Skype for Business Online Plan 1 retirement
Important
Skype for Business Online operated by 21Vianet in China will be retired on October 1, 2023. If you haven't upgraded your Skype for Business Online users yet, they will be automatically scheduled for an assisted upgrade. If you want to upgrade your organization to Teams yourself, we strongly recommend that you begin planning your upgrade path today. Remember that a successful upgrade aligns technical and user readiness, so be sure to leverage our upgrade guidance as you navigate your journey to Teams.
Skype for Business Online, excluding the service operated by 21Vianet in China, was retired on July 31, 2021.
The Skype for Business Online Plan 1 has been retired. However, if you have a current subscription to Skype for Business Online Plan 1, this change won’t affect you right away. As a global Office 365 admin, you’ll receive email updates and see posts in the message center (part of the Microsoft 365 admin center) with information on when you need to take action. In the meantime, you can continue to use your existing Skype for Business Online Plan 1 licenses.
When you're ready to move to a new plan—either now or during renewal—you’ll have the option to switch to Office 365 F1 or another Office 365 plan of your choosing.
You can maintain the same functionality you had with Skype for Business Online Plan 1 while taking advantage of new features and functionality from Office 365. Many plan options available include all the features that came with Skype for Business Online Plan 1, and IM and presence, peer-to-peer audio and video over IP, and the ability to join meetings as an authenticated user.
Switching to Office 365 F1
This option is ideal if you want to take advantage of the other functionality that Office 365 F1 has to offer. To learn more and get pricing info, see Office 365 F1.
How to switch
You can switch to Office 365 F1 now or wait until it’s time to renew and upgrade during the renewal process. Either way, you’ll work with your account representative or partner to make the switch, unless you bought your subscription directly from Microsoft, in which case you can switch to Office 365 F1 yourself in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Switching to another Office 365 offer
The features that your users enjoy in Skype for Business Online Plan 1 are available in many of our Office 365 suites, either via Microsoft Teams or Skype for Business Online, depending on which service you're currently using.
How to switch
When it's time to renew your subscription and Skype for Business Online Plan 1 is no longer available to you, you’ll be able to switch to another Office 365 plan as part of the renewal process. If you don’t want to wait until renewal, you can choose to switch now. Either way, you'll work with your account representative or partner to make the switch, or—if you bought Skype for Business Online Plan 1 from Microsoft directly, online—do it yourself in the admin center.