Number Reporting Transparency
Buying international phone numbers is only part of the picture. Without proper reporting, you’re left guessing about:
- Call volumes
- Associated traffic costs
- Regional performance
- Unused or overused lines
This is especially risky when you buy phone numbers in bulk or are managing toll-free numbers in high-traffic regions like the U.S., Canada, or Australia.
Tip: ensure your provider offers a reporting dashboard with full insight into your call flows, traffic spikes, cost breakdowns, and number-level performance in real time.
Without this, businesses can’t optimize for ROI or make informed decisions.
4. Disconnected Procurement Processes
Trying to buy local telephone numbers across 10+ countries? With most providers, you’ll need to manage separate country portals, multiple contracts, scattered provisioning processes, and inconsistent SLAs.
This slows growth, introduces compliance risk, and creates a support nightmare.
Tip: Look for a provider that centralizes procurement and management across every country, number type, and voice environment, cutting overhead, increasing speed, and reducing regulatory burden.
Key Considerations Before You Buy
1. What Countries Are You Targeting?
Your destination market affects the type of number you can acquire:
- Geographic (local) numbers – tied to a city or region (e.g. +49 30 for Berlin).
- National numbers – non-location-specific, but still local to the country.
- Toll-free numbers – ideal for customer service or sales outreach.
- UIFN (Universal International Freephone Numbers) – work across multiple countries but are more complex and expensive.
2. Do You Need a Local Legal Entity?
In some countries (e.g. Germany, France, Spain), regulators require:
- A registered local business.
- Proof of a local address.
- Documentation like business licenses or identification.
3. Where Will You Route Calls?
Once you buy the number, you’ll want control over where calls go:
- Microsoft Teams (users, call queues, or auto attendants)
- SIP trunks or VoIP platforms
- Legacy PBX systems
- Mobile or landline destinations
Some providers only offer fixed call forwarding. Callroute supports flexible routing across all environments, letting you tailor each call path, ideal for hybrid and global teams.
How To Get An International Phone Number With Callroute
Callroute was built with all these challenges in mind, and designed to solve them. Here’s how.
Global Number Access with Regulatory Compliance
Callroute provides international phone numbers (geographic, toll-free, and national) in over 70 countries, with a clear understanding of the local regulatory requirements.
We have experience as an international toll free service provider, and can help organisations navigate the complexities of telecom regulations. In certain cases, Callroute can provide numbers even if you don’t have a legal entity in-country by leveraging our trusted in-country partners and compliance models.
We help you:
- Avoid legal pitfalls
- Stay compliant with local laws
- Quickly expand your number footprint
Flexible Routing, Including Direct to Microsoft Teams
Whether you want to route calls to:
- Microsoft Teams (via Direct Routing or Operator Connect)
- SIP trunks
- On-premise PBX systems
- External mobile/PSTN numbers
Callroute gives you full control with a drag-and-drop UI and easy-to-follow setup. Perfect for hybrid environments or businesses consolidating around Microsoft Teams.
Transparent Reporting and Cost Insights
With Callroute’s built-in analytics tools, you get a full view of your voice traffic across all countries and users. See:
- Inbound and outbound volumes
- Call costs by number, country, or user
- Missed call trends
- Traffic spikes and anomalies
This empowers your IT and finance teams to track spending, optimize routing, and make data-driven decisions. And for Sales and Marketing teams, you can evaluate campaign effectiveness.
Simple, Scalable Management
Callroute enables:
- Self-service number provisioning
- Instant routing changes
- Centralized configuration for all countries
- Granular Role-based Access Control for global IT teams
- Powerful reporting to gain valuable insights
You no longer need to rely on multiple providers or clunky telco portals. Everything is available from a single dashboard, whether you’re managing 10 or 1,000 numbers. Connect your existing carriers in minutes, and manage everything in one place.
Appear Local, Operate Global With International Numbers From Callroute
Buying international numbers isn’t just about availability, it’s about agility, compliance, and integration. In today’s environment, where regulations are strict, customers demand speed and teams are global, your number provider needs to do more than just connect calls.
That’s where Callroute stands apart.
We help you get a foreign phone number online. Whether you need to get a Canadian phone number, or buy 0800 numbers in the UK, we can route those calls wherever you want, instantly.
Why Choose Callroute?
- Buy international phone numbers online across 70+ countries with support for geographic, national, and toll-free options.
- Route to Microsoft Teams, SIP trunks, PBXs, or mobile numbers with real-time control – no forwarding hacks or third-party dependencies.
- Comply with local regulations even in restricted markets like Germany, Turkey, India, or Mexico, thanks to our hosted presence and compliance models.
- Track every number, campaign, and country in one centralized reporting dashboard with cost breakdowns, usage trends, and missed call alerts.
- Scale easily with bulk number provisioning, role-based access, and unified management, perfect for IT, Sales, and Operations teams.
Unlike traditional carriers or limited online services, Callroute combines the flexibility of a global platform with the control of an enterprise-grade voice solution, all designed to integrate natively with Microsoft Teams.
Whether you want to buy phone numbers in bulk, get an international toll-free number, or buy local telephone numbers for regional campaigns, Callroute gives you everything you need to operate globally, without borders, bottlenecks, or compliance blockers.
Ready to Expand Globally?
Book a meeting with our experts to see how we can help you acquire and manage international numbers with complete confidence.
Let’s start building your international voice presence compliantly, cost-effectively, and completely integrated.
