Do all users need a Calling Plan for Teams Phone System?

Do all of our company’s users/extensions need a Calling Plan for Microsoft Teams Phone System?

In the video below, Mike Smith answers this question and also provides tips on how to reduce the cost for Calling Plans on low-usage phones, using Teams Phone System Direct Routing as a Service.

Want Mike to tell you which vendors to quote for Teams Phone System? Click below and ask him right now.

About Mike
Mike Smith is the Founder and President of AeroCom and has been helping companies with telecom and cloud services since 1999. He has been the recipient of numerous business telecommunications industry awards and in 2011, he was honored as one of the top 40 business people in Orange County, CA., under 40 years old. You can also hear him as the host of the popular Information Technology podcast, ITsmiths with Mike Smith. Follow Mike on LinkedIn, Twitter or SpiceWorks.

Transcript

Your company is looking into replacing your phone system with Microsoft Teams Phone System, and one of the questions you’re asking is: Do all of our users need a calling plan?

Well, the answer to that is… kind of.

The 3 types of Teams Phone System pricing

So the way pricing works is there’s a couple of different ways you can price Microsoft Teams Phone System.

Number one is getting a calling plan, from Microsoft.

Number two is doing Direct Routing, which is where you use your existing phone lines for dial tone, which is pretty complicated, and I don’t really recommend it.

Another way of doing it is Direct Routing as a Service. So what that essentially is, it’s getting your calling plan from another company, not Microsoft direct. And by doing so, it’s going to save you money and it’s also going to open up your options in terms of pricing for users.

If you buy a Calling Plan from Microsoft

So how that gets back to your original question of, “does every user need a calling plan,” is, if you’re buying a calling plan from Microsoft directly… the answer to that is, yes, every user will need a calling plan. Every phone system extension will need a calling plan, including common area extensions like a conference room or a lobby phone, or a warehouse phone. All those phones will need a calling plan if they’re a live extension.

If you buy your Calling Plan from a DRaaS provider

But there’s other options. So, if you use direct routing as a service, some service providers offer some cool ways of reducing that per user cost.

For instance, you might have several hundred users. Well, you’re not going to have several hundred people on the phone, simultaneously. So, a way to reduce costs for mid-size companies will be to use a direct routing as a service vendor that can sell your calling plan in a way where they separate simultaneous call paths from extension licenses. And by doing so, it will greatly reduce your per user extension license cost.

So, for instance, what I’m talking about is, instead of paying $8 per user for a calling plan, you’re paying a lot less, like an average of $2 or $3 per user for a calling plan. And then you’re paying for however many simultaneous call paths you need separately. So it can greatly reduce your costs if you find the right vendor.

But all in all, yes, if you’re buying a calling plan from Microsoft Teams Phone System, every extension that needs a live phone number to reach you at a live extension needs some type of a calling plan. But you don’t necessarily have to pay the full boat calling plan like you do if you go to Microsoft directly.

Who are the best Direct Routing as a Service vendors to quote for Microsoft Teams Phone System?

I hope that helps a little bit. If you have any questions or you want to know which vendors offer these types of calling plans, don’t Google it. Just contact me, via email or phone (714.593.0011). Especially since I’m the one who gave the information in the first place. 😊

Just reach out. I’ll be happy to answer all your questions. This is what I do. I’m at broker for all the major cloud PBX service providers and those that offer Teams Phone System options and calling plans and all that good stuff. So don’t waste your time on Google, just contact me.

We won’t charge your company at all for our consulting services. The service providers actually pay our broker fee. So there’s no excuse not to contact us. And I’ll pair you up with the best three or four options and help you get demos and quotes. And if you choose one, we’ll make sure you get great customer service out of them. So no excuse. Reach out and contact me with any questions about vendors.

If you liked the video, don’t forget to hit the Like button. I hope that helped a little bit and I’ll catch you on the next video.