Enable users for Teams Phone
After you have set up your organization's configuration for Teams Phone with Calling Plans or configured a partnership with your provider using Operator Connect, you then need to enable users to make and receive PSTN phone calls.
This ability allows you to selectively enable Teams Phone services for only users who need the functionality or gradually enable voice services as you train users or deploy devices.
To enable Teams Phone for users, we'll need to perform the following tasks:
Assign Teams Phone licensing
Assign a Teams Domestic or International Calling Plan license
Assign user Dial Plans
Assign numbers to users
Assign a verified emergency address location
Assign a calling policy to a user
Assign Teams Licenses
To use Teams Phone, you'll first need to assign the following licenses to a user:
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams Phone Standard
Optionally, Audio Conferencing or Audio Conferencing Pay Per Minute
- These licenses are included in Microsoft Enterprise E5 (with Teams Phone) and Microsoft Business Voice SKUs.
For Microsoft Calling Plans, you'll also need to assign a Calling Plan license. Plans are available with inclusive minutes:
Domestic Calling Plan (3000 minutes per user/month for US/PR/CA, 1200 minutes per user/month for EU countries/regions)
Domestic Calling Plan (120 minutes per user/month for each country/region)
Domestic Calling Plan (240 minutes per user/month for each country/region)
In some countries/regions, there are Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plans which cost a fee per month and usage is paid per minute using Communications Credits, allowing users to consume calling minutes as needed. Communication credits can also be used for international calls when a user is on a Domestic Calling Plan. Communication Credits must be configured before assigning them to users, following the procedures shown in the module Configure Teams Phone. When you use Communication Credits, you'll need to assign the following licenses:
Domestic and International Calling Plan
Communications Credits
As an alternative to Microsoft Calling Plans, you can use Operator Connect. Operator Connect is another option for providing Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connectivity with Teams Phone. You don't require Calling Plans or Communications Credits licenses when using this option, but you'll need to license users with Teams Phone.
You can use the Microsoft 365 admin center or PowerShell to assign licenses to users in your organization. You must be a Global admin or User management admin to manage licenses. To assign licenses through the Microsoft 365 admin center, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Microsoft 365 admin center at https://admin.microsoft.com/ and sign in as a Global Administrator or User Management Administrator.
In the left navigation, select Users and Active users.
Select the user you want to assign the license to.
In the edit pane, select Licenses and apps and then select the Calling Plan and the necessary licenses as listed above.
Select Save changes.
Warning
After assigning licenses, you will need to wait before assigning numbers to users. Because of the latency between Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, it can take up to 24 hours for a user to be assigned a Calling Plan after you assign a license.
Assign phone numbers and emergency locations to users
After assigning licenses to users for Teams Phone, you'll then need to assign phone numbers and emergency locations.
In European countries/regions, the emergency location is associated with the phone number when you get it from Microsoft 365 or Office 365 or when you transfer a phone number over to Microsoft 365 or Office 365. In the United States, the emergency location is associated with the phone number when it's assigned to the user. The emergency address can be changed if the user that it's assigned to moves to a new location.
Complete the following steps to assign phone numbers to users:
To assign a phone number in the Teams Admin Center, perform the following steps in written order:
Navigate to the Teams admin center at https://admin.teams.microsoft.com
Sign in to the Teams admin center with an account that has the Teams Administrator role.
In the left navigation, select Voice > Phone numbers.
On the Phone numbers page, select an unassigned number in the list, and then select Edit.
In the Edit pane, under Assigned to, search for the user by display name or username, and then select Assign.
To assign or change the associated emergency location, under Emergency location, search for and then select the location.
Depending on whether you want to send an email to the user with their phone number information, turn off or turn on Email user with telephone number information. By default, this option is turned on.
Select Save
You can also perform these steps by using the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module.
To establish a remote PowerShell session with Teams, you first need to install the module. The Teams PowerShell module replaces the Skype for Business Online Connector module, which has been retired.
You can install the latest version of the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module with the following cmdlet in an elevated PowerShell session:
Install-Module MicrosoftTeams
After you install the module, you can establish a remote session with your tenant with the following cmdlet:
Connect-MicrosoftTeams
Before assigning a phone number and emergency location, you can retrieve a list of phone numbers and locations available. This list makes it easier to find free numbers to assign and ensures you specify the correct location ID for emergency services.
To retrieve a list of phone numbers and their respective activation state, use the following cmdlet:
Get-CsOnlineTelephoneNumber | ft Id,ActivationState
To retrieve a list of emergency locations that are validated, use the following cmdlet:
Get-CsOnlineLisLocation -ValidationStatus Validated
After selecting a phone number and emergency location, use the Set-CsPhoneNumberAssignment cmdlet in a format like the one shown below to enable the user for Teams Phone:
$locID = Get-CsOnlineLisLocation -City "<City Name>"
Set-CsPhoneNumberAssignment -Identity "<User name>" -PhoneNumber +15555037311 -LocationID $locID.LocationID
Assign calling policies and dial plans to a user
While you can assign a multitude of policies to Teams users, two important policies for Voice are dial plans and calling policies.
A dial plan is a named set of normalization rules that translate dialed phone numbers by an individual user into an alternate format (typically E.164) for purposes of call authorization and voice routing. They describe how phone numbers expressed in various formats are translated into an alternate format.
A calling policy controls the calling features that are available for the user. To assign policies and dial plans to a user, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Microsoft Teams admin center at https://admin.teams.microsoft.com.
Sign in to the Teams admin center with an account that has the Teams Administrator role.
In the left navigation, select Users.
Select the user you want to assign the policy to by checking the space in front of the username.
Select Edit settings.
In the edit pane on the right, scroll down to Dial plan and select Global (Org-wide default) or any other policy you want to assign from the dropdown menu.
While still in the edit pane on the right, navigate to Calling policy and select AllowCalling or any other calling policy you want to assign from the dropdown menu.
Review the other policy types you can assign through this dialogue, then select Apply.
Using this method, you can also assign other policy types to individual users. If you want to use the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module, each policy type comes with its own set of cmdlets for managing it. The Grant-cmdlet will allow you to assign existing policies.
For a Dial Plan, use the Grant-CsTenantDialPlan cmdlet in a similar format to the example below:
Grant-CsTenantDialPlan -Identity "<User name>" -PolicyName RedmondDialPlan