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Overview/Introduction
Teams phone is an additional addon to the standard Teams video call client that allows users of the Teams app to make and receive ten-digit telephone calls while on their computer, mobile device, or Teams-integrated physical phone. Most of the functions you are used to in Teams are handled much the same way as before, along with the added benefit of making telephone calls.
Article Index
How do I know what my full ten digit telephone number is? If you go into the calls tab on the Teams client, under the dial pad on the left hand side of the screen will be your full ten digit telephone number.
NOTE: If you do not see the dial pad in the Teams app, it could mean you don't have an external number assigned to your account. Please click on the Request Service button on the right hand side of this article for help from the Ursinus IT team with this issue.
Before you start making calls, watch the following video to check out a few device settings to make sure everything is working how you want it to:
***You do not need to dial 9 to call an outside line.***
With the Teams phone addon you make and receive telephone calls the same way you would in a normal Teams call with the added ability to make and receive external ten digit telephone calls. You can do so from the Teams app on your laptop by going to the calls section and entering the ten digit number in the dial pad on the left hand side of the screen (You do not need to dial 9 to call an outside line). Or if you want to make a telephone call from the Teams app on mobile, hit the round phone icon at the bottom of the screen in the Calls section of the app.
NOTE: If you do not see the dial pad in the Teams app it could mean you don't have an external number assigned to your account. Please click on the Request Service button on the right hand side of this article for help with this issue.
The following video will walk you through how to make and receive Teams Phone telephone calls:
This video will walk you through some of the controls you will see during a call:
When you're in an active call, you can select the hold button to place the caller on, or take them off of, hold. You can also transfer a call to someone else in a couple of ways.
One way is to transfer the call normally by hitting the transfer button; there is also a 'ring back' option which means if the person the call has been transferred to doesn't pick up, it will redirect back to the user who originally transferred the call.
The following video will show you how to transfer a call with ring back:
Another way is to consult with the person receiving the call before initiating the transfer, either by sending them a Teams chat or calling them.
The following video will show you how to consult, then transfer:
Teams phone also has voicemail. To adjust these settings, go the the Calls section in the Teams settings menu. There you can setup your greeting with the option to record a custom message yourself or set up one with the text to speech option.
There are plenty of options to see your voicemails too. From the calls tab in Teams, you can select the voicemail tab to see all voicemails currently in your inbox.
In addition, a copy of the voicemail will be sent to your email inbox as a .wav file. NOTE: If you delete the voicemail from your Outlook email it will delete it from your Teams app too. So be careful. If you accidentally delete a voicemail email, you can retrieve the voicemail message from the trash bin in Outlook.
This video will show you how to setup your voicemail:
To avoid interruptions while in a meeting or class, make sure to manually set your status to Do Not Disturb.
This video will show you how to do so:
Another way is to manually set incoming calls to forward straight to voicemail, but don't forget to change it back. To do this, reference the Manage Voicemail section above.
Or, if you want to avoid Teams entirely, you can quit the program on your laptop and open it again later.
There is a settings menu for the call forwarding feature in the calls page in Teams on the left hand side under the dial pad. If you will be out of office for an extended period of time you can select the option to have all calls go straight to voicemail, or forward them to another user at the college.
If you are on campus and don't want your calls to go straight to voicemail while in a meeting, you can also send them to someone else to answer for you until you get out of the meeting.
This video will show you how to set up call forwarding:
With Teams phone, as in traditional Teams video calls, you can manage attendees on a call by clicking on the People option at the top of the call window. This allows you to manage the list and do things such as mute or invite/add additional participants to the call. What makes it special is now you can add external ten digit phone numbers to your call along with normal Teams video calls. However, the external callers won't be able to display video.
To mute or unmute your mic during a call, click the Mic button or use the Windows keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + M.
While in a call select the more button (...) to select from a additional options such as being able to transcribe the telephone call or Teams video call, turn on live captions, or adjust speaker and microphone settings.
This video will show you how to transcribe a telephone call:
While in a call you can merge the current call with an incoming one. Whether that be a normal Teams video call or a ten digit phone number, all can be merged into one group call.
This video will show you how to merge calls:
Warning: If Ursinus IT has already set your department up with a call queue, this portion of the article won't apply and could cause issues. It is best to consult Ursinus IT before trying to implement group pickup.
If an important call comes in and you are unavailable to pick it up, you can create call groups with other team members in your department so someone is always potentially available to pickup incoming calls.
The following video will show you how to setup group pickup:
Teams is a robust application that allows you to move calls between devices even while in the middle of a call. If you happen to start a call, either telephone or video, from the Teams app on your mobile device and want to switch it to your computer, or vice versa, you can.
The following video will show you how:
If you are getting spam calls it is very easy to block that number.
- In the calls section of the Teams app, select the number you wish to block.
- Click on the three dots (...) for a drop down menu.
- Select Block.
- To reverse the process, repeat the same steps and select Unblock instead.
If you need to make an outbound call to a number that uses an automated call handling system and you need to use a dial pad to select options to progress, you can do so while in the call window. At the top of the screen next to the hold button is the Dial pad option that you can use to make your choices.
Many users may not wish to use the integrated mic on their laptop when making Teams telephone or video calls. Any previous headsets you have used with Microsoft Teams (bluetooth or wired) will work the same way with the new integrated Teams Phone addon.
With Teams phone you can also make and receive ten digit telephone calls from your mobile device much the same way you would with the Teams app on your computer.
This video will give you an overview of using Teams phone on your mobile device:
This video will show you how to transfer calls from the Teams mobile app on your phone:
This video will show you how to move a call started on your mobile device to another device such as your laptop:
For those employees who are in an administrative position or who otherwise make extensive use of telephone calls while on campus, there is the option for a physical phone at your desk. Please follow this LINK to an article that will go over everything about Teams-integrated physical telephones.
FAQs
A user can only make and receive ten digit phone calls if they have a phone number assigned to their account. If you are having trouble doing so please submit a ticket to Tech Support by clicking on the Request Service button to the right of this article.