Forum Discussion
Minimum Combined Licensing for External Calls
This may seem like a stupid question, but I am trying to figure out the minimum combined licensing that is needed to make and receive external calls on a Teams phone. This will be a conference phone that is shared and only used once in a while. We created a generic conference room user that will be used to sign into Polycom Trio C60. We already have the Teams Phone with Calling Plan license, but we need to figure out what base licensing we need to purchase so this shared device can make and receive external calls. Can we get away with just purchasing a Teams Essentials license or would we need at minimum a 365 Business Basics license? The client wants to set this up as cheap as possible and just needs to make and receive calls, no special features like one touch join meetings is needed. Thanks in advanced for any advice you can offer.
Hi CNelson80,
to enable the capability of making and receiving external calls on a Teams phone, it is crucial to have the appropriate Teams Phone licensing.
The Teams Essentials license offers a comprehensive solution with features like meetings, chat, and collaboration tailored for small businesses. However, for external calling via a PSTN breakout, additional licensing is required.For users with the Microsoft 365 Business Basic license, an "add-on" license, either Microsoft 365 Phone System or Microsoft Teams Phone Standard, is necessary for calling to external numbers.
The Microsoft 365 E5 license is the only option within the Microsoft 365 suite that includes external voice calling capabilities.
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Leon Pavesic
(LinkedIn)
Hi CNelson80,
to enable the capability of making and receiving external calls on a Teams phone, it is crucial to have the appropriate Teams Phone licensing.
The Teams Essentials license offers a comprehensive solution with features like meetings, chat, and collaboration tailored for small businesses. However, for external calling via a PSTN breakout, additional licensing is required.For users with the Microsoft 365 Business Basic license, an "add-on" license, either Microsoft 365 Phone System or Microsoft Teams Phone Standard, is necessary for calling to external numbers.
The Microsoft 365 E5 license is the only option within the Microsoft 365 suite that includes external voice calling capabilities.
Please click Mark as Best Response & Like if my post helped you to solve your issue.
This will help others to find the correct solution easily. It also closes the item.If the post was useful in other ways, please consider giving it Like.
Kindest regards,
Leon Pavesic
(LinkedIn)I greatly appreciate your assistance. You mentioned that with Business Basic a Microsoft 365 Phone System or Microsoft Teams Phone Standard is needed. Is Teams Phone with Calling Plan along with Business Basic not sufficient? Microsoft licensing is so confusing.
Hi CNelson80,
your question is completely valid:
Teams Phone with Calling Plan includes the necessary licensing for calling to external numbers, as it encompasses both the calling plan and the necessary phone system capabilities and this should be sufficient for your scenario.
Microsoft Calling Plans for Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
Microsoft Teams add-on licenses - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft LearnPlease click Mark as Best Response & Like if my post helped you to solve your issue.
This will help others to find the correct solution easily. It also closes the item.If the post was useful in other ways, please consider giving it Like.
Kindest regards,
Leon Pavesic
(LinkedIn)
Hi CNelson80 - thank you for your post~
The M365 FastTrack Bot team has identified this as a great opportunity to leave a comment about the Microsoft Teams Phone setup guide. If you landed on this post and would like information on how to set up Microsoft Teams Phone in your organization, learn more on this page.
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Additionally, Microsoft 365 guides are available to all users, including potential clients, partners, and IT admins, at setup.microsoft.com. Access them freely without the need for login credentials.
