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Microsoft Teams Direct Routing: Explained
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Published onOctober 15, 2024
published onOctober 15, 2024
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Microsoft Teams Direct Routing allows you tointegrate your existing telephone system with Teamsso you can keep your business telephone numbers.
Teams is an indispensable tool for hybrid work environments that rely on the Microsoft 365 suite of business apps. It allows you to hold virtual meetings, one-on-one video and audio calls, messaging, calendar, blocking meeting rooms, andVoIP phone calls.
However, you might find that the existing telephone numbers are becoming defunct and you’re burdened with sharing new MS Teams phone numbers with clients, contractors, and customers. Here, Direct calling steps in so you can extract enough value from existing phone lines and avoid the need to share newbusiness cards.
Read on until the end to find out everything you need to know to implement Direct Routing in your organization. I’ll explain what it is, its hardware and software prerequisites, the advantages, and how to set it up.
What Is Microsoft Teams Direct Routing?
Teams Direct Routing is aBYOD solution for telephony for small, medium, and large businesses. This feature lets you integrate your prevailing phone systems with MS Teams.
When configured appropriately, you can directly receive and make phone calls using existing business numbers from the app on awhiteboard,digital meeting board,Microsoft Surface Hub 3,computer,tablet, orsmartphone.
Also, the telephony will keep using the samePublic Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Furthermore, Direct Routing facilitates the integration ofSession Border Controllers (SBCs)with the Teams app.
Here are the major features of this system:
Technical Requirements
You’ll need the following hardware and software products to create an infrastructure for Teams Direct Calling:
License Requirements
These are the Microsoft 365 subscription requirements to use Teams Direct Routing:
Advantages of Teams Direct Routing
Here’s why you should opt for Direct Routing configuration in Microsoft Teams:
How To Set Up Microsoft Teams Direct Routing
Here’s how to configure Direct Routing for Teams in a few steps:
1. Connect Your SBC
Establish a secure connection between Microsoft Teams and SBC using the credentials provided by Microsoft. You’ll find all the fields for entering SBC credentials by visiting the Microsoft Teams admin center. Moreover, you can read aboutadvanced settings for SBCon the official website.
2. Enable Users for Direct Routing
You must now assign the required licenses to employees or contractors who will be using Teams Direct Routing. You might also want to set up user settings to enable this feature for voicemail and voice calls. Now, you can assign existing phone numbers while specifying Direct Routing as the phone number type.
3. Configure Call Routing
Now, create voice routes to define how to handle outgoing and incoming calls. At this stage, you should also specify dialed number patterns, priority levels, and associated SBCs for each route. Don’t forget to create PSTN usage records to track call usage and costs.
4. Translate Numbers
Translating numbers is useful for handling toll-free numbers, international calls, or specific dialing patterns. So, configure the translation rules to map phone numbers to different formats or destinations.
5. Test and Verify
Make inbound and outbound test calls to verify call quality, routing, and feature functionality. You’ll be able to address most Team Direct Calling issues and bugs during the testing phase.
Summary
So, now you know all about Microsoft Teams Direct Routing. You can set it up to utilize business phone numbers and avoid buying expensive calling plans from Microsoft.
Feel free to comment below if the article helped you or if you want to leave any suggestions.
Also, read to learnhow to fix the calling feature disabled on Skypeif you it for personal and business calls.
More about the topics:Microsoft 365,Microsoft Teams
Selma Citakovic
Content Editor
Selma is a tech fan and editor at Windows Report. She is also an experienced writer with a focus on cybersecurity, troubleshooting hardware and operating systems, gaming, and all things Windows.
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Selma Citakovic
Content Editor
Selma is a tech fan and editor at Windows Report. She is also an experienced writer with a focus on cybersecurity and all things Windows related.
