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I think your questions have been answered here, but if not, please clarify. Many MANY providers offer the services you describe. Specifically, you asked about calling from desk phones and laptops. YES, most products can do this.
Again using Zoom Phone as an example, various manufacturers market Zoom-compatible desk phones. Here is a list on their website: Zoom Certified Hardware.
The capability is SO widespread that I would encourage you to look at technology providers – consider something that is integrated with your existing tools: Microsoft, Webex(Cisco), Google
Smaller players exist too… search “Virtual PBX” if you want to be overwhelmed.
Depending on the size of your business and your budget, you might save yourself a lot of time and money by hiring a UCaaS consultant.
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Let’s see if I can help with some useful detail by describing my current setup.
My team and I recently switched to this type of system. Eight of us function completely autonomously in/out of the office with no change in what callers see when they call us or when we call them.
There are many providers, but we are trying “Zoom Phone.” That’s right, the video meeting company. It is working well for us.
We can make/receive calls anywhere we can install the Zoom app – the same app you are probably familiar with (that’s a plus and may influence which provider you choose).
Here is the step where I might lose you – or offend you by assuming you lack some knowledge – but here we go.
We are all familiar with “phone numbers” and there is a relevant acronym we might as well use here: “DID” – Direct Inward Dialing. You probably have a DID for your office, a separate one for your cell phone, maybe others. You are also familiar with “forwarding” calls from one DID to another. For instance, you forward your office phone to your cell phone.
What number appears on caller-ID when you call other people? You might say “the phone in my hand” but that can be a bit more complicated. Take my workplace of over 1000 DID numbers. Placing a call from any phone in the place will appear as one generic “main” number!
My point here is that someone made that decision. This notion of numbers being attached to physical hardware (cell phones, desk phones, computers) is false. An outgoing call can display whatever the system is programmed to display. This get a bit tricky, because guess what! People figured out they could “spoof” other people’s numbers, making it hard to pin down who is or isn’t a telemarketer.
(Reputable) providers will not allow you to just “set” your outgoing caller ID to your office number for that reason.
The Solution: “Port” your (DID) phone number to a virtual phone system provider. Call it VOIP if you like, but the distinction between wired and virtual no longer really matters.
Have you ever switched cell phone providers while keeping your existing (DID) phone number? Same concept. Once the DID phone number is “in the cloud,” you can into and out of it from anywhere, and with any hardware (oversimplification). Your desk phone will probably have to be replaced with one compatible with your preferred provider. In essence, it will be a box with software, just like your cell phone, just like your computer. It doesn’t matter how it gets a connection to the internet (ethernet cable, WiFi, cell phone network, satellite).
You can receive calls on any DID number you control. You can “dial out from” any DID number you control (oversimplification).
There is no “app” you can install – or service you can buy – which will give you the ability to “call from” someone else’s DID number. You must have the right to “port” the number to a different service (Vonage, Zoom Phone, or literally thousands of their competitors).
IF you own the business or are assigned the power/responsibility to manage the DID numbers, you can make this happen.
I’m rambling now. What questions do you have?
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