What Is Audio Conferencing? | Teams Phone Dial-In Explained

Audio conferencing lets people join a Microsoft Teams meeting by dialing a phone number instead of using the app.

Most Teams meetings happen from a laptop with a headset, but that’s not the only way in. Audio conferencing — also called dial-in conferencing or PSTN conferencing — gives anyone a way to join meeting audio from a regular phone, and it lets organizers dial out to attendees who can’t open the app. Figuring out whether your plan includes it is where most people get tripped up, because it’s not baked into every Microsoft 365 subscription.

How Does Audio Conferencing Work in Teams?

Audio conferencing connects the public phone network to a Teams meeting through a conferencing bridge. Each meeting gets a dial-in phone number and a conference ID. A participant calls the number, enters the ID, and their audio joins the same meeting everyone else is in.

Microsoft says attendees can join from virtually any device. Someone on a landline, a flip phone, or a car’s hands-free system can participate fully in the audio side. Organizers also get a “Call me” option that dials a participant’s phone directly so they don’t have to enter anything manually.

What Licenses and Plans Include Audio Conferencing?

Audio conferencing is not automatically included with every Teams plan. It requires a Teams license, and for most organizations, an add-on license for each person who schedules or hosts meetings that need dial-in support.

Microsoft 365 E5 includes it in some cases. Microsoft 365 E1 and E3 commonly need the add-on. The add-on can be purchased as a monthly per-user license, or through a pay-per-minute option that charges based on actual usage instead of a flat fee. Some higher-tier offerings bundle it, but assuming your plan has it by default is the most common mistake. Check the licensing page in the Microsoft 365 admin center before you promise dial-in access to your team.

Setting Up Audio Conferencing

Admins handle the setup through two areas of the admin centers. The process has three main stages, and the order matters.

1. Get a Service Number

Service numbers for your conferencing bridge come from three places: the Microsoft Teams admin center, porting an existing number, or a request form when admin-center numbers aren’t available for your region. Availability depends on country or region, so some areas need the request form rather than instant provisioning.

2. Assign and Configure the Bridge

Go to Voice > Phone numbers in the Microsoft Teams admin center to assign the number. Then use Bridge settings to configure your conferencing bridge — this is where you set the default dial-in number and language.

3. Enable Users

To give a user dial-in capability, open the Microsoft 365 admin center, go to Users > Active users > Product licenses, turn on Audio Conferencing for that person, and save. Admins can also reset a user’s Audio Conferencing PIN here, which matters when a meeting’s security has been compromised.

What Does Audio Conferencing Cost and Include?

Pricing depends on your licensing path. Per-user monthly licenses are priced by Microsoft and vary by region. Pay-per-minute billing charges only for dial-out usage, which suits organizations with light needs.

Standard subscriptions include 60 minutes per user per month for dial-out calls to non-premium numbers in Zone A countries. Once that’s used up, dial-out calls are billed per minute. Dial-in minutes are typically included, but dial-out is where costs accumulate.

If you’re evaluating hardware for your meeting rooms to pair with Teams, our tested roundup of the best audio conference systems for business covers desk and room options.

When a meeting starts, participants click Join, select Phone audio, then choose Call me (to have Teams ring their phone) or Dial in manually (to see the number and conference ID). The “Call me” feature relies on the organizer having audio conferencing enabled and being permitted to dial out — without that, manual dial-in is the fallback.