Can Teams Phone make and receive calls to landlines and mobile phones?

Yes, and the calling capability is part of Microsoft's cloud phone system rather than a separate app you bolt on afterward. Microsoft describes Teams Phone as its technology for call control and private branch exchange (PBX) features in the Microsoft 365 cloud, and by default it keeps calls between colleagues inside Teams, carried over the internet, so those internal calls never reach the public switched telephone network and carry no operator toll charge.[1] Reaching a regular phone number, whether a landline in an office or a mobile in someone's pocket, is exactly what the PSTN side of the service handles.[1][2]

Two things have to line up

Microsoft keeps the phone-system software and the phone line deliberately separate, and both are required before a user can dial out or take an inbound call from a normal number. The first is a Teams Phone license on that user, which grants the enhanced calling features and access to a PSTN solution. The second is the PSTN solution itself, which gives your tenant its phone numbers and the connection to domestic, international, and emergency calling.[1][2] A user who holds the license but has no PSTN connection can still call other Teams users, yet cannot place a call to a landline or mobile until that connection exists.[2]

The connection is a choice, not a single product

Microsoft supports several methods for the PSTN link and lets one organization mix them, so a company can hand Microsoft the whole job in one country and keep an existing carrier in another.[2] Independent telecom guidance makes the same point in plainer terms: without a PSTN service, Teams supports only calls between users on the platform, and Microsoft's own Calling Plans are not sold in every country, which is often what pushes a business toward one of the other methods.[9] Once the license and a PSTN connection are both live, a voice-enabled user can place and receive calls to telephone numbers, transfer them, and handle them from a computer, a mobile device, or an IP desk phone.[6]

A Microsoft Calling Plan makes Microsoft your phone company, so the numbers, the outbound and inbound minutes, US emergency screening, and support all come from Microsoft under a 99.999% reliability service level agreement.[2][5] It is the most direct route to calling landlines and mobiles because there is no third-party carrier or hardware to arrange: you add the plan as a license on top of Teams Phone and assign each user a number.[3] The first thing to confirm is availability, since Calling Plans are sold only in a set list of countries, and a company outside that list uses one of the other three methods.[2][3]

Domestic, international, and pay-as-you-go

Microsoft sells the Calling Plan in three shapes so you can match it to how much people actually call out.[3] A Domestic Calling Plan lets a licensed user call numbers inside the country tied to their Microsoft 365 license and includes unlimited incoming minutes, with a monthly pool of outbound minutes shared across users on the same plan.[3] An International Calling Plan adds outbound minutes to numbers in 196 countries on top of that domestic allowance.[3] A Pay-As-You-Go plan includes unlimited incoming minutes but no bundled outbound minutes, billing each outbound call by the minute through Communications Credits or post-usage billing, which suits people who rarely dial out.[3] When a user's calls run past the pooled minutes or reach a destination the plan does not cover, Communications Credits fund the overflow so calls still connect.[6]

Operator Connect lets you keep or pick a third-party landline carrier that has already built a certified connection into Teams, so you get its numbers and dial tone without running any voice hardware.[2] After choosing an operator from Microsoft's directory, you enable it in the Teams admin center and assign its numbers to your users, and that operator supplies the PSTN access, support, and service level agreement.[2] It tends to fit a business whose preferred carrier is already in the program, or one in a country where Microsoft's own Calling Plan is not sold.[2] Because the operator owns the underlying connection, most of the setup and ongoing management sits with them rather than your IT team, which is usually the reason a company chooses it.[2]

Teams Phone Mobile ties a user's SIM-enabled mobile number to their Teams identity, so a single number rings on the cellular network and inside Teams.[2] It relies on certified mobile operators that have completed the integration with Microsoft, and the mobile SIM, which can be an eSIM, is the piece you administer.[2] This fits mobile-first staff who would rather carry one number for the desk app and the handset than juggle separate work and personal lines.[2] Availability depends on whether a given mobile provider takes part in the Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile program, so it is worth checking with the carrier before you plan around it.[2]

Direct Routing connects a carrier of your choice to Teams Phone through a certified session border controller, or SBC, that you, an integrator, or a Direct-Routing-as-a-Service provider run.[2] It is the most flexible model and works in any country, which is why organizations pick it to keep an existing carrier contract, satisfy a local regulatory requirement, or connect legacy equipment such as analog devices, overhead paging, and third-party PBXs.[2] The trade-off is responsibility, because the SBC brings certificate management, DNS settings, call-routing policies in Teams, and last-mile circuit integration, so it asks more of your team or your partner than the managed options do.[2] Direct Routing is also the only model that can keep local PSTN calls working through a Survivable Branch Appliance if the link to the cloud is interrupted.[2]

Placing an external call is a matter of dialing a number in the Teams dial pad, typing it into the search bar, or clicking a name in the directory, and inbound calls from landlines and mobiles ring the Teams apps like any other call, once a user is voice enabled and holds both the license and a PSTN connection.[4][6] Microsoft's feature list is explicit that answering and initiating calls by PSTN phone number requires the Teams Phone license, which is the line between basic Teams-to-Teams calling and full external calling.[4]

The inbound and outbound features you would expect

External caller ID shows the number the phone company passes through and matches it to your directory when the caller is a known contact.[4] Call forwarding and simultaneous ring can send an incoming call to any Teams colleague or to an outside PSTN number, so a call can follow someone to their mobile.[4] Users can transfer an external call to another person, park it and pick it up on another device, block a nuisance PSTN number, and send unanswered calls to voicemail that lands in their mailbox as an email attachment.[4] Independent telecom guidance describes the same flow from the user's side: dial external numbers over the PSTN, or answer them, from a desktop or a smartphone once the Teams Phone license and PSTN connection are in place.[10]

Where the call happens

Microsoft's guidance is that Teams Phone users place and receive calls on their mobile devices, a headset with a laptop or PC, or one of the many IP phones certified for Teams, so the same phone number is reachable across whatever device someone is using.[6] A call in progress can even move from a PC to the mobile app without dropping, which helps when someone needs to leave the office in the middle of a conversation.[4]

The biggest practical limits are geographic and financial rather than technical, so they are worth planning around before you commit to a setup.[3][9]

The license is not the whole bill

A Teams Phone license on its own cannot reach the outside world, so the working cost includes a PSTN option on top of it, whether that is a Microsoft Calling Plan, an Operator Connect subscription, or the SBC and carrier contract behind Direct Routing.[2][8] As a planning reference, Microsoft lists Teams Phone Standard at $10.00 per user per month paid yearly, a bundle of Teams Phone with a domestic Calling Plan at about $17.00, and a domestic-and-international bundle around $34.00, and an independent pricing guide current to April 2026 quotes the same $10 and $17 figures.[5][8] Prices vary by region and change over time, so treat these as a starting point rather than a quote.[5][8]

Calling Plan coverage is uneven

Microsoft's own Calling Plan is sold in a limited set of countries, and independent guidance notes the same gap, which is why a company with offices outside that list often combines connectivity types by region.[3][9] Pooled outbound minutes and per-minute overage charges also mean a heavy-calling team should size the plan to its real usage rather than assume calls are unlimited.[3]

It depends on internet, power, and a current address

Because the calls travel as data, external calling needs a working internet connection and power at the user's location, unlike a legacy analog line that draws power from the phone company. Emergency calling adds its own requirement: each user needs a validated registered address, or dynamic location detection, so that a call for help reaches the right response center with a usable location, and how much of that you configure yourself depends on the PSTN option you chose.[7]