VoIP and Microsoft Teams Setup Guide for Small Offices

Decide between cloud VoIP, on-prem PBX, or Microsoft Teams Phone. Cloud providers like RingCentral handle everything and scale easily. On-prem PBX gives you control and one-time costs. Teams Phone integrates with Microsoft 365 but needs Calling Plans or Direct Routing. For small Albuquerque businesses with existing M365, Teams Phone is often most cost-effective.

Provision enough bandwidth with overhead. Each VoIP call uses about 100 kbps up and down. For a 10-person office with 5 simultaneous calls, you need at least 1 Mbps upload plus overhead. Run bandwidth tests during peak hours and ensure your internet has symmetrical speeds or generous upload. If under 10 Mbps upload, consider upgrading before deploying VoIP.

Configure QoS (Quality of Service) on your router and switches. Mark VoIP packets with DSCP EF (46) or high priority so they are not delayed by file transfers or video streams. On managed switches, create a voice VLAN and prioritize it. Many voice quality issues like choppy audio and one-way audio are caused by congestion, not bandwidth. Proper QoS fixes this.

Test voice quality before going live. Use a SIP testing tool or make test calls during busy hours. Check for latency under 150 ms, jitter under 30 ms, and packet loss under 1 percent. Run tests from multiple desk phones or softphone clients. If metrics are poor, troubleshoot QoS, check for duplex mismatches, and verify your ISP is not throttling VoIP.

Set up failover and redundancy. If your internet goes down, calls should fail over to cell phones or a secondary SIP trunk. Most cloud VoIP platforms support automatic failover to mobile apps or call forwarding. For critical lines like main support and sales, configure geographic redundancy or LTE failover.

Configure Microsoft Teams Phone correctly. If using Calling Plans, port numbers through Microsoft portal. If using Direct Routing, configure a Session Border Controller to connect to your SIP trunks. Assign phone numbers via Teams admin center, configure dial plans for internal extensions, and enable voicemail and call forwarding. Test inbound and outbound calling.

Secure your VoIP environment. Use strong SIP passwords, disable international calling unless needed, and monitor for toll fraud where attackers hijack trunks for expensive calls. On on-prem PBX, restrict SIP access to known IPs and require TLS for signaling and SRTP for media. For cloud VoIP, enable MFA on admin portals.

Train staff on softphone and Teams Phone features. Show them how to hold, transfer, check voicemail, and use presence status. For Teams, integrate calling with chat and calendar so staff can join meetings with one click and see colleague availability.

Plan number porting carefully. Porting business phone numbers from a legacy carrier can take 2-4 weeks. Submit the Letter of Authorization early, verify account details match your carrier records exactly, and schedule porting during a maintenance window. Keep your old service active until porting completes.

If you need help selecting a VoIP provider, configuring QoS, setting up Microsoft Teams Phone, or porting your business numbers, HelpTek can design and deploy reliable unified communications for your Albuquerque or Santa Fe office.