Direct Routing or Operator Connect?

Four ways to connect Teams

Teams Phone is Microsoft’s telephony in Microsoft 365. You choose the connection to the phone network separately, and with it who provides your numbers and calls:

Area	Calling Plan	Operator Connect	Teams Phone Mobile	Direct Routing
Numbers and phone network	Microsoft is the operator	A certified operator	A mobile operator; the number is your mobile number	Any operator via your SBC
Own SBC	No	No	No	Yes, certified for Teams
Cost on top of Teams Phone	Calling Plan per user	The operator’s subscription	The mobile subscription	The operator’s trunk, SBC and operations
Flexibility	Lowest	Choice of certified operators	Tied to the mobile operator	Highest: your own routing, any operator, multiple countries
Connection to an existing PBX	Requires Direct Routing alongside	Requires Direct Routing alongside	No	Yes, one of the main reasons to choose it
Numbers for queues and switchboard functions	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Emergency calling	Enabled automatically	Enabled automatically through the operator	Via the mobile network	You configure the route and policy for the emergency number

Which option suits you?

• Calling Plan suits small organisations without a PBX, contact centre or analogue devices that want everything from Microsoft.
• Operator Connect suits organisations that want to use their own operator without running an SBC, and have no PBX that needs to stay.
• Teams Phone Mobile suits staff who mostly make calls from their mobiles. It does not replace numbers for queues and switchboard functions.
• Direct Routing suits you if you have a PBX that will stay for a while, a contact centre or analogue devices. It also suits you if you need your own routing or survivable mode in branch offices, or want to keep an operator that is not in Operator Connect.

We deliver Teams Phone with Direct Routing, but it is not always the right answer. If Operator Connect suits you better, we will tell you.

You can combine them

All the options can be used at the same time in the same Teams environment, for different users, offices and countries. Microsoft gives its own example: Operator Connect for office workers, Teams Phone Mobile for mobile staff, Direct Routing for contact centres, analogue devices and older PBXs, and Calling Plan for small offices.

How to combine the options when your organisation operates in several countries is described under Teams Phone in multiple countries.

The situation in Sweden

• Calling Plan is available in Sweden, with pay-as-you-go, minute bundles and a plan that includes international calls.
• Operator Connect: in October 2026, Microsoft’s operator directory listed 34 operators for Sweden, including Telia, Tele2, Telenor, GlobalConnect and Dstny. The directory does not show whether each operator offers Swedish numbers, so check that with the operator.
• Teams Phone Mobile is offered by Telia as an add-on to business mobile subscriptions.
• Before numbers are acquired or ported, Microsoft may require a check of your organisation, which usually takes up to three working days.

Emergency calling differs

With Calling Plan and Operator Connect, emergency calling is enabled automatically. With Direct Routing, the administrator must set up a route and a policy for the emergency number, and both must be tested.

In Sweden, the emergency call centre looks up the address in a national database based on the calling number. The address must therefore be correctly registered with the operator for every number.

Last updated 14 October 2026.