This article will give you an overview of the different options to use Teams as a phone.

We will talk about advantages and drawbacks, but they are actually the features to consider depending on the licenses already present and/or the desired use.

 

Call2Teams PBX User:  

• 5 €/Teams user excl. SIP account & Fonzer user & phone number
• Logic completely in own PBX (Fonzer platform)

Advantages: 

• Easy to manage once set up, no knowledge of Teams environment needed
• Management/limitation of the number of simultaneous calls is on the platform (with Fonzer unlimited)
• Teams available on all devices for 1 subscription (laptop, mobile,...)
• Hybrid solution possible: standard SIP devices/doorbells and Teams clients combined

Drawbacks: 

• Many users can get expensive, take phone license into account (only included in O365 E5, otherwise +/- 6,7€ excl. per channel)
• No real integration with the Teams environment - voicemail, call forwarding, presence-aware queues, ...(but all features of the Fonzer panel)
• Administration is more intensive: create users in Teams, in Call2Teams and in own PBX

 

Call2Teams PBX Trunk:  

• €3,6/straight reachable Teams feature (each user, auto-attendant or queue) (= read: for each external number)
• Trunk required, at Fonzer = €10 + per concurrent call €2.5
• Take into account:
  • # channels or users per auto-attendant (calling plans that are directly accessible, selection menu, queue)
  • # concurrent calls: 1/3 of the total number of users

Advantages: 

• Full integration with Teams - manage voicemail, call forwarding, presence from within the Teams client
• Easy to scale (up or down) - more lines, less lines, add extra users can be changed per month - billing calculates the usage automatically
• Administration largely in Teams - in the Fonzer platform you put the numbers on the trunk and in C2T you indicate on which feature it should arrive - in other words only 1 place where users are created

Drawbacks: 

• Becomes expensive when using many direct numbers/services, even if few calls are made
• If the number of simultaneous lines is badly calculated, congestion and therefore unreachability can occur (can be taken care of in Fonzer failover plan)
• In-depth knowledge Teams Voice required (editor less visual) to perform the initial setup but no PowerShell knowledge needed

 

Fonzer SBC:  

• €12/simultaneous call - minimum purchase of 3 channels (€36)
• Not on Fonzer platform - higher activation cost (€450) but includes full setup of the SBC and pairing of desired numbers excl. portering costs and configuration of Teams.
• Minimum contract duration 12 months 
   

Advantages 

• Full integration with Teams - manage voicemail, call forwarding, presence from within the Teams client
• No other subscription fees, only call charges, regardless of the number of users
• Administration centrally in Teams, any additional numbers will be put on the SBC by us - administrator only needs the login for O365 environment

Drawbacks: 

• In-depth knowledge of Teams Voice required for initial setup but also for subsequent maintenance (adding users), PowerShell knowledge is still required for assigning numbers and activating Enterprise Voice.
• If the number of simultaneous lines is badly calculated, congestion and therefore unreachability can occur (can NOT be handled in failover plan) - so good planning is important!
• Upscaling is still possible (more simultaneous calls); attention: this is not immediate, it can take several days - downscaling is not possible.

 

If you need more information or technical support, please contact:

support@fonzer.com

02/580.50.00