No. You need a Calling Plan only if you want Microsoft to be your phone carrier. What a user needs for outside calls is a Teams Phone license plus some connection to the public phone network, and a Microsoft Calling Plan is one of four ways to get that connection. People who only call each other in Teams need no connection to the phone network at all.
\n","summary":"No. A Microsoft Calling Plan is one of four ways to connect Teams Phone to the public phone network. Every route needs a Teams Phone license, and only the Calling Plan route makes Microsoft your carrier.","publishedAt":"2026-04-02T03:39:39.77","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","editorialStatus":"APPROVED","lastReviewedAt":"2026-10-10T03:36:39.428","nextReviewDueAt":"2026-12-14T00:00:00","templateVersion":"v2","aliases":["Is a Calling Plan required for Teams Phone?","Do you need a Microsoft Calling Plan for Teams Phone?","Can I use Teams Phone without a Calling Plan?","Does Teams Phone include a Calling Plan?","Teams Phone without a Calling Plan","What PSTN options can replace a Teams Calling Plan?","Teams Phone Standard vs Teams Phone with Calling Plan","How do I make external calls in Teams without a Calling Plan?","Is Operator Connect an alternative to a Calling Plan?","Do internal Teams calls need a Calling Plan?","Teams Phone Calling Plan alternatives","In which countries can I buy a Microsoft Teams Calling Plan?"],"confidenceScore":90,"confidenceLabel":"High","canonicalUrl":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"contributorOrganizationProfile":null,"contributorPerson":null,"sections":[{"id":"61f5f77d-e39f-44ec-9e07-dace5546e510","sectionKey":"bundle_includes","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What the Teams Phone with Calling Plan bundle includes","introMarkdown":"Teams Phone is the phone system. Microsoft's [add-on licensing page](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/microsoft-teams-add-on-licensing) describes Teams Phone Standard as an add-on license that provides PBX capabilities such as cloud voicemail, call transfer, auto attendants and call queues. We cover that license in [which Teams Phone license you need](https://www.answerstack.io/q/what-teams-phone-license-do-i-need).\n\nThe same page calls a Calling Plan \"an add-on license to Teams Phone for making calls to the PSTN,\" and adds that with this option Microsoft is your PSTN carrier. The PSTN is the public switched telephone network, the one landlines and mobiles are on. So a Calling Plan is a carrier service that happens to be sold as a license.\n\nThe two get confused because Microsoft also sells them together. The Teams Phone with Calling Plan bundle is a single add-on that includes both, and anyone who buys it sees one product. Buy Teams Phone Standard alone and you have a phone system with no route to outside numbers until you add one. Microsoft's [Teams Phone overview](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/what-is-phone-system-in-office-365) says so directly: \"A PSTN solution is separate from a Teams Phone license.\" We set the two side by side in [the difference between Teams Phone and a Calling Plan](https://www.answerstack.io/q/what-is-the-difference-between-teams-phone-and-a-calling-plan).","introHtml":"Teams Phone is the phone system. Microsoft's add-on licensing page describes Teams Phone Standard as an add-on license that provides PBX capabilities such as cloud voicemail, call transfer, auto attendants and call queues. We cover that license in which Teams Phone license you need.
\nThe same page calls a Calling Plan "an add-on license to Teams Phone for making calls to the PSTN," and adds that with this option Microsoft is your PSTN carrier. The PSTN is the public switched telephone network, the one landlines and mobiles are on. So a Calling Plan is a carrier service that happens to be sold as a license.
\nThe two get confused because Microsoft also sells them together. The Teams Phone with Calling Plan bundle is a single add-on that includes both, and anyone who buys it sees one product. Buy Teams Phone Standard alone and you have a phone system with no route to outside numbers until you add one. Microsoft's Teams Phone overview says so directly: "A PSTN solution is separate from a Teams Phone license." We set the two side by side in the difference between Teams Phone and a Calling Plan.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":10},{"id":"1b58a0f3-1418-498c-8a06-95c61d37e4bd","sectionKey":"what_a_calling_plan_gives","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"What a Calling Plan gives you","introMarkdown":"With a Calling Plan, Microsoft is the operator. Its [PSTN connectivity page](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/pstn-connectivity) says the phone numbers, the access to the phone network and the support for the service all come from Microsoft. The [Calling Plans page](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/calling-plans-for-office-365) calls this the simplest option for connecting Teams Phone to the PSTN.\n\nThere are three plans, and all three include unlimited incoming minutes. They differ in which outgoing calls they cover and how those calls are billed.","introHtml":"With a Calling Plan, Microsoft is the operator. Its PSTN connectivity page says the phone numbers, the access to the phone network and the support for the service all come from Microsoft. The Calling Plans page calls this the simplest option for connecting Teams Phone to the PSTN.
\nThere are three plans, and all three include unlimited incoming minutes. They differ in which outgoing calls they cover and how those calls are billed.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":20},{"id":"674c173b-e20d-4bd2-bb1c-af9ee5cfe25d","sectionKey":"calling_plans_table","sectionType":"table_section","heading":"The three Microsoft Calling Plans","introMarkdown":null,"introHtml":null,"outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{"rows":[{"cells":["Domestic","Numbers in the user's assigned country or region","Included minutes"]},{"cells":["International","Domestic numbers and international numbers in 196 countries","Included minutes"]},{"cells":["Pay-As-You-Go","Domestic numbers and international numbers in 196 countries","Charged by the minutes used"]}],"columns":["Calling Plan","Outgoing calls it covers","How outgoing calls are billed"]},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":30},{"id":"7268e50f-c3a0-406c-8e13-4499f4e8828a","sectionKey":"minutes_and_availability","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"How the minutes and availability work","introMarkdown":"Included minutes are pooled. All users in the same country on the same plan share one pool. Microsoft's example is 100 users in the United States on the Domestic plan. Each is allocated 3,000 minutes a month, so the group shares 300,000 a month, and calls beyond the pool are billed per minute. A team with a few heavy callers and many light ones can stay inside the pool because of that.\n\nMicrosoft sells Calling Plans in some countries and regions and not in others. Where they aren't sold, its documentation points you to the other connectivity options.","introHtml":"Included minutes are pooled. All users in the same country on the same plan share one pool. Microsoft's example is 100 users in the United States on the Domestic plan. Each is allocated 3,000 minutes a month, so the group shares 300,000 a month, and calls beyond the pool are billed per minute. A team with a few heavy callers and many light ones can stay inside the pool because of that.
\nMicrosoft sells Calling Plans in some countries and regions and not in others. Where they aren't sold, its documentation points you to the other connectivity options.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":40},{"id":"a658bce8-2a4a-4e0a-a045-e184c1d716d6","sectionKey":"routes_without_calling_plan","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"The routes that don't use a Calling Plan","introMarkdown":"The other three routes replace Microsoft as the carrier. Operator Connect uses a carrier from Microsoft's certified program. Teams Phone Mobile uses a certified mobile operator and makes the number on a user's SIM their Teams number. Direct Routing connects any carrier through a certified session border controller, the device that sits between the carrier's network and Teams. Microsoft's licensing page says each of these requires a Teams Phone license. It lists them as the alternatives to buying a Calling Plan.\n\nAtlantech Online's Operator Connect service shows what takes the Calling Plan's place. On its [Operator Connect page](https://www.atlantech.net/solutions/voice/operatorconnect), the carrier says it manages the PSTN calling services and the session border controllers. It publishes a flat-rate option at \"as low as $3 per user/month,\" with unlimited calling in the US, number porting and support listed. That figure is a floor, and Atlantech quotes the price for a given organization on request.\n\nThe $3 buys the carrier's part, which is the job a Calling Plan would otherwise do. The Teams Phone license is still required and is not part of the carrier's $3. A published floor also doesn't settle which route costs less for you, because that depends on the quote you get and on which Calling Plan those users would otherwise need. We work through the totals in [how much Teams Phone costs](https://www.answerstack.io/q/how-much-does-teams-phone-cost).\n\nOutside calling doesn't always mean a phone number for every person. Microsoft's [Shared Calling](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/shared-calling-plan) lets a group of users make and receive outside calls through the phone number of a resource account attached to an auto attendant. Those users each need a Teams Phone license. The number belongs to the shared account.","introHtml":"The other three routes replace Microsoft as the carrier. Operator Connect uses a carrier from Microsoft's certified program. Teams Phone Mobile uses a certified mobile operator and makes the number on a user's SIM their Teams number. Direct Routing connects any carrier through a certified session border controller, the device that sits between the carrier's network and Teams. Microsoft's licensing page says each of these requires a Teams Phone license. It lists them as the alternatives to buying a Calling Plan.
\nAtlantech Online's Operator Connect service shows what takes the Calling Plan's place. On its Operator Connect page, the carrier says it manages the PSTN calling services and the session border controllers. It publishes a flat-rate option at "as low as $3 per user/month," with unlimited calling in the US, number porting and support listed. That figure is a floor, and Atlantech quotes the price for a given organization on request.
\nThe $3 buys the carrier's part, which is the job a Calling Plan would otherwise do. The Teams Phone license is still required and is not part of the carrier's $3. A published floor also doesn't settle which route costs less for you, because that depends on the quote you get and on which Calling Plan those users would otherwise need. We work through the totals in how much Teams Phone costs.
\nOutside calling doesn't always mean a phone number for every person. Microsoft's Shared Calling lets a group of users make and receive outside calls through the phone number of a resource account attached to an auto attendant. Those users each need a Teams Phone license. The number belongs to the shared account.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":50},{"id":"0a08e599-fc06-4691-9ceb-c3c02a169d1c","sectionKey":"when_calling_plan_fits","sectionType":"markdown_section","heading":"When a Calling Plan is the right choice","introMarkdown":"A Calling Plan makes sense when you want Microsoft to be both your phone system and your phone carrier, and Microsoft sells plans where your users are. Microsoft's own comparison describes it as the fit for organizations that want a fully Microsoft-managed calling service with the simplest deployment.\n\nThe same comparison says who the other routes suit. Operator Connect is for organizations that want to work with a participating carrier while managing users and numbers in Teams. If the carrier you already use is in the program, that is a reason to look there first. Direct Routing is for organizations that need advanced telephony integration or support for existing infrastructure, such as a PBX that has to stay in service. We compare those two in [Direct Routing versus Operator Connect](https://www.answerstack.io/q/what-is-the-difference-between-direct-routing-and-operator-connect), and the wider decision is in [choosing a PSTN connectivity option](https://www.answerstack.io/q/how-do-i-choose-a-pstn-connectivity-option-for-teams-phone).\n\nYou also don't have to give one answer for the whole company. Microsoft says a tenant can combine routes for different users and locations. Suppose your headquarters is in a country where Calling Plans are sold and a branch office is in one where they aren't. The headquarters users can have Calling Plans while the branch uses a local carrier through Operator Connect or Direct Routing. Both groups are on the same Teams Phone system and can call landlines and mobiles the same way.","introHtml":"A Calling Plan makes sense when you want Microsoft to be both your phone system and your phone carrier, and Microsoft sells plans where your users are. Microsoft's own comparison describes it as the fit for organizations that want a fully Microsoft-managed calling service with the simplest deployment.
\nThe same comparison says who the other routes suit. Operator Connect is for organizations that want to work with a participating carrier while managing users and numbers in Teams. If the carrier you already use is in the program, that is a reason to look there first. Direct Routing is for organizations that need advanced telephony integration or support for existing infrastructure, such as a PBX that has to stay in service. We compare those two in Direct Routing versus Operator Connect, and the wider decision is in choosing a PSTN connectivity option.
\nYou also don't have to give one answer for the whole company. Microsoft says a tenant can combine routes for different users and locations. Suppose your headquarters is in a country where Calling Plans are sold and a branch office is in one where they aren't. The headquarters users can have Calling Plans while the branch uses a local carrier through Operator Connect or Direct Routing. Both groups are on the same Teams Phone system and can call landlines and mobiles the same way.
\n","outroMarkdown":null,"outroHtml":null,"contentJson":{},"configJson":{},"noteMarkdown":null,"noteHtml":null,"sortOrder":60}],"citations":[{"title":"Microsoft - PSTN connectivity options","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/pstn-connectivity","excerpt":"Microsoft's Teams Phone is a highly flexible platform, supporting several methods to connect with the PSTN, and you can equip your tenant with as many of the available PSTN integrations as you'd like.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"The four PSTN connectivity models (Microsoft Calling Plan, Operator Connect, Teams Phone Mobile, Direct Routing); Calling Plan makes Microsoft your operator with US emergency screening, support and a 99.999% reliability SLA; a tenant can equip as many PSTN integrations as it wants and mix them by pe","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft"},{"title":"Country/region availability - Audio Conferencing, Calling Plans - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/calling-plan-overview","excerpt":"You can select a country or region to see what cloud voice features are available to your organization.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"The index of 141 country and region pages whose 'Calling Plans are available to purchase?' rows were counted on 2026-09-14 to produce the figure of 33 markets; also the KYC note that applies before acquiring or porting numbers.","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Microsoft Teams add-on licenses - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/microsoft-teams-add-on-licensing","excerpt":"Teams Phone requires a separate add-on license. For Teams Phone only, buy a Teams Phone Standard license. For users to make and receive external calls using the PSTN, you'll need to choose a PSTN connectivity option as well.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Teams Phone Standard is a PBX add-on and external calling requires choosing a PSTN connectivity option as well; most Microsoft 365 plans already allow internal peer-to-peer VoIP calls; Operator Connect, Teams Phone Mobile, Direct Routing and Shared Calling each require a Teams Phone license; Audio C","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Microsoft Teams Phone","url":"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/microsoft-teams-phone","excerpt":"Teams Phone with Calling Plan (country zone 1 - US). Includes domestic calling. $17.00 user/month, paid yearly.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"US list prices read 2026-09-14: Teams Phone Standard $10.00 user/month paid yearly; Teams Phone with pay-as-you-go calling (zone 1 US) $13.00; Teams Phone with Calling Plan (zone 1 US) $17.00 with 3,000 outbound domestic minutes for US/UK/Canada and 1,200 for the rest of the world; Teams Phone with ","domain":"microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft"},{"title":"Microsoft Teams Calling Plans","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/calling-plans-for-office-365","excerpt":"All users in the same country with the same Calling Plan share a pool of minutes. For example, if you have 100 users located in the United States with a Domestic Calling Plan assigned, each user is allocated 3,000 minutes and they all share a pool of 300,000 minutes.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Three Calling Plan options (Domestic, International to 196 countries, Pay-As-You-Go); unlimited incoming minutes; pooled outbound minutes across identical plans in one country, with the 100-user 3,000-minute / 300,000-minute example; Pay-As-You-Go funded by Communication Credits or post-usage billin","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"What is Teams Phone","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/what-is-phone-system-in-office-365","excerpt":"By default, calls between Teams users in your organization are handled natively within Teams, and never go to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), removing operator toll costs for calls that stay internal to your organization.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Calls between Teams users in the same organization are handled natively and never reach the PSTN; a PSTN connection is separate from a Teams Phone license, the license entitles a user to enhanced calling capabilities and access to the PSTN connection while the connection supplies numbers and access ","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Plan for Shared Calling - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/shared-calling-plan","excerpt":"With Shared Calling, instead of assigning a phone number to every user, you use the phone number of a resource account associated with an Auto attendant for inbound and outbound PSTN calls.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Shared Calling uses the phone number of a resource account tied to an Auto attendant for inbound and outbound PSTN calls and reduces cost by not assigning a dedicated number to every user; Shared Calling users are assigned Teams Phone licenses and voice enablement but no phone number; outbound calle","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Configure call routing for Direct Routing - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/direct-routing-voice-routing","excerpt":"If a user has a Calling Plan license, that user's outgoing calls are automatically routed through the Microsoft Calling Plan PSTN infrastructure. If you configure and assign an online voice routing policy to a Calling Plan user, that user's outgoing calls are checked to determine whether the dialed number matches a number pattern defined in the online voice routing policy.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"A user with a Calling Plan license is routed through Microsoft automatically and that route applies last; assigning an online voice routing policy to the same user sends pattern-matched numbers out the Direct Routing trunk and unmatched numbers back to the Calling Plan; applying the global online vo","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Plan and manage emergency calling - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/what-are-emergency-locations-addresses-and-call-routing","excerpt":"Security desk notifications are available with Microsoft Calling Plans, Operator Connect, and Direct Routing.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Emergency calling configuration differs by PSTN connectivity option; Direct Routing requires configuring specific call routing policies while carriers handle much of the configuration under the other options; dynamic emergency calling is documented for Microsoft Calling Plans, Operator Connect, Team","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Transfer phone numbers to Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/phone-number-calling-plans/transfer-phone-numbers-to-teams","excerpt":"This article is an accompaniment for IT professionals and Teams Phone administrators in the process of porting phone numbers to Microsoft Teams Calling Plans.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Porting numbers into Microsoft Teams Calling Plans is documented per country or region with downloadable letter-of-authorization forms and country-specific port order instructions.","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Microsoft - Plan for Operator Connect","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/operator-connect-plan","excerpt":"Operator Connect enables organizations to connect Microsoft Teams Phone to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) through a Microsoft-certified operator.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Operator Connect connects Teams Phone to the PSTN through a Microsoft-certified operator; prerequisites are Teams Phone licenses, Teams Only mode, and a certified operator available in the countries or regions of deployment; operators are enabled and numbers assigned in the Teams admin center; the o","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft"},{"title":"Availability in the United States (U.S.) - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/phone-reference/plan-availability/availability-in-the-united-states-u-s","excerpt":"Calling Plans are available to purchase? Yes. There are five plan options available per calendar month: 3,000 minutes Domestic Calling Plan; International Calling Plan: 3,000 minutes of domestic or 600 minutes of international calling.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Worked example of the per-country availability row used in the 141-page count: Calling Plans are available to purchase in the United States, with 3,000 minutes on the Domestic Calling Plan and 3,000 domestic or 600 international minutes on the International Calling Plan, and outbound calling to 196 ","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Availability in Croatia - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/phone-reference/plan-availability/availability-in-croatia","excerpt":"Calling Plans are available to purchase? No. Minutes available for Calling Plans: Not applicable.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"PRIMARY","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Croatia's availability page states Calling Plans are not available to purchase, which conflicts with the Domestic Calling Plan billing-location list on the Calling Plans article that includes Croatia; establishes that the billing-location list and the per-country availability pages are not the same ","domain":"learn.microsoft.com","publisherName":"Microsoft Learn"},{"title":"Microsoft Teams Phone & PSTN Connectivity: 4 Options Enterprise IT Need to Know","url":"https://www.pure-ip.com/blog/microsoft-teams-phone-pstn-connectivity-4-options-enterprise-it-need-to-know","excerpt":"Calling Plans are available in approximately 34 countries. For organizations contained within that footprint, primarily the US and Western Europe, with limited existing carrier commitments, this is the fastest path to deployment.","quoteText":null,"sourceRole":"SUPPORTING","verifiedAt":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","supportsText":"Vendor statement, from an operator that sells Direct Routing and Operator Connect services, putting the Microsoft Calling Plan footprint at approximately 34 countries concentrated in the US and Western Europe. Cited only as that vendor's own figure alongside the count of 33 taken from Microsoft's pe","domain":"pure-ip.com","publisherName":"Pure IP"}],"revisions":[{"revisedAt":"2026-07-18T03:39:39.77+00:00","versionLabel":"Originally published","note":"","reviewedBy":null}],"relatedAnswers":[{"id":"1993a40e-6259-4856-9885-d80d2aaf68f1","slug":"what-is-the-difference-between-direct-routing-and-operator-connect","question":"What is the difference between Direct Routing and Operator Connect?","publishedAt":"2026-08-18T03:39:37.83","confidenceScore":94,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"teams-phone","label":"Teams Phone","description":"Microsoft Teams Phone: licensing, PSTN connectivity, calling plans, and setup.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Both connect Teams Phone to the public phone network through a carrier other than Microsoft. Operator Connect uses a carrier in Microsoft's program that has already built the connection. Direct Routing uses a carrier you choose through a session border controller run by you, an integrator or a provider, and allows more custom integration.","url":"/q/what-is-the-difference-between-direct-routing-and-operator-connect"},{"id":"8317c7a7-d7a6-4a7c-8428-441b19177913","slug":"how-do-i-choose-a-pstn-connectivity-option-for-teams-phone","question":"How do I choose a PSTN connectivity option for Teams Phone?","publishedAt":"2026-08-03T03:43:05.249","confidenceScore":88,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"teams-phone","label":"Teams Phone","description":"Microsoft Teams Phone: licensing, PSTN connectivity, calling plans, and setup.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Start with who you want as your carrier. A Calling Plan makes it Microsoft, Operator Connect uses a participating phone company, Teams Phone Mobile puts the number on a SIM, and Direct Routing connects a carrier you choose or existing equipment through a session border controller. One tenant can combine them.","url":"/q/how-do-i-choose-a-pstn-connectivity-option-for-teams-phone"},{"id":"67fc8518-2dba-4c3b-8029-0a39c59afd28","slug":"what-is-the-difference-between-teams-phone-and-a-calling-plan","question":"What is the difference between Teams Phone and a Calling Plan?","publishedAt":"2026-07-21T03:41:44.225","confidenceScore":86,"confidenceLabel":"High","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"teams-phone","label":"Teams Phone","description":"Microsoft Teams Phone: licensing, PSTN connectivity, calling plans, and setup.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"Teams Phone is the phone system license and a Calling Plan is carrier service from Microsoft. Anyone in Teams who calls outside numbers needs Teams Phone; a Calling Plan applies only where Microsoft is the carrier.","url":"/q/what-is-the-difference-between-teams-phone-and-a-calling-plan"},{"id":"856a2341-d0c5-4496-a8d2-d97388060c1c","slug":"how-much-does-teams-phone-cost","question":"How much does Teams Phone cost?","publishedAt":"2026-06-09T03:40:01.318","confidenceScore":76,"confidenceLabel":"Medium","industry":{"id":"ff619d7c-d7d7-485e-a05a-53fba07f33ed","slug":"telecommunications","label":"Telecommunications","description":"Business voice, fiber, UCaaS, and network services"},"topic":{"slug":"teams-phone","label":"Teams Phone","description":"Microsoft Teams Phone: licensing, PSTN connectivity, calling plans, and setup.","schemaKind":null},"contributor":{"id":"ec39deab-44fe-48d8-9029-fefe993ab85a","slug":"answer-stack","displayName":"AnswerStack","websiteUrl":null},"snippet":"In the US, Microsoft lists Teams Phone Standard at $10 per user per month, paid yearly, with no outside calling. Bundles with Microsoft calling are $13, $17 and $34. Each assumes a Teams license. With a carrier, a user who needs the add-on costs $10 plus the carrier's charge, such as Atlantech's published floor of $3 per user per month.","url":"/q/how-much-does-teams-phone-cost"}],"contributorStats":{"verifiedAnswers":149,"openDisputes":0},"schemaJson":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Question","name":"Do I need a Calling Plan with Teams Phone?","text":"Do I need a Calling Plan with Teams Phone?","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/do-i-need-a-calling-plan-with-teams-phone","answerCount":1,"datePublished":"2026-04-02T03:39:39.77","about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Teams Phone"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Telecommunications"}],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No. You need a Calling Plan only if you want Microsoft to be your phone carrier. What a user needs for outside calls is a Teams Phone license plus some connection to the public phone network, and a Microsoft Calling Plan is one of four ways to get that connection. People who only call each other in Teams need no connection to the phone network at all.","url":"https://www.answerstack.io/q/do-i-need-a-calling-plan-with-teams-phone","upvoteCount":0,"datePublished":"2026-04-02T03:39:39.77","dateModified":"2026-09-14T00:00:00","citation":[{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Microsoft - PSTN connectivity options","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/pstn-connectivity"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Country/region availability - Audio Conferencing, Calling Plans - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/calling-plan-overview"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Microsoft Teams add-on licenses - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/microsoft-teams-add-on-licensing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Microsoft Teams Phone","url":"https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/microsoft-teams-phone"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Microsoft Teams Calling Plans","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/calling-plans-for-office-365"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"What is Teams Phone","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/what-is-phone-system-in-office-365"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Plan for Shared Calling - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/shared-calling-plan"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Configure call routing for Direct Routing - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/direct-routing-voice-routing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Plan and manage emergency calling - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/what-are-emergency-locations-addresses-and-call-routing"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Transfer phone numbers to Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/phone-number-calling-plans/transfer-phone-numbers-to-teams"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Microsoft - Plan for Operator Connect","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/operator-connect-plan"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Availability in the United States (U.S.) - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/phone-reference/plan-availability/availability-in-the-united-states-u-s"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Availability in Croatia - Microsoft Teams","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/phone-reference/plan-availability/availability-in-croatia"},{"@type":"CreativeWork","name":"Microsoft Teams Phone & PSTN Connectivity: 4 Options Enterprise IT Need to Know","url":"https://www.pure-ip.com/blog/microsoft-teams-phone-pstn-connectivity-4-options-enterprise-it-need-to-know"}]}}}