You Probably Already Pay for Most of a Phone System
If your business runs Microsoft 365, the phone system is mostly already there. Teams Phone adds real phone numbers, call queues and an auto attendant to the app your staff use every day - which means one licence bill instead of a separate phone provider, and the business line rings wherever people actually work.
The old copper-and-PBX model quietly punishes small businesses: hardware in a cupboard, a support contract for it, and desk phones that ring in an office nobody is in on Fridays. Hosted calling removes all three, and for most of our clients the monthly cost goes down.
We are not a phone carrier and we take no margin on licensing - Microsoft or the VoIP provider bills you directly. You pay us for the part that actually needs expertise: porting numbers without downtime, building call flows that make sense, and being the one local number to call when something changes.
What a Setup Includes
Quoted fixed-scope for a typical Perth small business.
Porting & Licensing
- 08 locals, mobiles, 1300/1800 numbers ported with a scheduled, no-gap cutover
- Teams Phone + calling plan licensing selected and assigned - on your card, no margin
- Emergency address details registered correctly for 000
Queues & Auto Attendant
- Auto attendant menus ("press 1 for...") with business-hours and after-hours behaviour
- Call queues that ring the right people in the right order
- Voicemail to email with transcription
Devices That Fit
- Headsets for most staff - the cheap, popular option
- Certified Teams desk phones where handsets genuinely matter
- Network checked for call quality before cutover, not after
Training & Support
- Staff shown the five things they'll actually use on day one
- Changes and additions handled at $180/hr ex GST - most take under the hour minimum
- One local contact - no carrier hold music
Teams Phone or Hosted VoIP?
We set up both. The honest fit test:
| Microsoft Teams Phone | Dedicated hosted VoIP | |
|---|---|---|
| Best when | You already run Microsoft 365 and want one app for chat, meetings and calls | You need call-centre-style features, or you're not on Microsoft 365 |
| Billing | Added to your existing Microsoft licensing | Separate per-seat provider bill |
| Where calls ring | Teams app - PC, mobile, certified handsets | Provider app plus standard IP handsets |
| Admin | Managed inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, alongside everything else we already manage for you | Provider portal |
| Our take | Default answer for M365 businesses | Right tool for specific needs - we'll say so when it is |
Business Phone Questions, Answered
What Perth businesses ask before leaving the old phone system behind.
Can we keep our existing phone numbers?
Yes. Local 08 numbers, mobiles and 1300/1800 numbers can all be ported to Teams Phone or a hosted VoIP provider. Porting is scheduled so there is no gap - the old service stays live until the number cuts over, typically with minutes of changeover rather than days.
What does Teams calling cost?
Two parts: the licence and the setup. Microsoft Teams Phone licensing plus a calling plan is a published per-user monthly price paid directly to Microsoft - on your card, no margin added. Our setup work (porting, call flows, auto attendant, devices, training) is quoted fixed-scope for a typical small business, with ongoing support at $180/hr ex GST as needed.
Is call quality reliable enough for business on the NBN?
Yes for the overwhelming majority of Perth businesses - Teams calls use modest bandwidth and modern codecs handle ordinary network variation well. Where we do see problems it is usually the local network, not the NBN: an overloaded consumer router or no traffic prioritisation. We check the network as part of setup rather than discovering it after cutover.
What happens to our desk phones?
Your choice. Most staff end up preferring a headset with the Teams app on their computer and mobile, which is also the cheapest option. Where physical handsets genuinely matter - reception desks, workshops, shared areas - certified Teams desk phones exist and we supply and configure them.
Teams Phone or a dedicated VoIP provider - which should we use?
If your business already runs Microsoft 365, Teams Phone is usually the answer: one app for chat, meetings and now calls, one vendor bill, and the licence often costs less than a separate VoIP seat. A dedicated hosted VoIP provider can be the better fit for call-centre-style features or businesses not on Microsoft 365. We are not a phone carrier and take no margin either way, so the recommendation is genuinely about fit.
Can staff answer the business line from home or on mobiles?
Yes - that is most of the point. The business number rings the Teams app wherever the person is: office PC, laptop at home, mobile. Call queues and an auto attendant ("press 1 for support...") route callers properly, and voicemail lands in email as a transcribed message.
Related Services
The pieces that usually sit alongside this work.
Ready to hang up on the PBX?
Tell us how many staff and what numbers you have. You'll get a fixed-scope quote and a straight answer on Teams Phone vs VoIP for your setup.
Support Perth IT Pty Ltd · Perth, Western Australia · $180/hr ex GST, one-hour minimum, then 30-minute increments · No call-out fee in metro Perth.