In order for Teams to dial or receive calls from cell phones and land lines, Microsoft requires each user to have the Microsoft Teams Phone Standard License. The following describes the associated Add-On phone license that is needed for each user. Note that a Microsoft Tenant can have a mixture of users, some having Microsoft Business and others having Enterprise (E1, E3, or E5) and/or Education (A1, A3 and A5) licenses. Please refer to the correct section below for the specific user that you want to provide calling features to.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard and Premium Users
Users of the Microsoft 365 Business product line need to have an “add-on” license that is known as Microsoft Teams Phone Standard (currently $8/user/month). This license can be obtained from your reseller or Microsoft. As a Microsoft reseller, we can also obtain licenses for you. Please contact support for more information. To learn more, see the section entitled “Teams Phone Standard” in this article: Microsoft Teams Add-on Licensing
YOU DO NOT NEED ANY OF THE MICROSOFT CALLING PLAN(S). VOICE ELEMENTS REPLACES THE NEED FOR THE MICROSOFT CALLING PLAN(S).
This screen shot from admin.microsoft.com shows a user with the correct licenses for Microsoft Business. Take note that this applies to Business Basic, Standard and Premium Users
You should be able to purchase the Microsoft Teams Phone Standard Add-On license directly from Microsoft. It is kind of hard to find, so you can follow these steps:
- Navigate to https://admin.microsoft.com and sign-in
- On the left nav bar – select “Billing” / “Purchase Service”
- Click “View Products” under Purchase from Microsoft
- In the Search all product categories box – Enter “Teams Phone Standard”
- Scroll all the way down under the “Add-ons” section
- You should see a Trial license, the $8 Phone Standard license and the Virtual User license (for doing Auto Attendants)
If you would prefer, as a Microsoft Partner we can make the process of obtaining these licenses very easy. Here is the process:
- Contact us at support: support@inventivelabs.com
- We will send a link to you that will authorize us to act as your reseller
- We will replace your existing base license(s). For example, if you had 10 Business Premium licenses, we will will purchase those and they will show up in your Admin portal. So if you originally had 10 licenses, it will now show that you have 20 licenses. The billing will now be through us (Inventive Labs Corp dba Voice Elements).
- We will purchase the Business Voice (without Calling Plan) Add-ons and those will show up on your account.
- You will cancel any licenses that you have purchased from Microsoft. They will pro-rate to the day and you will see a credit on your credit card.
- Note: You do not need to assign the new licenses to each user. They are replaced automatically. The only thing you will need to do is add the new Business Voice licenses to the user.
- Please contact us if you have questions on this process. We will make this as easy and seamless as possible.
Microsoft 365 Enterprise (E1, E3 or E5) and/or Education Users
Note that for this section the terms E1, E3 and E5 also equate to then equivalent Education licenses such as A1, A3, or A5.
Users of the Microsoft 365 Business product line need to have an “add-on” license that is known as Microsoft 365 Phone System or Microsoft Teams Phone Standard ($8/user/mon). This license can be obtained from your reseller or Microsoft. As a Microsoft reseller, we can also obtain licenses for you. Please contact support for more information. Follow the instructions above to try to purchase the Add-On license yourself.
YOU DO NOT NEED ANY OF THE MICROSOFT CALLING PLAN(S). VOICE ELEMENTS REPLACES THE NEED FOR THE MICROSOFT CALLING PLAN(S).
For users that have an E5 license, the “Phone System” license is included and is not required to be purchased separately. However, if you have just the E1 or E3 license you must purchase the Add-On Phone System license. Note that the admin center won’t allow you to add-on the “Phone System” license until you have first assigned the E1 or E3 license to a user.
This screen shot from admin.microsoft.com shows three different licenses that will work properly with Voice Elements. Take particular note that the E5 license does not require the Phone System Add-On. Also note that your screen might say “Microsoft 365 E1, E3 or E5”. They are the same.
Useful Resources for Further Reading
Phone System is a hosted telephone service that gives you call control and Private Branch Exchange (PBX) capabilities, with options for connecting to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Phone System features include cloud voicemail, caller ID, call park, call forwarding, auto attendants, call queues, call transfer, caller ID, and more.
To learn more, see Here’s what you get with Phone System. For pricing info, see Pricing for Phone System.