Microsoft 365 personal subscription

rob-nikon

rob-nikon

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I’m looking to get Microsoft 365 personal on the subscription model as I’d like to cancel my monthly zoom subscription (we’ve run a family quiz weekly since March 2020 and £15 a month is a bit steep just for zoom). MS teams would likely be a perfect replacement as I use it for work but it’s unclear if MS teams is included in the Microsoft 365 personal + Norton subscription sold on Amazon.


The MS teams app icon is shown on the Microsoft website so I’m guessing it is on amazon product and Amazon are just showing slightly out of date product details (not unusual).

Compare All Microsoft 365 Plans (Formerly Office 365) – Microsoft Store

Find the right Microsoft 365 Family or Personal plan for all your devices. Includes AI-powered Office apps, 1 TB of cloud storage and premium mobile features.
www.microsoft.com

It’s currently £43.90 on Amazon for 15 months whilst it’s £59.99 from Microsoft for 12 months so would make sense purchasing 12 months from Amazon (just like I do with Lightroom).

Can anyone confirm MS teams is included in the Amazon subscription before I buy it?
 
From the graphic it seems that Teams is only included with Business Standard, not Personal.
 
gramps said:
From the graphic it seems that Teams is only included with Business Standard, not Personal.
Click to expand...

It’s not included on the Amazon graphic but is included in the personal version on the Microsoft website graphic hence my question.
0ED76368-1D99-4158-86B5-E5BB75C8A909.jpeg

I seem to remember from work MS teams was a later addition to 365 as we were initially using zoom at the start of the March 2020 lockdown but moved to MS teams a few months later when it became available via our IT department.
 
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I have the 'Family' subscription to Microsoft 365, and Teams does appear to be included - though it looks slightly simplified from the full business version.
The meeting scheduling appears to be a bit more 'manual' - you schedule a meeting, then copy an invite which you email to those you want to join.
As I recall, previously Teams was free for personal use, but had no option to schedule meetings, so it's a step up from that.
 
Faldrax said:
I have the 'Family' subscription to Microsoft 365, and Teams does appear to be included - though it looks slightly simplified from the full business version.
The meeting scheduling appears to be a bit more 'manual' - you schedule a meeting, then copy an invite which you email to those you want to join.
As I recall, previously Teams was free for personal use, but had no option to schedule meetings, so it's a step up from that.
Click to expand...
I think the free personal use is time limited. My older family members would likely be confused by in logging on to different calls to make one long call up to 2 hrs.

Awfers said:
Is there any reason you could not use Skype for the group call? Last I checked you could do quite a few things, include share a desktop etc...

There are also other solutions out there that use your browser such as Kmeet: https://www.infomaniak.com/en/kmeet which is free, secure (hosted on Swiss servers) offers end to end encryption, meetings can be password protected and you can invite a lot of different people.
Click to expand...
I thought Skype was replaced by MS teams so thought it was no longer around.

thanks, I will take a look at Skype and kmeet.
 
My version of 365 includes Teams. possibly because it is linked with my employers‘ subscription. I thought a free version of Teams was available.
 
Brentor said:
My version of 365 includes Teams. possibly because it is linked with my employers‘ subscription. I thought a free version of Teams was available.
Click to expand...
I’ve had a look at the free version. I can start meeting but I’d then need to add everyone individually which I’m guessing would send them an invite with a link to join the meeting. That’s quite a faff to how I’ve got it set up on zoom (one meeting set up thats reused on a weekly basis using the same joining link/ID number). The issue is potential confusion to less IT savvy family members so one repeated meeting is much easier for them otherwise we could have issues where they could be trying to use an old link.

I use MS teams at work through their 365 subscription but it’s against works IT polices to use it for personal use.

mkeet seems to need a new meeting every time with no way to set up a scheduled or repeated meeting. Skype looks like it may be possible to set up a scheduled meeting so I will have a play with that option. If that doesn’t work I think I will take a gamble on the Amazon subscription to whether MS teams is included. If it isn’t then I still get office apps which would be useful.
 
Look at open source options, plenty of free to use teams replacements.

I have no need for these so you will need to do your own google, bing orther search engine research.
 
Thanks
sep9001 said:
Not sure if your employer is part of this, and if it is not sure if it work out cheaper. Worth a look:

Microsoft Workplace Discount Programme (formerly Home Use Programme) – Microsoft Store

See if you qualify for the Microsoft Workplace Discount Programme. Get deals on Microsoft 365 and Surface through your employer. Formerly the Microsoft Home Use Programme.
www.microsoft.com
Click to expand...
Thanks I wasn’t aware of that. I’m eligible which takes the Microsoft 365 personal subscription down to £41.99 which is slightly cheaper than amazon.
 
rob-nikon said:
I think the free personal use is time limited. My older family members would likely be confused by in logging on to different calls to make one long call up to 2 hrs.


I thought Skype was replaced by MS teams so thought it was no longer around.

thanks, I will take a look at Skype and kmeet.
Click to expand...
I have a virtual meet up with some friends 2 or 3 times a month via Skype.
It does work - BUT you have to be sufficiently technically aware to handle the issues it sometimes throws at you.
For example, as I only use it for this one meeting, at least 50% of the time I try and start Skype it immediately wants to update (before it will join the call).
About 1/3 of the times it updates for me, it somehow end up with the older version still leaving some tasks running and disrupting the call - the easiest solution I've found is to do a system restart at this point!
You may find older members get stuck in something like that happens.
(Having said that. during lockdown we had family MS teams meetings to give an opportunity for our parents to chat with our children, and my mum, who is over 80, found that confusing and failed to join correctly about 1/3 of the time).
 
Might be good to check why you are paying £15 per month, I think the personal sub is £10?
 
Pound Coin said:
Might be good to check why you are paying £15 per month, I think the personal sub is £10?
Click to expand...
That’s interesting. I started it up in lockdown 2020 when there was free or paid accounts only. My last payment was £14.39 which doesn’t match any of the accounts they now offer. It shows even more reason why I need to drop Zoom if they change their pricing but don’t tell me they have and get me to pay more for something they sell cheaper!
 
I started out at about £70 a year, and it has risen a bit. Free first, then got a paid one for removal of the restrictions.
 
Microsoft 365 personal is current on offer via amazon prime for £39.99 so I've decided to get it. I can confirm it also includes MS Teams as well as the normal apps. I will give it a week to test it with family before cancelling my zoom subscription.
 
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