MetriNote – Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams Launches

Author: Diane Myers, Principal AnalystFebruary 3, 2023 – In January, Verizon became the first U.S. operator to enable Teams Phone Mobile. The new service, dubbed Verizon Mobile for Microsoft Teams, offers a native phone dialer and single number, connecting into the Microsoft Teams cloud for full Teams integrated collaboration and communication features. This is a business account not a UC application that is downloaded to a personal device.The primary benefit of this approach is that users place and receive calls using the native dialer, but all calls are handled through Microsoft Teams. In essence, the mobile phone becomes a Teams Phone System endpoint. Additional functionality that is unique to a native Teams Phone Mobile with Verizon compared to the Teams app downloaded to a mobile phone include single phone number, voice call quality and failover, security, compliance recording, unified call history and voicemail, call transfers, presence integration, simultaneous alerts, outbound caller ID, and extending call queues to mobile numbers. Calls coming in hit Verizon’s VoLTE network and are then transferred over to the Microsoft Teams cloud similar to a business getting PSTN connection via Direct Routing or Operator Connect.Users need a Microsoft Teams license (acquired outside of Verizon), U.S.-only, Verizon mobile plan and then $4/line monthly recurring charge. Think of it as an alternative to Operator Connect or Microsoft Direct Routing.