Microsoft Teams Calling ยท implementation
Microsoft Teams calling for Australian businesses, connected properly and run as one setup
Teams Phone is one layer of a business phone setup. Teams calling in Australia needs more than the licence: a connection to the Australian phone network, your business numbers, call handling for reception and after hours, devices, and someone accountable for all of those layers. Vantrel supplies and runs them.
Teams calling, in layersLicence versus environment
- 01Calling from the Teams app on a computer or a mobile, and from Teams phones
- 02Auto attendants and call queues, the building blocks of a call flow
- 03The ability to assign numbers to people and to those call flows, once a connection exists
- 04The phone network itself, through one of the three connection methods Vantrel delivers
- 05Your numbers, ported in or newly issued, including 1300 and 1800
- 06The flows, the emergency addresses and the devices, then someone to implement and hold it
Supplied by Vantrel
The layers, and who supplies each
For a Teams calling environment, Vantrel supplies the Teams Phone licences, the connection to the phone network through Microsoft Calling Plans, Operator Connect or Direct Routing, and the numbers: the ones you already hold, ported across, including 1300 and 1800 numbers. Vantrel designs and configures the call flows, implements and tests the set-up, and after go-live one named Vantrel account owner is your point of contact. Which connection method you get is decided in the review, not in advance.
- Microsoft 365 and Teamsthe tenant, the users and the app you already runyours
- Teams Phone licenceturns a Teams user into a calling usersupplied by Vantrel
- Connection to the phone networkCalling Plans, Operator Connect or Direct Routing; a tenant can use more than onesupplied by Vantrel
- Business numbersassigned to people, and to auto attendants and call queuesported or issued by Vantrel
- Call handlingauto attendants and call queues: menus, hours, holding, overflowdesigned and configured by Vantrel
- Devicesthe Teams app, the mobile app, Teams phones and headsetsdecided in the review
- Implementation and supportconfiguration, porting, testing, then the account ownerVantrel
For example, a customer dials your main number. The number belongs to an auto attendant, which checks the time: in business hours it offers reception or a department; after hours it sends the call to the on-call mobile or to voicemail. The caller chooses sales and joins a call queue, which rings the people signed in to it, over whichever connection method the tenant uses. The person answers in the Teams app on a laptop, or on a Teams phone at the desk. A call to your 1300 number is routed the same way.
Where the phone-network connection comes from
Three methods, and the question that decides each
There are three methods for Microsoft Teams calling in Australia, a tenant can run more than one, and Vantrel delivers all three. They differ in who provides the connection, who you contract with for it, and how much telephony stays in your hands. The Teams calling guide compares them row by row; if none of the questions below changes your answer, the method is a detail settled in the review.
- Microsoft Calling PlansMicrosoft is the operator
The question: do the allowances and number types fit how this business calls, 1300 and 1800 traffic included?
- Operator ConnectA Microsoft-certified operator behind the numbers; you manage people and numbers in Teams
The questions: which number types can that operator bring in, and who do you call when a call fails?
- Direct RoutingAny operator, through a certified Session Border Controller run by you, an integrator or a provider
The questions: who runs the Session Border Controller, and what happens to calls if it fails?
Numbers, reception, queues and hours
Your numbers come in; an attendant answers them; a queue rings the people
An auto attendant answers a number, plays a greeting or a menu, and routes by the caller's choice, by business hours and holidays, and to an operator when someone just wants a person. A call queue holds callers and rings the people signed in to it, with rules for when nobody is signed in or the queue is too long. Queues do not keep their own after-hours rules, so an attendant sits in front of them to handle hours and holidays.
Vantrel designs those flows from how the business takes calls now (who answers, who covers, what happens at 5.30 pm) and configures them. Where the need is a person answering rather than a menu, see AI and human answering.
Devices: most people call from the Teams app on their computer or the Teams mobile app; for a reception desk or a shared area, Microsoft certifies desk phones and headsets as "Certified for Microsoft Teams". Which desks need one is decided in the review.
- Existing numbers
- The numbers your customers already know are ported into Teams. Vantrel runs the port and tells you what to provide, normally the account details and the authorisation for the numbers being moved.
- New and 1300 / 1800 numbers
- New local numbers come through the connection method and are assigned to people or to call flows. 1300 and 1800 numbers are brought into Teams and pointed at an auto attendant or a queue like any other number.
- What a port depends on
- The accounts the numbers sit on, the account holder named on each, any number still under contract, and whether the business wants the numbers moved together or in groups. Vantrel confirms them before the port is lodged.
Emergency calls and resilience
000 works and the service stays up; the site's phones and addresses need attention
Calls to 000 work from VoIP services, including a VoIP service such as Teams calling, but the operator cannot see where a VoIP call is coming from the way they can with a fixed line. They will ask for the town and state, and if the caller cannot speak, police use the address recorded for the service. In Teams, each user is assigned an emergency address, which has to be validated, and how emergency calls are routed differs by connection method: with Direct Routing the routing policies are configured by whoever runs the connection; with the other methods the operator handles much of it. For a business with more than one site, that means an address for each site and for people who work from home, and the configuration should be checked from each location before anyone relies on it.
Teams calling runs over each site's internet connection. If a site's connection fails, the Teams phones and computers there cannot reach the service, while the tenant, the numbers and the call flows keep running and anyone on the Teams mobile app over mobile data keeps calling. An auto attendant can send calls to mobiles when a site cannot be reached, which is decided when the flows are designed. What the site's connection has to carry, and whether it needs a second path, is a business internet question, and one the review covers.
Emergency calling and outage behaviour, compared by connection method
What makes up the cost
Priced in layers; which ones you already pay for decides the difference
Which method costs less depends on calling volume, number types and what the business already licenses; the methods guide sets out each cost model without a verdict.
- Microsoft 365: the base licences the business already has
- Teams Phone licences: one per calling user
- The connection method: a Microsoft Calling Plan licence, or an operator service under Operator Connect or Direct Routing
- Numbers and calling: geographic, 1300 and 1800, each with a monthly charge; included allowances or per-call charges by method and plan
- Devices: only for the desks and people who need a handset or headset
- Implementation and support: call-flow design, configuration, porting, testing, then the account owner
Moving your calling into Teams
Five stages, then one named account owner
Timing depends on the port and on how much of the current set-up has to be reproduced; it is agreed in the review, not promised here. After go-live you have one named Vantrel account owner. Where it is agreed, Vantrel also manages your other providers on your behalf, faults and renewals included, so an issue between Teams, the connection method and a site's internet does not become yours to referee.
- 01What Vantrel needs from you
You provide the numbers you hold and their accounts, the people who will call, the sites and the addresses for emergency calling, and how calls are answered today and how they should be.
- 02Design
The connection method, the number plan, and the call flows for hours, reception, queues and overflow.
- 03Configuration
Teams Phone licences assigned, the connection made, attendants and queues built, emergency addresses validated.
- 04Testing, together
Calls in and out on the flows, from the app and from any desk phones, before cut-over.
- 05Cut-over
The ported numbers move to Teams and the old system stops carrying calls.
Questions
Can we keep our existing business numbers, including 1300 and 1800?
Yes. Existing numbers are ported into Teams, and 1300 and 1800 numbers are brought in and pointed at an attendant or a queue.
Can Microsoft Teams call 000?
Yes, as a VoIP service. The 000 operator will ask for your town and state because a VoIP call does not carry a fixed address, and if the caller cannot speak, police use the address recorded for the service. That is why each Teams user needs a validated emergency address, and why a business with several sites needs one per site.
Is Teams by itself enough for reception?
Auto attendants and call queues cover menus, hours and holding. If your reception needs a person to answer, pair Teams with answering by people or an AI agent; if it needs a dedicated phone system with handsets throughout, read Business phone systems.
Do we need Teams Phone to make external calls?
Yes: a Teams Phone licence and a connection to the phone network, before anyone can call an ordinary number.
Review your Teams calling setup
Tell us how many people call, which numbers you hold and how many sites you run. You get back which layers you already have, which you still need, and the connection method the review points to.