TEAMS PHONE VS PBX —
THE COST COMPARISON IN AUD.

Usually, but not automatically. Teams Phone swaps a capital purchase (PBX hardware, handsets, installation) for a per-user monthly licence, so it starts far cheaper and stays cheaper wherever the per-user run rate is competitive with your carriage. Where a PBX can win on paper is very cheap carriage on a long-since-depreciated system, or a site full of desk phones that would all need replacing with Teams-certified hardware. That's exactly why this calculator makes every figure editable rather than declaring a winner.

Two parts. The Teams Phone Standard platform licence is indicatively around $13.20 AUD per user per month standalone, and it's already included in Microsoft 365 E5, in which case that line is $0. PSTN calling comes on top: Microsoft's Calling Plan is indicatively around $15 AUD per user per month for a 120-minute domestic pool, while Operator Connect (Telstra, Optus and others) and Direct Routing are priced by the carrier and often land lower at scale. All figures are indicative AUD list ex GST; confirm with your CSP or carrier.

They are deliberately labelled assumptions, not market prices. PBX pricing varies widely by vendor, size and support contract, and a published 'average' would be misleading. The defaults exist so the model produces something on first load; the intended use is to overwrite them with your actual vendor quote, maintenance contract and the per-user carriage from your current phone bill.

It's the month at which the two options' cumulative outlay crosses. A PBX is front-loaded (hardware and handsets up front, lower monthly cost is possible after that), while Teams Phone is subscription-shaped (little up front, a per-user monthly fee). If the option that starts cheaper also runs cheaper each month, the lines never cross and the calculator says so.

Anything not in the input fields: contact-centre licensing, call recording and compliance capture, meeting-room and common-area devices, network and QoS upgrades, cabling remediation, and internal staff time. For most Australian mid-market comparisons these move both columns rather than flipping the answer, but a real business case should price them. Frontrow's Teams Phone scoping covers the full list.

Yes. Australian numbers port to Microsoft Calling Plans, Operator Connect or a Direct Routing carrier. Porting timing is the usual project constraint, and it's worth planning the cutover around your PBX maintenance renewal date so you're not paying for both systems longer than needed.