ACS retirement cutoff: ACS resource created Oct 26, 2026 — how can a critical-need phone-number exception be reviewed?

The published route for reviewing this post-cutoff exception is an Azure technical support request; with Basic support, that means adding an eligible paid support plan or having a Microsoft partner or existing support agreement open the request on the subscription’s behalf.

What to submit

After support entitlement is available:

1. In the Azure portal, open the existing Communication Services resource.
2. Select Support + Troubleshooting under Help.
3. Continue through the recommendations, then select Create a support request.
4. Classify it as a Technical issue for Azure Communication Services—not billing, subscription management, or an email quota request.
5. Include:
   • Subscription ID.
   • ACS resource name, Azure resource ID, immutable resource ID, and creation date.
   • Requested exception: one US local number now and a later port-in to that same resource.
   • Workload: ACS Call Automation appointment scheduler.
   • Critical-business justification and transition plan.
   • Acknowledgment of the September 30, 2028 retirement.
   • The exact retirement-guide language requesting that customers with a critical need contact support.

Creating technical requests requires a support plan. The requester must also have Owner, Contributor, Support Request Contributor, or equivalent Microsoft.Support/* permission at subscription scope.^1^

The exception is discretionary: the guide says support can review what options may be available; it does not promise approval. Your October 26 resource is after the October 23 cutoff and has no existing ACS numbers, so the normal acquisition and external-to-ACS port-in paths are intentionally unavailable.^2^

Pay-as-you-go ordinarily qualifies for US local numbers, but that subscription eligibility does not override the newer retirement onboarding restriction.^3^

PSTN Service Desk access

You cannot add yourself as a guest to the Microsoft Services tenant. Only an administrator or application owner for that Microsoft-controlled tenant can invite the account and grant access. Adding the account as a guest to your clinic’s own Entra tenant would not grant access to the Service Desk’s tenant.

The error can also occur when the browser submits the wrong cached identity. Because you have already reached the Microsoft Services rejection, only make one clean identity check:

1. Inspect the error’s User account and Identity provider values.
2. If they are not the clinic’s intended work account, open a private browser session and sign in with that organizational account.
3. If they are correct and the same error remains, Microsoft must provision or authorize the identity; there is no documented customer self-registration procedure.^4^

Also, the retirement guide specifically identifies the TNM Service Desk for moving an existing ACS number to Teams Phone Extensibility. It does not identify that portal as the intake route for a new-customer retirement exception.^2^ The country eligibility page’s Service Desk reference concerns case-by-case review of otherwise ineligible subscription types; your pay-as-you-go subscription is already an eligible type, so that provision does not resolve the post-cutoff restriction.^3^

Ask Azure Support, in the same exception case, either to conduct the review directly or route it internally to the ACS Number Management team. Do not send patient data, recordings, or other protected health information with the request.

Is there another free filing route?

No public Microsoft documentation identifies a free exception-filing channel for this request:

• Free Azure support covers subscription management, billing, quota adjustments, and account transfers; technical support requires a support plan.^1^
• Microsoft Q&A and Tech Community can clarify policy but cannot approve an account-specific enablement. The ACS support page directs technical cases to Azure support requests.^5^
• Give feedback on the ACS Phone Numbers pane is a product-feedback channel, not a documented exception workflow.^5^
• The standard port-in quickstart cannot bypass the retirement gate; although it describes US geographic-number porting, the retirement guide controls whether a new post-cutoff customer can initiate that operation.^6^

If purchasing support solely for this review is impractical, the documented alternatives are to redesign around a supported Teams-aligned telephony scenario or use a third-party CPaaS provider rather than assume ACS Direct Offer numbers will be enabled.^2^

References

1. Create an Azure support request
2. Retirement and breaking changes guide for Azure Communication Services
3. Phone number management for United States
4. Error AADSTS50020 - User account from identity provider does not exist in tenant
5. Support and help options for Azure Communication Services
6. Quickstart: Port a phone number