Question 1

What is the difference between Direct Routing and Operator Connect?

Accepted Answer

Both connect Microsoft Teams Phone to the public phone network through a carrier other than Microsoft. With Operator Connect, the carrier belongs to a Microsoft program and has already built the link to Teams, so you switch it on in the Teams admin center and assign its numbers. With Direct Routing, you bring a carrier of your own choosing, and the link runs through a session border controller that someone has to set up and operate. That someone can be you, an integrator or a service provider. The difference is how much of the connection arrives ready-made and how much you can shape.

Question 2

How do I choose a PSTN connectivity option for Teams Phone?

Accepted Answer

Start with the carrier, because each of the four options is a different answer to who provides your phone service. If you want Microsoft to do it and Microsoft sells Calling Plans where your users are, buy a Calling Plan. If you'd rather use a phone company, Operator Connect works when that company is in Microsoft's program. Teams Phone Mobile is for people whose work number has to be the one on their SIM. Direct Routing is for a carrier or equipment the other routes can't take in.

Question 3

What is the difference between Teams Phone and a Calling Plan?

Accepted Answer

Teams Phone is the phone system, and a Calling Plan is phone service from Microsoft. The Teams Phone license gives a user's Teams account the features of an office phone system, such as voicemail, call transfer, auto attendants and call queues. A Calling Plan gives an account a phone number and a connection to landlines and mobiles, with Microsoft as the carrier. Anyone in Teams who makes outside calls needs Teams Phone. A Calling Plan is needed only where Microsoft is the carrier, and people who share one company number don't each need their own.

Question 4

How much does Teams Phone cost?

Accepted Answer

In the United States, Microsoft lists Teams Phone Standard at $10 per user per month, paid yearly. That price buys the phone system and no outside calling. With Microsoft's own calling service added, the list price is $13 with pay-as-you-go calling, $17 with a domestic calling plan and $34 with domestic and international calling. Each price assumes the user already has a Teams license. If a carrier other than Microsoft handles your calls, a user who needs the add-on costs $10 to Microsoft plus whatever the carrier charges.

Question 5

Does a Teams Phone license include a phone number?

Accepted Answer

No. A Teams Phone Standard license gives a user the phone system, and the number comes from whichever carrier connects your Teams tenant to the public phone network. A Calling Plan makes Microsoft that carrier, whether you buy it separately or inside the Teams Phone with Calling Plan bundle. Even then, an administrator has to get the number from Microsoft and assign it to the user.

Question 6

What Teams Phone license do I need?

Accepted Answer

The license you need depends on what the account already has and what the account is for. A person with any Microsoft 365 E5 license already has the phone system included, so they need no separate Teams Phone Standard add-on. A person with Teams on an eligible plan that doesn't include the phone system needs Teams Phone Standard, or the Teams Phone with Calling Plan bundle if Microsoft will also be the phone carrier. A shared phone in a lobby takes a Teams Shared Space license, and the resource account behind an auto attendant or call queue takes a Teams Phone Resource Account license.

Question 7

What is Microsoft Teams Phone?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft Teams Phone is a business phone system that runs in Microsoft's cloud and shows up inside Teams. It does the work of an office PBX, the switchboard a company uses to handle its own calls. It answers the main line with a menu, holds callers in a queue, takes voicemail and transfers calls. Calls to and from ordinary phone numbers need one more thing: a connection to the public phone network, from Microsoft or from a carrier. That connection is also where the phone numbers come from.

Question 8

Do I need a Calling Plan with Teams Phone?

Accepted Answer

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.