Audio Conferencing in Microsoft Teams: A Comprehensive Guide

Updated: Oct 28, 2024

Scope & Terminology

• In this blog, “organizer” refers to the user who creates and hosts the meeting in Microsoft Teams. Similarly, “participant” refers to the user who has been invited to the meeting.
• This blog is only for scenarios where participants will be dialing in to the meetings. Dialing-out has its own blog.

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Introduction

Audio conferencing in Microsoft Teams allows participants to join meetings using a phone call. This feature is particularly useful for participants who may not have access to the Teams app or a stable internet connection.

All meeting invitations created by the organizer with an Audio Conferencing license will automatically include dial-in information (phone number and conference ID) for participants. Participants can join the meeting by dialing the provided phone number and entering the conference ID in the invitation they have received from the organizer.

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Licensing Requirements

Starting from March 1, 2022, apart from Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5, there are no other subscriptions that include Audio Conferencing by default.

For other plans, such as Microsoft 365 E1, E3, Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, Office 365 E1, E3, and Microsoft Teams Essentials, you would need to purchase the Audio Conferencing add-on separately.

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Setting Up Audio Conferencing

1. License Assignment

Purchase the Audio Conferencing add-on license for the organizer if required and assign it. (Check the license requirements section above).

2. Automatic Shared Number Allocation

When you assign the Audio Conferencing license to the organizer, Microsoft automatically assigns dial-in phone numbers to your organization.

These numbers are typically shared service numbers, which means they can be used by multiple users within your organization.

Example: John and Vivek both created a meeting in their Teams. Both meetings might have the same phone number but different conference IDs. This means John and Vivek are sharing the same numbers. Not to worry, John’s participants will not be able to join Vivek’s meeting because they have the conference ID of John’s meeting and not Vivek’s meeting.

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3. Purchase Dedicated Phone Numbers (Optional)

If you prefer to have dedicated phone numbers, you can purchase and assign them through the Teams admin center. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Navigate to the Teams Admin Center (https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/).
2. Go to Voice > Phone numbers.
3. Click + Add.
4. Give your order a Name and description.
5. Select your country or region from the drop-down list.
6. Select either Dedicated conference bridge (Toll) or Dedicated conference bridge (Toll-free) based on your need:
   • Toll-free: You will be charged for every participant who calls, and the phone