Microsoft Teams Phone auto attendants and call queues: licensing and setup guide

Auto attendants and call queues are still core Teams Phone features in 2026. The old 2019 “coming soon” licensing news has been replaced by a practical model: use Microsoft Teams Phone with no-cost Teams Phone Resource Account licenses to route callers, publish business numbers, and manage front-desk or department call flows.

What changed since the original announcement

Microsoft now generally uses the name Microsoft Teams Phone rather than Phone System, and Skype for Business Online is retired. Auto attendants and call queues are no longer a “coming soon” add-on; they are standard Teams Phone capabilities used to answer, route, queue, and transfer calls in Microsoft Teams. Microsoft’s current documentation is on Microsoft Learn, including guidance for auto attendants, call queues, resource accounts, and Teams Phone licensing.

What auto attendants and call queues do

An auto attendant provides menu-based call handling, greetings, business hours, holiday routing, directory search, and transfers to people, call queues, voicemail, or other voice apps. A call queue distributes incoming calls to a group of agents using routing methods such as attendant routing, serial routing, round robin, longest idle, or overflow and timeout handling. Together, they can replace many traditional PBX front-desk, help desk, sales, support, and after-hours workflows.

Current licensing: Teams Phone Resource Account licenses

Auto attendants and call queues use resource accounts. A resource account represents the voice application in Teams and is separate from a normal user account in Microsoft Entra ID. Each resource account used for a Teams Phone auto attendant or call queue generally needs a Microsoft Teams Phone Resource Account license. These licenses are no-cost and are typically available to organizations that have Teams Phone licensing. In the Cloud Solution Provider and New Commerce Experience purchasing model, they may still need to be added to the tenant as a $0 subscription before they can be assigned. User agents also need the appropriate Microsoft Teams and Teams Phone licensing for the calling scenarios they perform, especially PSTN calling, outbound dialing, and transfers to or from phone numbers.

PSTN connectivity options

Teams Phone can connect to the public phone network through Microsoft Calling Plans, Operator Connect, Teams Phone Mobile, or Direct Routing. The right option depends on country availability, existing carrier contracts, compliance requirements, number ownership, and whether you want Microsoft, an operator, or your own session border controller design to provide connectivity. Auto attendants and call queues that receive external calls normally need a routable phone number or a routing path from your PSTN provider. Service numbers may be required depending on the connectivity model and region.

Typical setup workflow

A practical deployment usually follows this sequence: confirm Teams Phone and user licensing; add no-cost Teams Phone Resource Account licenses in Microsoft 365 admin center or through CSP/NCE if needed; create the resource account in Teams admin center; assign the resource account license; assign a phone number if the auto attendant or call queue must be reachable from the PSTN; create the auto attendant or call queue; configure greetings, language, business hours, holidays, routing, overflow, timeout, and shared voicemail; add agents or Microsoft 365 groups; configure caller ID and outbound calling requirements; and validate reporting, voicemail delivery, and call quality. Administrators should also review emergency calling locations and policies for users who place or receive PSTN calls.

Planning tips before you deploy

Map your call flows before building them in Teams admin center. Identify main numbers, department numbers, after-hours behavior, holidays, failover destinations, voicemail owners, compliance requirements, and who should be able to change greetings or schedules. Avoid treating resource accounts as normal users; they should be purpose-built for voice apps and governed with clear naming, ownership, and lifecycle management. For current Microsoft guidance, see Microsoft Learn for auto attendants, call queues, resource accounts, and Teams Phone add-on licensing.

Key takeaways

• The former Phone System feature set is now part of Microsoft Teams Phone terminology and deployment planning.
• Auto attendants and call queues are current, production-ready Teams Phone features for routing business calls.
• Resource accounts are required for Teams voice apps, and Microsoft Teams Phone Resource Account licenses are no-cost but may need to be added and assigned.
• Teams Phone can use Microsoft Calling Plans, Operator Connect, Teams Phone Mobile, or Direct Routing depending on the organization’s voice strategy.
• Licensing, phone numbers, emergency calling, business hours, holidays, voicemail, and agent routing should be reviewed before rollout.

If you are planning to replace a PBX or clean up an existing Teams Phone deployment, IT Partner can review your Microsoft 365 licensing, CSP/NCE subscriptions, phone-number strategy, and Teams admin center configuration through our Microsoft Teams Phone and managed IT support services.