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What is PSTN calling?

As written on support.office.com

Cloud PBX with PSTN calling lets you connect your organization to the Public Switched Telephony Network (PSTN) and provides your users with a primary phone number in Skype for Business so they make and receive phone calls.

Users assigned phone numbers in Skype for Business Online can make and receive phone calls using Skype for Business IP phones, PCs and mobile devices. And, in case of emergencies, users can call 911 for help. To see how emergency calling works, see What are emergency locations and addresses?.

To get these phone numbers for your users, you can search for and reserve phone numbers from Office 365 or you can transfer your existing phone numbers from another service provider or carrier. See Getting phone numbers for your users and Transfer phone numbers over to Skype for Business Online for how to start getting phone numbers for your users.

For PSTN calling, users can be assigned subscription-based plans for local (US domestic) calling only or local (US domestic) and international calling. See, Skype for Business Online licensing overview for details on licensing with PSTN calling.

IMPORTANT: At this time, PSTN calling is only available to organizations that have an Office 365 billing address that is based in the U.S.

Setting up PSTN calling for your users

IMPORTANT: For you to see the Voice option in the left navigation in the Skype for Business admin center, you must purchase at least one Enterprise E5 or Cloud PBX license and a voice calling plan.

Setting up PSTN calling is easy. There are five simple steps:

1. Purchase and assign an Enterprise E1, Enterprise E3, or Enterprise E5 license to your users. See, Assign or unassign licenses for Office 365 for business to assign your Office 365 licenses.IMPORTANT: You can use Skype for Business Online Standalone Plan 2 instead of an E1, E3, or E5 license but you can't use Skype for Business Online Standalone Plan 3.

   If you want to learn more about Skype for Business Online licensing, see Skype for Business Online licensing overview.

2. Purchase and assign Skype for Business Online licenses to your users. See, Skype for Business Online licensing overview for more details on Skype for Business Online licensing options.If you are using an:

   • Enterprise E5 license for your users, you need to only purchase and assign a PSTN voice calling plan. Cloud PBX is included in the Enterprise E5 license.

   • Enterprise E1 or Enterprise E3 license for your users, you will need to purchase and assign a Skype for Business Cloud PBX add-on and then assign a PSTN voice calling plan to your users.

     • See, Assign or unassign a PSTN voice calling plan license for a user to assign a PSTN voice calling plan. See, Voice calling plans for Office 365 Enterprise E5 for more details on voice calling plans.

     • See, Assign or unassign a Cloud PBX license for a user to assign a Cloud PBX license.

3. Get your phone numbersYou get the phone numbers for your users by either getting new phone numbers from Office 365 or use the phone numbers that you already have from your phone service provider or carrier.

   To get phone numbers for your users, see:

   • Getting phone numbers for your users

   • Port your existing phone numbers for your organization

4. Add emergency addresses and locations for your organizationBefore you can assign a phone numbers to users, you must have created at least one emergency address and if you need to, add an emergency location or locations. Emergency locations are associated to an emergency address to give a more exact location of a user within a building. See Add or remove an emergency address for your organization and Add or remove an emergency location for your organization to get details for adding emergency address and locations.

5. Assign a phone numbers to your usersThe last step is to assign phone numbers to users. While assigning a phone number to a user, you must associate an emergency address. See Assign, change or remove a phone number for a user to get details on assigning a phone number to a user.

What else do you need to know?

• If you are going to use the existing phone numbers your already have, you will need to create a "port order". If you have 999 or fewer phone numbers, you can use the New Local Number Port Order wizard in the Skype for Business admin center. See Transfer phone numbers over to Skype for Business Online to get the details on transferring those phone numbers. If you have more than 999 phone numbers that you need to transfer, you will need submit a service request to get all of these phone numbers moved over to Office 365. See, Manually submit a port order request for details on doing this.

• You can't transfer toll-free numbers or phone numbers used for data such as those phone numbers that are associated with a DSL line.

• An emergency address is often referred to as a civic address, street address, or a physical address. It is the street or civic address of a place of business for your organization.

• Emergency locations aren't validated, only emergency addresses are.

• CAUTION:

  • 911 Calling terms and conditions

  • Skype for Business Online: 911 Calling disclaimer label

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