By Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Contributor

One advantage of voice-over-IP (VoIP) is the mobility factor, a feature that is particularly coveted by virtual office workers. But VoIP and mobile phone services, like those offered by  Phone (News - Alert).com, also are economical. Using Phone.com can save a business a lot of money!

Here are five ways that the service can save a business money:

1. Free long distance calling. The days of per-minute calling charges are over. With Phone.com (News - Alert), a business can make unlimited long distance calls for one flat rate. This unlimited calling is extended to countries such as Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom, too, not just to calls made to US numbers. Other international calling is cheap, too.

2. There is no hardware to buy or maintain. Businesses do not have to own their own PBX (News - Alert) system and routers. All the backend is taken care of by Phone.com, so businesses save money on telephone hardware costs. There also is no maintenance cost, which should not be overlooked! 

A business can take the hardware costs all the way down to zero with Phone.com buy even skipping office phones entirely if they want. Instead of using an office phone, businesses that use Phone.com can opt to make calls from Phone.com through their personal smartphones. The business doesn’t need to supply anything!

3. There are less phone lines to buy with Phone.com. With traditional phone service, a business must purchase and maintain the right amount of phone lines to ensure that all employees can make calls and all callers can reach their desired destination. Phone.com cuts out the need to predict how many phone lines are needed, however. This of course is more efficient and cost effective.

4. No lost business. Sometimes a call can make all the difference between gaining a client and losing one. Being able to field all calls that come into a business is an absolute necessity, and Phone.com makes sure calls are not missed by making sure that calls follow workers wherever they might go. A phone.com number gives a business the ability to send calls to office phones, laptops or smartphones, ensuring that calls are not missed.

Phone.com also can route calls to multiple phones, so if an employee is unable to take a call then the call automatically can start ringing on the phone of the next most appropriate employee. This means a busy employee does not stop calls from being fielded, and from sales being lost.

5. Features galore at no additional cost. A phone.com account means more than 40 advanced calling features are included, features that often cost extra with other phone providers. These include basics such as voicemail and custom greetings, as well as more advanced features like caller analytics, call recording, fax support and interactive voice response menus.

So while virtual office workers might love Phone.com for its portability, there also are a number of financial reasons to choose the service!