Is Teams Phone included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium?

No. Teams Phone is an add-on licence on top of Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium. You also need a Microsoft Calling Plan or a connection through a telecom provider to call the regular phone network.

Can I keep my current landline numbers?

In most cases, yes. The numbers are ported to the new route at an agreed moment. This usually takes a few weeks, so start well before the current contract ends.

Do I still need desk phones?

Not necessarily. Employees can call with a headset on their laptop or with the Teams app on their phone. For reception or the warehouse, for example, you can use a phone certified for Teams.

Can I set up a menu and queue for the main number?

Yes. With an auto attendant and call queues you set up a menu, business hours, an out-of-hours greeting and how calls are distributed among colleagues.

What is the difference between Operator Connect and Direct Routing?

With Operator Connect a telecom provider connected directly to Microsoft supplies the numbers, and you manage them in the Teams admin center. With Direct Routing a provider or IT partner connects Teams to the phone network through its own gateway. That is more flexible, but more technical.

Phone system due for replacement? How an SME makes calls in Microsoft Teams with Teams Phone

The phone system contract is ending, the desk phones are ten years old and half the team works from home part of the week. Meanwhile everyone already uses Microsoft Teams for chat and meetings. So the obvious question is: can we just make calls in Teams, with our own landline number? You can, with Teams Phone. But it does require a few deliberate choices up front.

Why calling through Teams makes sense for an SME

Many businesses pay for two systems side by side: Microsoft 365 for email, files and Teams, and a separate phone system or VoIP service with its own handsets, its own admin portal and its own contract. People working from home then call through a separate app or forward the landline to their mobile. Teams Phone puts calling in the program employees already have open all day. The same number works in the office, at home and on the road, and you manage users in one place: a new starter gets a number together with their Microsoft 365 account.

What do you need?

Teams Phone is not part of Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium; it is an add-on licence per user who needs to make calls. See our article on choosing a Microsoft 365 plan for what the base plans do include. Teams also has to be connected to the regular phone network. There are three routes:

Microsoft Calling Plan: Microsoft supplies the numbers and the minutes. This is the simplest option, but availability and prices vary by country and you depend on Microsoft for numbers and rates.
Operator Connect: a telecom provider connected directly to Microsoft supplies the numbers and calling. You assign numbers to users from the Teams admin center and keep your own contract with the provider.
Direct Routing: a provider or IT partner connects Teams to the phone network through its own gateway (a Session Border Controller). This is the most flexible, for example if you want to keep part of an existing installation, but also the most technical.

Which route fits best depends on the number of users, your current provider, how you call and the contract that is still running.

The main number: auto attendant and call queues

For the main number you set up an auto attendant: a menu such as ‘press 1 for sales, press 2 for support’, with business hours and a different greeting outside office hours and on public holidays. Behind each option you put a call queue with the colleagues who take those calls. You decide whether all phones ring at once or in turn, how long a caller waits at most and where the call goes if nobody answers, for example to voicemail or a mobile number. Auto attendants and call queues use so-called resource accounts, for which Microsoft offers a free licence.

Porting numbers and old handsets

In most cases your existing landline numbers can be ported to the new route. Porting usually takes a few weeks and happens at an agreed moment, so you are not unreachable. Have your current number ranges, the contract and any notice periods ready.

Calls can be made with a headset on the laptop and with the Teams app on a phone. If someone prefers a desk phone, for example at reception or in the warehouse, use a phone certified for Teams. Old handsets from the current system usually do not simply work with Teams.

What to think about up front

Emergency number 112: register an emergency address for each site in Teams, so emergency services know where a caller is.
Internet: calling through Teams needs a stable internet connection. Check the office connection and Wi-Fi before you switch.
Recording calls: if you want or need to record phone calls, that is a separate decision, partly for privacy reasons. See also our article on Teams meeting recordings.
Leavers: include the phone number in the joiner and leaver checklist, so a departed colleague’s number is forwarded or reassigned instead of going unanswered.
Shared phones: for a phone in a canteen or meeting room there is a separate, cheaper licence for shared devices.

How Floor ICT handles this

Floor ICT maps out with you how calls are handled today: which numbers, who takes which calls, when the business is reachable and what the current contract costs and when it ends. Based on that we recommend the route that suits you. We arrange the licences, number porting, emergency addresses, auto attendants and call queues, and headsets and handsets where needed. After the switch we keep the setup up to date: new colleagues, changed business hours and leavers. That leaves you with one system fewer and one point of contact for both workplace and telephony.

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