Microsoft Teams is already open on almost every employee’s screen across Canada. It handles messaging, video calls, file sharing, and internal collaboration for millions of organizations. Organizations asking can Microsoft Teams be used as a phone system are usually already halfway there – the platform is already deployed, the team is already in it daily and they’re comfortable. The real question is which approach makes sense for your organization, what it actually costs, and who’s going to support you when something doesn’t work.
This guide is written for IT managers, operations leaders, and decision-makers at mid-market and enterprise organizations already running Microsoft 365. If your team lives in Teams and you’re still paying for a separate phone system alongside it, what follows is a practical breakdown of four options available and which one gives Canadian organizations the best combination of cost, flexibility, and support.
→ Already using Teams and want to know the cheapest way to add calling? SE Telecom can walk you through all four options – contact us today.
Can Microsoft Teams Be Used as a Phone System – Yes, Here’s How It Works
If you are asking can Microsoft be used as a phone system, the short answer is yes. Microsoft Teams can absolutely function as your organization’s full business phone system, making and receiving external calls, managing extensions, routing inbound calls, and replacing your existing PBX or VoIP setup entirely.
But here’s what most organizations don’t realize until they’re already in the process: the Microsoft Teams license your team uses for chat and video does not include phone calling. That’s a separate product entirely.
To make and receive external calls inside Teams, your organization needs a Microsoft Teams Phone license – currently priced at roughly $10–$12 CAD per user per month. That license activates the phone button inside Teams. That’s it. It doesn’t give you phone numbers, it doesn’t give you a carrier, and it doesn’t give you the ability to actually dial out or receive inbound calls from outside your organization.
For that, you need a second layer: a telecom carrier to provide your phone lines, your Direct Inward Dial numbers, and the actual routing infrastructure. That carrier relationship typically adds another $8–$10 per user per month on top of the Teams Phone license.
So the all-in cost of using Microsoft Teams as a phone system – before you’ve even chosen how you want to set it up – starts at roughly $20 per user per month. For a 100-person organization, that’s $2,000 a month just to enable calling inside a platform your team is already paying for.
There are four ways to structure that carrier relationship. Each one has meaningfully different cost implications, support levels, and flexibility.
Option 1: Microsoft’s Own Calling Plans
The simplest path is letting Microsoft handle everything. You purchase the Teams Phone license, then add Microsoft’s own Calling Plan on top of it, which bundles domestic calling minutes and phone number management directly through Microsoft.
This is the most straightforward setup – one vendor, one bill, fully integrated. For organizations with a strong internal IT team and straightforward calling requirements, it works fine.
The downsides are real though. Microsoft’s Calling Plans are priced at whatever Microsoft decides to charge, and there is no negotiation. You’re dealing with one of the largest companies in the world and your account is one of millions. Custom requirements – specialized call routing, contact centre functionality, AI auto attendants, or US phone numbers alongside Canadian ones – are either unavailable or require additional Microsoft products at additional cost.
Support is also self-managed. Microsoft’s enterprise support is document-heavy and ticket-based. If your call routing breaks on a Tuesday morning and your reception team can’t take inbound calls, you’re filing a ticket and waiting.
For organizations still asking can Microsoft Teams be used as a phone system without adding complexity, this is the lowest-friction starting point… but it comes at Microsoft’s price and Microsoft’s terms.
Option 2: Operator Connect
Microsoft recognized that many organizations don’t want to buy their carrier service directly from Microsoft. So they built a marketplace called Operator Connect, a curated list of approved telecom carriers that integrate directly with Teams.
Rogers, TELUS, and a range of other Canadian and international carriers are listed in Operator Connect. The process is self-serve: you log in, browse carriers, select one, and configure your numbers and routing directly through the Teams admin portal.
The advantage is choice. Rather than being locked into Microsoft as your carrier, you can pick from a list of established providers and potentially get better per-minute rates or number management options.
The significant disadvantage is that Operator Connect is entirely DIY. There is no hand-holding. No implementation support. No custom programming. If your IT administrator knows exactly what they’re doing inside the Teams admin center, it works. If they don’t, or if your requirements are anything beyond a standard setup, you’re on your own.
Custom requirements that fall outside the standard Operator Connect framework (hybrid environments with a mix of Teams and non-Teams phones, contact centre integrations, multi-carrier redundancy, US DIDs alongside Canadian numbers) are simply not available through the marketplace. You either fit the template or you don’t.
Operator Connect answers yes to the question of can Microsoft Teams be used as a phone system but only if your team is prepared to own the entire setup themselves.
Option 3: Direct Routing with a Canadian Provider
Direct Routing is the most flexible approach to using Microsoft Teams as a phone system. Rather than going through Microsoft’s Calling Plans or the Operator Connect marketplace, your organization works directly with a telecom provider who sets up the SIP trunks – the underlying phone lines – and connects them to Teams through a Session Border Controller.
The end result for your team is identical: they make and receive calls inside Teams exactly as they would through any other method. The difference is everything that happens underneath.
With Direct Routing through SE Telecom, your organization gets:
Custom call routing and configurations that Operator Connect simply won’t touch. If you need a hybrid environment where some of your team uses Teams for calling and others use traditional IP desk phones – all under one unified system – SE Telecom can build that. No marketplace provider will.
Multi-carrier access rather than putting all your calling infrastructure through a single carrier. SE Telecom aggregates multiple carriers, which means redundancy, better rates, and access to both Canadian and US DIDs from a single provider.
Real implementation support from a Canadian-based team. When your call flows need to be configured, your numbers need to be ported, or something needs troubleshooting at 9am on a Monday morning, you’re calling a person who picks up, not filing a ticket into a support portal.
Contact centre and AI auto attendant capabilities that bolt onto your Teams environment. Rogers won’t sell you an AI auto attendant for Teams. SE Telecom will.
Direct Routing is how mid-market and enterprise organizations answer the question of can Microsoft Teams be used as a phone system on their own terms, with the flexibility, support, and custom configuration that self-serve marketplaces simply cannot deliver.
Option 4: The Clear Clouds Plugin – The Cheapest Way to Use Teams as a Phone System
For Canadian organizations asking can Microsoft Teams be used as a phone system at a lower cost than Microsoft itself charges, this is the answer.
SE Telecom has developed a Microsoft Teams plugin that connects directly to Clear Clouds, SE Telecom’s own Canadian-hosted VoIP platform. The plugin allows your team to make and receive business calls directly inside Teams (same interface, same experience) at a fraction of the cost of Microsoft’s Teams Phone licensing.
Here’s why that matters: the Teams Phone license from Microsoft costs $10–$12 per user per month. The Clear Clouds plugin can be priced at or even below that same figure depending your size, with SE Telecom’s carrier service included. You are paying less for a complete solution than Microsoft charges just for the license that doesn’t include service.
The user experience is extremely close to native Teams calling. SE Telecom recently walked a client through both options – the full Microsoft Teams Phone licensing route versus the Clear Clouds plugin – and the client chose the plugin immediately. The reasoning was straightforward: same Teams experience their team already knows, meaningfully lower monthly cost, and Canadian-hosted infrastructure keeping all communication data in Canada, instead of the USA (Clear Clouds is hosted in Canada).
Technically, the plugin connects Teams to Clear Clouds on the backend. Clear Clouds acts as the engine – handling the carrier infrastructure, call routing, number management, and all the underlying telecom work – while your team interacts entirely through Teams on the front end. Whether your team uses the standard Clear Clouds interface, the premium phone experience, or the Teams plugin, they’re all running on the same backend infrastructure.
The migration process is the same regardless of which option you choose: SE Telecom takes over your Direct Inward Dial numbers, coordinates the cancellation of your existing carrier contract, and ports everything over with minimal disruption to your operations.
Which Option Is Right for Your Organization
Can Microsoft Teams be used as a phone system for your specific organization? The answer is yes but the right path depends on these factors:
Microsoft’s Calling Plans make sense if your organization has strong internal IT, straightforward calling requirements, and wants a single-vendor setup with no external relationships to manage.
Operator Connect makes sense if your IT team is confident in the Teams admin portal, you don’t need custom configurations, and you want the ability to choose your carrier from a pre-approved list.
Direct Routing with SE Telecom makes sense if your organization has custom requirements, a hybrid environment, needs both Canadian and US numbers, wants multi-carrier redundancy, or simply wants a real implementation partner rather than a self-serve marketplace.
The Clear Clouds Plugin makes sense for almost any organization already on Teams that wants to reduce monthly telecom spend without changing how their team communicates. If cost and Canadian hosting is a priority and the Teams interface is a non-negotiable, the plugin is the most cost-effective path available in the Canadian market.
Where SE Telecom Fits
Most telecom providers give you one option for Teams calling and send you on your way. SE Telecom is one of the only Canadian providers that supports all four approaches, Direct Routing, Operator Connect alternative, and the Clear Clouds plugin and helps organizations choose the right one based on their actual requirements.
That means:
- All four Teams calling options – SE Telecom evaluates your setup and recommends the right fit, not the most profitable one
- The Clear Clouds plugin – SE Telecom’s own Canadian-hosted solution, priced below Microsoft’s Teams Phone license with carrier service included
- Custom programming – contact centre integration, AI auto attendants, hybrid phone environments, US and Canadian DIDs
- Canadian hosting – all data stays in Canada, fully aligned with PIPEDA and PHIPA
- No forced long-term contracts – flexibility as your organization grows or changes
- Real support – Canadian-based team, actual people, no ticket queues for critical issues
- Flexible pricing – SE Telecom is not Rogers or TELUS; pricing decisions happen on a call, not through an approval process
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FAQ: Can Microsoft Teams Be Used as a Phone System
Can Microsoft Teams replace our existing business phone system entirely? Yes. With the right setup, whether through Microsoft’s Calling Plans, Operator Connect, Direct Routing, or SE Telecom’s Clear Clouds plugin, Teams can fully replace your existing PBX or VoIP system. Your team makes and receives external calls, manages extensions, and handles inbound routing entirely inside Teams.
Do we need a separate Microsoft Teams Phone license to make calls? Yes. The standard Teams license included in Microsoft 365 does not include external calling. You need the Teams Phone add-on license (~$10–$12 per user per month) to activate the calling functionality inside Teams. SE Telecom’s Clear Clouds plugin offers an alternative that can be priced at or below that license cost with carrier service included.
What is the difference between Operator Connect and Direct Routing? Operator Connect is Microsoft’s self-serve marketplace where you choose an approved carrier and configure everything yourself through the Teams admin portal. Direct Routing involves working directly with a telecom provider like SE Telecom who sets up the underlying infrastructure, handles custom configurations, and provides ongoing support. Direct Routing is more flexible; Operator Connect is more self-managed.
What is the Clear Clouds Teams plugin and how is it different? The Clear Clouds plugin is SE Telecom’s own Teams calling solution. It connects Microsoft Teams to Clear Clouds, SE Telecom’s Canadian-hosted VoIP platform, on the backend. Your team sees and uses Teams exactly as they do today – calls just come through the plugin instead of Microsoft’s native calling infrastructure. It’s typically cheaper than Microsoft’s Teams Phone license with carrier service included.
Can we keep our existing Canadian phone numbers when switching to Teams calling through SE Telecom? Yes. Number porting is standard practice. SE Telecom coordinates the transfer of your existing Canadian area code numbers to the new platform as part of the implementation process, with minimal disruption to your operations.
Is Teams calling through SE Telecom secure enough for regulated Canadian industries? Yes. SE Telecom’s Clear Clouds platform is 100% Canadian-hosted, meaning all call data, voicemail, and communication records stay in Canada and remain fully aligned with PIPEDA and PHIPA requirements. Healthcare, legal, financial services, and logistics organizations across Canada use SE Telecom’s platforms for compliance-sensitive communication daily.
Can SE Telecom support a hybrid environment where some staff use Teams and others use desk phones? Yes, and this is one of SE Telecom’s genuine differentiators. Operator Connect and Microsoft’s own Calling Plans cannot support hybrid environments where Teams users and traditional IP desk phone users coexist on the same system. SE Telecom can build and manage that configuration through Direct Routing.
How long does it take to migrate to Teams calling through SE Telecom? Most implementations are structured in phases to minimize operational disruption. Number porting, call flow configuration, and staff onboarding timelines vary based on organization size and complexity. SE Telecom manages the full process end-to-end.