Using Teams for phone calls

[Jawloms]

Anyone doing it? Does it work? Is it cost effective? Was it easy to set up? We're still running our phone system over 2x ISDN2 lines so are looking at proper VOIP solutions and as we already use Teams quite a bit, it seems only sensible to check it out. Can you buy handsets which work with it for when a visitor says "Could I just make a quick call?" type situation?

 

Stuart

[mavhc]

It's very expensive usually, not sure why people are going back to paying per user instead of using a PBX to reduce costs, especially when a PBX is free

[Rob_D]

We didn't go with it in the end, but when we priced up Teams phone licences it came out about the same price as Horizon hosted PBX, and Teams IP handsets are definitely a thing.

[FN-GM]

We looked at it and decided against it for a few of reasons

 

Limited supported SIP providers (might be better in the UK)

The cost!

Quite a few missing features that are standard on other phone systems.

 

We went with 3CX instead.

[Roberto]

We (not in education) are doing it and it made sense for us, to enable our staff to be able to have one app on their laptop or mobile that handled all their internal and external calling needs. We also dial internationally all the time between offices and have preferential rates for doing so with our current system for the occasions where I need to dial someone abroad who isn't an internal teams to teams call.

 

There are benefits but there are also costs to setup and support that you need to be well aware of. This did not make sense for us after running the costs when I did work for a collage for example, because the majority of our calls were from fixed locations (offices/staffrooms) in the building and going to mainly geographically local exchange numbers (parents/home).

Edited August 16, 2022 by Roberto

[mavhc]

We didn't go with it in the end, but when we priced up Teams phone licences it came out about the same price as Horizon hosted PBX, and Teams IP handsets are definitely a thing.

 

Well yeah, hosted PBX prices are also stupid, why is anyone paying per handset, or paying for calls per handset, insanity.

[Rob_D]

Well yeah, hosted PBX prices are also stupid, why is anyone paying per handset, or paying for calls per handset, insanity.

I'd guess the main reasons are the resilience and flexibility of a cloud hosted system are the main draws for larger schools, while smaller schools probably like the idea of the host provider looking after all the hardware/updates/etc.

[paulkerton]

We've explored Google Voice, which is far more cost effective now all calls are included in the monthly price.

[chaplic]

Teams does have 'shared area' phones that will give you a traditional telephone feel as well as bigger devices that are basically android tablets.

 

Its difficult to make the case for teams voice as a like for like replacement unless your phone system is very old and has associated huge costs. The case has to be made for the additional benefits it brings like ability to make/ receive calls outside school and using the school wifi to replace dect.

[Ditto]

My charity employer does use MS Teans voice and I presume it meets the needs of the company. Cost wise, I suspect it is not the best value that can be got, and I agree with @Rob_D 's assessment as to 'why?' but I would also add 'lack of skills and knowledge'. From a purely financial perspective, FreePBX or other would be great, but no-one within the organisation has the skills or knowledge to get that solution implemented. I guess we could ask our newly appointed IT provider to look in to moving that way, but I have my doubts that they would be overly enthusiastic about the idea.

[Jawloms]

Thanks all for your feedback, much appreciated.

[Wave9_Lee]

We're finding that many customers are taking a hybrid approach - Teams for SMT or WFH/mobile staff, and hosted voice for classrooms, places that require a handset. Our hosted platform has a Teams 'plug-in' so minutes are all inclusive across both. Happyto talk through or quote any time..

 

cheers

[nicholab]

Do remember that the SIP trunks into MS Teams can be provided by a third party and you only need as many as your old ISDN the same with DDI numbers. The cleaver use of these is where you can save money. Also using existing hardware for the client side also helps. Edited August 16, 2022 by nicholab

[Mr.Ben]

We are looking at 3CX as a solution as licensing is based upon the number of SIP trunks that you use.

 

It seems really reasonable costs wise.

[HarkNowHear]

Our MAT is moving over to Teams as our telephony platform, and I've moved one of my schools over so far. We're working with a third-party provider to create the hosted system per site, then just licences to sort at our end. Using Yealink MP56 handsets along with an additional number of 'soft' users accessing the system from their work devices. Worked pretty well so far and is certainly cheaper as an overall solution than what we had previously. My other site will be moving over in the autumn.

[nicholab]

Has anyone else set Teams to clear chats after a set time I know the UK Parliament IT systems clear teams at the end of the day.

[mavhc]

We are looking at 3CX as a solution as licensing is based upon the number of SIP trunks that you use.

 

It seems really reasonable costs wise.

 

Always remember that SIP Trunks don't really exist, they were made up to sound like you need to pay more

[Guest Guest]

We are looking at 3CX as a solution as licensing is based upon the number of SIP trunks that you use.

 

It seems really reasonable costs wise.

It's not licensed on the number of trunks, it's the number of concurrent calls meaning both internal and external

[Mr.Ben]

That's good to know!

[mavhc]

It's not licensed on the number of trunks, it's the number of concurrent calls meaning both internal and external

 

That's a bit silly, why would you pay for internal calls.

 

But yeah, you can't licence on the number of trunks as sip trunks don't exist.