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November 3 2025

Microsoft Teams Phone: The Complete Business Calling System

jtowner@townerkc.com Blog, Phone Systems, Technology Tips, Unified Communication Business Communications, Business VoIP, Cloud Communications, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Teams Voice, Teams-certified phones

A business professional on a video call using Microsoft Teams Phone on a laptop in a home office setting

The Death of the Desk Phone (and the Rise of Teams Calling)

There was a time when office phones were the loudest thing in the room. Back then, they rang, blinked, buzzed, and tangled themselves into small existential crises before lunch.

Fast-forward to today — and the cord has been cut. These days, Microsoft Teams Phone has made every clunky desk handset feel like a fossil. You already live inside Teams for chat, meetings, and file sharing. Adding a business phone system into that same workspace isn’t just convenient — it’s revolutionary.
It’s like taking your PBX, your CRM, and your sanity, and putting them all under one login.

And with the right setup, Teams Phone doesn’t just replace your phones — it redefines how your business communicates.

What Is Microsoft Teams Phone (and Why It Matters)

Microsoft Teams Phone is a cloud-based telephony system that turns Microsoft Teams into a complete business calling platform.
It lets you make and receive external calls — to and from real phone numbers — right inside Teams on your laptop, mobile device, or browser.

The secret is how it connects Teams to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Essentially,that’s the same global network that powers every traditional phone call — but now it’s accessible through the cloud.

In other words:

Teams Phone makes your business number work wherever your people are.

How Microsoft Teams Phone Works

You’ve got two options for connecting Teams to the outside world:

1. Microsoft Calling Plans

Microsoft’s own calling service provides phone numbers and minutes in one simple bundle. It’s plug-and-play — but it can get expensive fast. That’s especially true if you have multiple locations or heavy call volume.

2. Direct Routing (Powered by Intermedia + Towner)

This is the flexible, cost-effective option. Direct Routing connects your Teams environment to the PSTN using a certified Session Border Controller (SBC).
That gives you full control, lower costs, and enterprise-grade reliability — all managed by your provider

Think of Calling Plans as renting a line.
Direct Routing means owning your system — and upgrading to leather seats while you’re at it.

Core Features of Microsoft Teams Phone

PSTN Calling

Place and receive calls from your business number inside Teams. No hardware, no extensions, no chaos.

Auto Attendants & Call Queues

Set up professional call routing: “Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Support.”
You can customize greetings, menus, and queue logic from your admin portal — no IT fire drills required.

Voicemail & Transcription

Every voicemail is delivered and transcribed inside Teams for easy reading, forwarding, and follow-up

Native SMS & MMS

Intermedia’s integration lets you text clients directly from Teams — no add-ons or third-party hacks needed.

Business Continuity & Failover

Even if Teams itself goes down, your calls reroute automatically through the cloud. Honestly — productivity doesn’t take sick days.

Real-Time Call Analytics

Monitor call quality, duration, and performance in real time. Your support and sales teams get the insights they need to work smarter, not louder.

Scalability

Add users, numbers, or departments in minutes. The best part? Whether you’re a five-person startup or a 500-seat enterprise, Teams Phone grows with you.

Microsoft Teams Phone Benefits for Businesses

Hybrid and Remote Workforces

Your employees aren’t all in one office anymore — and that’s fine. With Teams Phone, they can take business calls from anywhere, on any device.

Customer Support Teams

Auto attendants, queues, and CRM integrations make managing call volume easy. No more “Sorry, wrong department” dead ends.

Sales and Field Reps

Local outbound numbers, text follow-ups, and contact sync — all from one interface. It’s mobility without the mess.

Multi-Location Operations

Teams Phone consolidates every office under one system. No separate hardware. No duplicate contracts. Just one streamlined network.

Regulated Industries

In healthcare, finance, and other regulated sectors, compliance isn’t optional. Intermedia and Towner’s architecture supports HIPAA, FINRA, and GDPR standards, keeping your communications secure and auditable.

Teams Phone vs. Traditional PBX Systems

Feature

Setup Cost

Maintenance

Mobility

SMS Support

Analytics

Security

Failover

Legacy PBX

High (hardware + install)

Constant

Possible

Sometimes With Extra Applications

Manual

On-prem only

Customized

Microsoft Teams Phone

Low (cloud-based)

Update Pushed Out

Anywhere Without Heavy Lift

Yes

Real-time dashboard

Cloud encryption

Built-in But Not for Major Outtages

Microsoft Teams Phone ROI: Unlocking True Business Value

The question most leaders ask isn’t “How much does it cost?” Because really, it’s “What do we actually get for it?”

That’s the difference between a purchase and an investment — and Microsoft Teams falls firmly in the investment category.

In fact according to a Forrester Total Economic Impact study, organizations rolling out Microsoft Teams Phone reported up to 143% ROI over three years, with many recovering their investment in less than six months.
Not bad for what used to be “just a phone system.”

The ROI isn’t just about saving money — it’s about eliminating chaos.
Here’s where companies are seeing the biggest wins:

Lower operational costs: One unified platform replaces PBX maintenance, carrier contracts, and hardware headaches.
Simplified IT management: One admin console. One login. Zero excuses.
Improved customer experience: Faster call routing, higher first-call resolution rates, and real-time visibility.
Smarter workforce: With voice, chat, meetings, and analytics all in the same ecosystem, teams respond faster and collaborate better.

Businesses across industries are discovering that consolidating telephony inside Microsoft Teams isn’t a lateral move — it’s a leap.
By bringing every communication channel into a single, secure cloud platform, you unlock tangible efficiency and measurable value.

Translation: Teams Phone doesn’t just reduce your phone bill — it pays you back in time, focus, and fewer “Can you hear me?” moments.

Proving It: Real-World ROI in Action

These aren’t just stats on a Microsoft slide deck. In other words, companies are actually cashing in on the switch to Teams Phones — not just in savings, but in sanity.

Florida Crystals Corporation cut telecom costs by 78 percent after ditching leased PBX lines and unifying its workforce on Teams Phone.
SMA Solar Technology AG replaced a patchwork of local systems with a single global Teams Phone standard and reported zero IT tickets for call issues post-launch.
Basys, a U.S. payments processor, boosted its first-call resolution rate to 90 percent and hit a Net Promoter Score of +70 after integrating voice directly into Teams.

Across the board, different industries see the same outcome: smoother communication, lower friction, and more time spent on the work that actually moves revenue.

Real-Time Analytics: From Guesswork to Data-Driven

In the PBX world, tracking performance meant spreadsheets, hunches, and maybe a prayer.
In the Teams Phone world, you get real-time call analytics — live dashboards showing call quality, duration, responsiveness, and usage trends.

Sales leaders spot patterns faster. Support managers fix bottlenecks before they become complaints. Meanwhile, IT finally has proof that everything’s working — or the data to fix it when it’s not.

Numbers don’t lie, and neither do missed calls. Teams Phone gives you visibility before problems hit the hotline.

Microsoft Teams Telephony Security and Reliability

Legacy systems age like milk. Teams Phone runs in the same enterprise-grade Microsoft 365 cloud that Fortune 100 companies rely on every day.

99.9999 % uptime backed by redundant architecture
End-to-end encryption across voice, chat, and video
Compliance with HIPAA, FINRA, and GDPR standards

Even if Teams hiccups, failover keeps your calls alive. After all, downtime shouldn’t be part of your brand voice.

Microsoft Teams Phone Implementation with Towner Communications

At that point, when you’re ready to move from “we should modernize our phone system” to actually doing it, you need more than an installer and a handshake. You need a partner who knows how to launch cloud calling in the real world—where numbers matter, area codes matter, hybrid work matters, and yes, Kansas City matters.

Here’s how Towner makes your Teams Phone rollout seamless, strategic, and built to scale.

1. Discovery & Planning Phase

We kick off with a workshop—no powerpoints, just questions like:

What legacy phone trunks and number blocks do you still own?
Do you have satellite offices (Kansas City, Overland Park, Lee’s Summit, Columbia, Jefferson City)?
What are your busiest call routes and where do calls stall?

That’s why we use the framework provided by Microsoft’s own deployment guides (for example: license assignment, PSTN connectivity options, and emergency calling planning) to map your roadmap.
Outcome: A clear plan with milestones, no surprises, and your area-code identity preserved.

2. Connectivity & Number Porting

This is where legacy systems trip up. Towner handles everything:

Choosing the right PSTN path (Calling Plan vs Operator Connect vs Direct Routing)
Porting day-of-go-live numbers so your 816/913 stays yours
Configuring emergency addresses and fail-over routes

We include this step because Microsoft calls it “choose a PSTN connectivity option” in their setup guide. Microsoft Learn
Outcome: Calls inbound and outbound work day one, no dropped frames, no ghost numbers.

3. Pilot & Adoption

Rather than flipping everyone at once, we roll out a pilot — maybe your support desk or sales team. We monitor:

Call quality metrics and device health
User satisfaction and experience
Routing and auto attendant logic

Microsoft recommends this phased deployment approach for smooth transition. Microsoft Adoption
Outcome: Early wins, user buy-in, and a fine-tuned system before full roll-out.

4. Full Launch & Optimization

Once the pilot is proven, we accelerate to all seats. Then:

Integrate with your CRM, help-desk, and workflows
Activate real-time analytics so you’re measuring: missed calls, queue times, first-call resolution
Deploy training for employees (focusing on Teams Phone, not just “here’s the phone button”)

Outcome: A communication system that actually works for your team—not against them.

5. Managed Support & Continuous Improvement

Ultimately, you’re not a phone company — you’re running one. Towner keeps things sharp by:

Monitoring voice quality and rack health
Handling number changes, new users, or move/-adds
Keeping you ahead of updates, AI features, and UCaaS trends

Outcome: Your phone system doesn’t stagnate. It evolves.

Why Working With Towner Works for Midwest & Kansas City Businesses

Local numbers? You keep them.
Hybrid workforce? They’re covered from desk, home, and mobile.
Compliance (HIPAA, etc.)? Handled.
Support local? 100%.

Bottom Line

Towner doesn’t just deploy Teams Phone. We embody it—taking your business from legacy phone chaos to modern communication control.
After all, your voice system shouldn’t slow you down; it should propel you forward.

FAQs About Microsoft Teams Phone

Q: What’s included in Microsoft Teams Phone Standard?

A: With the Teams Phone Standard license, you get the full cloud-PBX experience built into Teams: business voicemail, auto attendants, call queues, internal and external calling functionality (through PSTN connectivity), and all of this managed in the Microsoft 365 admin portal.

In the Kansas City area, we see many businesses start with this license and then layer on either a Calling Plan or Direct Routing (via a partner like Towner) so they can use their existing business numbers and local area code identity.
Takeaway: The Standard license gives you the “phone system” foundation — the step that enables everything else to plug in.
Q: Can I port my business numbers (including Kansas City area codes) into Teams Phone?
A: Yes, typically you can port your existing business numbers — including local (e.g., 913/816) and toll-free numbers — into Teams Phone via your provider. For instance, through a Direct Routing provider (such as Intermedia or a certified Towner partner) number porting is handled free or with very minimal fees.

What you’ll want to confirm:

Your current carrier allows porting to a new SIP or cloud environment.

Your new provider supports your specific area codes.

Your business address is properly registered in the Teams admin center for emergency‐calling support.
Takeaway: If your brand identity in the Kansas City metro relies on your local number, you don’t have to give it up — you can bring it with you.
Q: Does Microsoft 365 Business Premium include Teams Phone?

A: Not automatically. Microsoft 365 Business Premium gives you access to Teams, collaboration tools, and cloud services — but the Teams Phone functionality (PSTN calling and full telephony features) generally requires an add-on license (Teams Phone Standard or similar) or integration with a PSTN voice provider.

In practice for Kansas City businesses, that means you’ll buy the Business Premium package (for productivity apps + security) and then add a telephony layer via Towner.
Takeaway: Think of Business Premium as the “office suite plus” layer — Teams Phone is the “phone system” layer you plug in.
Q: Is Teams Phone secure and reliable enough for business-critical operations in Kansas City?
A: Yes — Teams Phone runs on Microsoft 365’s global cloud infrastructure, delivering enterprise-grade reliability and security. For example, Microsoft reports uptime SLAs as high as 99.99% (and beyond in some configurations) for Teams Phone and Calling Plan services.

Security features include:

End-to-end encryption (voice, video, chat)

Advanced audit logging, eDiscovery, and retention for compliance

Regional datacenters and compliance support for HIPAA (healthcare) and other regulated industries
Takeaway: If your Kansas City business handles sensitive client calls or must meet regulatory standards, Teams Phone is more than “good enough” — it’s enterprise-grade.
Q: What happens if Teams or the internet connection fails — will I lose all phone capability?
A: No; one of the strengths of Teams Phone deployments is built-in continuity and failover. For example:

If a user loses internet connection, calls can be transferred to mobile devices or alternative routes.

With a certified PSTN connectivity partner, your phone trunk can failover to another route.

Teams Phone supports emergency calling and location registration so you’re covered during outages.

For Kansas City operations, this means your sales, support, or field teams aren’t stranded just because the WiFi hiccupped.
Takeaway: Teams Phone isn’t “fragile cloud tech” — when configured right, it’s robust and business-ready.
Q: How long does it take to deploy Teams Phone in a business in the Kansas City metro area?

A: Deployment speed varies by size and complexity, but many SMBs in the Kansas City region complete a Teams Phone rollout in weeks, not months. Microsoft notes that with Calling Plans, setup can be very quick; with Direct Routing (especially when you’re keeping legacy numbers and carriers) you may want to allow for a few extra weeks for porting and routing.

Towner recommends involving your carrier details, number porting timeline, and training your team early to avoid delays.
Takeaway: You can expect meaningful phone system transformation within a quarter — not years.
Q: Do I need new desk phones or hardware when moving to Teams Phone?

A: Not necessarily. Many businesses in Kansas City shift to Teams Phone using laptop, desktop, or mobile apps without buying new physical desk phones. That said, if you have reception desks or conference rooms where a physical phone makes sense, you can keep your existing hardware (if compatible) or buy certified Teams-enabled phones.

Takeaway: You won’t be forced into a full-hardware refresh unless you want to — and that unlocks cost savings early.

Teams-certified phones