Set up Audio Conferencing for Skype for Business
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.
Sometimes people in your organization need to use a phone to call in to a meeting. Skype for Business includes the audio conferencing feature for just this situation! People can call in to Skype for Business meetings using a phone, instead of using the Skype for Business app on a mobile device or PC.
You only need to set up Audio Conferencing for people who plan to schedule or lead meetings. Meeting attendees who dial in don't need any licenses assigned to them or other setup.
For frequently asked questions about Audio Conferencing, see Audio Conferencing common questions.
Step 1: Find out if Audio Conferencing is available in your country/region
Go to Country and region availability for Audio Conferencing and Calling Plans and select your country or region to get availability information about Audio Conferencing, as well as information about Phone System, Calling Plans, toll and toll-free numbers, and Communications Credits.
Step 2: Get and assign licenses
For Audio Conferencing, you need a license for each user who will set up dial-in meetings. To learn which licenses you need to buy for Audio Conferencing and how much they'll cost, see Skype for Business add-on licensing.
After you buy the Audio Conferencing licenses, you'll need to assign them to those people in your organization who are going to schedule or lead meetings. See Assign or remove licenses for Microsoft 365 Apps for business you purchased to the people in your organization who are going to schedule or lead meetings.
We also recommend that you assign Communications Credits licenses (they don’t cost anything) to the same people you assigned licenses to in the previous step. To learn how to set up Communications Credits, see Set up Communications Credits for your organization.
Note
You can also set up pay-per-minute Audio Conferencing.
Step 3: Get service numbers for your conferencing bridges
For Audio Conferencing, you can’t use phone numbers for users; you'll need to get service numbers. You can get either toll or toll-free service numbers for your conferencing bridges. There are three ways to get toll and toll-free service numbers:
Use the Skype for Business admin center. For some countries/regions, you can get service numbers for your conferencing bridges using the Skype for Business admin center. See Getting service phone numbers.
Port your existing service numbers. To port or transfer existing numbers from your current service provider or phone carrier to Microsoft 365 or Office 365. You can see Transfer phone numbers to Teams or Manage phone numbers for your organization for more information to help you do this.
Use a request form for new numbers. Sometimes (depending on your country/region) you won't be able to get your new service numbers using the Skype for Business admin center, or you'll need specific phone numbers or area codes. If so, you'll need to download a form and send it back to us. See Manage phone numbers for your organization for more information.
Step 4: Assign a service number to the conferencing bridge
Once you get your toll and/or toll-free phone numbers for your conferencing bridge, you need to assign the numbers so they can be used on meeting invitations.
To assign a new phone number to your audio conferencing bridge:
Using the Skype for Business admin center:
- Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center > Admin centers > Teams > Legacy portal.
- Select Voice > Phone numbers.
- Select the phone number, and click Assign.
For more details, see Change the phone numbers on your audio conferencing bridge.
Step 5: Set the default and alternate languages for a conferencing bridge
Next, you want to Set auto attendant languages for Audio Conferencing that the conferencing auto attendant uses to greet callers when they dial in to a phone number for Audio Conferencing.
Using the Microsoft Teams admin center:
- From Home, go to Meetings > Conference bridges.
- Select the conferencing bridge phone number, click Edit, and then choose the default language.
Using the Skype for Business admin center:
- Go to the admin center > Admin centers > Teams > Legacy portal.
- Select Audio conferencing > Microsoft bridge.
- Select the conferencing bridge phone number, select Set languages, and then choose the default language.
Step 6: Set your conferencing bridge settings
After setting up your conferencing bridge, verify that the default settings such as entry/exit notifications and PIN length are the ones you want to use; if they're not, you can change them.
Using the Microsoft Teams admin center:
- From Home, go to Meetings > Conference bridges.
- Select Bridge settings. This opens the Bridge settings pane.
For more details, see Change the settings for an Audio Conferencing bridge.
Using the Skype for Business admin center:
- Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center > Admin centers > Teams > Legacy portal.
- Select Audio conferencing > Microsoft bridge settings. This opens the Microsoft bridge settings page.
For more details, see Change the settings for an Audio Conferencing bridge.
Step 7: Assign dial-in phone numbers for users who lead meetings
After you have created an Audio Conferencing bridge, you need to set the toll and toll-free numbers for your users.
You'll need to do this for all of the people in your organization who lead or schedule meetings.
Using the Microsoft Teams admin center:
- From Home, click Users, select the user from the list, and select Edit.
- Select Edit next to Audio Conferencing, and then in the Audio Conferencing pane, choose a number in the Toll number and Toll-free number lists.
Using the Skype for Business admin center:
- Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center > Teams > Legacy portal.
- Select Audio conferencing > Users, and then select the user from the list and click Edit.
If you need more details, see Assign Microsoft as the audio conferencing provider.
Step 8: Set up meeting invitations (optional)
The dial-in numbers that are set for the user will be automatically added to the meeting invitations that are sent to meeting attendees. However, you can add your own help and legal links, a text message, and small company graphic if you want. See Customize meeting invitations.
Related topics
Audio Conferencing common questions
Set up Skype for Business Online