Configure call routing for Direct Routing

This article describes how to configure call routing for Direct Routing. This is step 3 of the following steps for configuring Direct Routing:

• Step 1. Connect the SBC with Teams Phone and validate the connection
• Step 2. Enable users for Direct Routing, voice, and voicemail
• Step 3. Configure call routing (This article)
• Step 4. Translate numbers to an alternate format

For information on all the steps required for setting up Direct Routing, see Configure Direct Routing.

Call routing overview

Teams Phone has a routing mechanism that allows a call to be sent to a specific Session Border Controller (SBC) based on:

• The called number pattern
• The called number pattern plus the specific user who makes the call

SBCs can be designated as active and backup. When the SBC that is configured as active is not available for a specific call route, then the call will be routed to a backup SBC.

Call routing is made up of the following elements:

• Call routing policy – Also called a voice routing policy. A container for PSTN usages, which can be assigned to a user or to multiple users.

• PSTN usages – A container for voice routes and PSTN usages, which can be shared in different voice routing policies.

• Voice routes – A number pattern and set of online PSTN gateways to use for calls where the calling number matches the pattern.

• Online PSTN gateway - A pointer to an SBC that also stores the configuration that is applied when a call is placed through the SBC, such as forward P-Asserted-Identity (PAI) or Preferred Codecs; can be added to voice routes.

Voice routing policy considerations

If a user has a Calling Plan license, that user’s outgoing calls are automatically routed through the Microsoft Calling Plan PSTN infrastructure. If you configure and assign an online voice routing policy to a Calling Plan user, that user’s outgoing calls are checked to determine whether the dialed number matches a number pattern defined in the online voice routing policy. If there’s a match, the call is routed through the Direct Routing trunk. If there’s no match, the call is routed through the Calling Plan PSTN infrastructure.

Example 1: Voice routing with one PSTN usage

The following diagram shows two examples of voice routing policies in a call flow.

Call Flow 1 (on the left): If a user makes a call to +1 425 XXX XX XX or +1 206 XXX XX XX, the call is routed to SBC sbc1.contoso.com or sbc2.contoso.com. If neither sbc1.contoso.com nor sbc2.contoso.com are available, the call is dropped.

Call Flow 2 (on the right): If a user makes a call to +1 425 XXX XX XX or +1 206 XXX XX XX, the call is first routed to SBC sbc1.contoso.com or sbc2.contoso.com. If neither SBC is available, the route with lower priority will be tried (sbc3.contoso.com and sbc4.contoso.com). If none of the SBCs are available, the call is dropped.

In both examples, while the voice route is assigned priorities, the SBCs in the routes are tried in random order.

In the example shown in the following diagram, a voice route is added to send calls to all other US and Canadian numbers (calls that go to called number pattern +1 XXX XXX XX XX).

For all other calls, if a user has both licenses (Teams Phone and Microsoft Calling Plan), the automatic route is used. If nothing matches the number patterns in the administrator-created online voice routes, then the call is routed through Microsoft Calling Plan. If the user only has Teams Phone, the call is dropped because no matching rules are available.

The following table summarizes the configuration using three voice routes. In this example, all three routes are part of the same PSTN usage, "US and Canada". All routes are associated with the "US and Canada" PSTN usage, and the PSTN usage is associated with the "US Only" voice routing policy.

Example 1: Configuration steps

The following example shows how to:

1. Create a single PSTN usage.
2. Configure three voice routes.
3. Create a voice routing policy.
4. Assign the policy to [email protected].

You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center or PowerShell to perform these steps.

Using the Microsoft Teams admin center

Step 1: Create the "US and Canada" PSTN usage

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Voice > Direct Routing, and then in the upper-right corner, select Manage PSTN usage records.
2. Select Add, type US and Canada, and then select Apply.

Step 2: Create three voice routes (Redmond 1, Redmond 2, and Other +1)

The following steps describe how to create a voice route. Use these steps to create the three voice routes named Redmond 1, Redmond 2, and Other +1 for this example by using the settings outlined in the earlier table.

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Voice > Direct Routing, and then select the Voice routes tab.
2. Select Add, and then enter a name and description for the voice route.
3. Set the priority and specify the dialed number pattern.
4. To enroll an SBC with the voice route, under SBCs enrolled (optional), select Add SBCs, select the SBCs you want to enroll, and then select Apply.
5. To add PSTN usage records, under PSTN usage records (optional), select Add PSTN usage, select the PSTN records you want to add, and then select Apply.
6. Select Save.

Step 3: Create a voice routing policy named "US Only" and add the "US and Canada" PSTN usage to the policy

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Voice > Voice routing policies, and then select Add.
2. Type US Only as the name and add a description.
3. Under PSTN usage records, select Add PSTN usage, select the "US and Canada" PSTN usage record, and then select Apply.
4. Select Save.

To learn more, see Manage voice routing policies.

Step 4: Assign the voice routing policy to [email protected]

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users, and then select the user.
2. Select Policies, and then next to Assigned policies, select Edit.
3. Under Voice routing policy, select the "US Only" policy, and then select Save.

To learn more, see Manage voice routing policies.

Using PowerShell

Step 1: Create the "US and Canada" PSTN usage

In a remote PowerShell session in Teams, type:

Set-CsOnlinePstnUsage -Identity Global -Usage @{Add="US and Canada"}

Verify that the usage was created by entering:

Get-CSOnlinePSTNUsage

Which returns a list of names that may be truncated:

Identity    : Global
Usage        : {testusage, US and Canada, International, karlUsage. . .}

The following example shows the result of running the (Get-CSOnlinePSTNUsage).usage PowerShell command to display full names (not truncated):

 testusage
 US and Canada
 International
 karlUsage
 New test env
 Tallinn Lab Sonus
 karlUsage2
 Unrestricted
 Two trunks

Step 2: Create three voice routes (Redmond 1, Redmond 2, and Other +1)

To create the "Redmond 1" route, in a PowerShell session in Teams, enter:

New-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -Identity "Redmond 1" -NumberPattern "^\+1(425|206)
(\d{7})$" -OnlinePstnGatewayList sbc1.contoso.com, sbc2.contoso.com -Priority 1 -OnlinePstnUsages "US and Canada"

Which returns:

Identity                : Redmond 1
Priority                : 1
Description             :
NumberPattern           : ^\+1(425|206) (\d{7})$
OnlinePstnUsages        : {US and Canada}
OnlinePstnGatewayList   : {sbc1.contoso.com, sbc2.contoso.com}
Name                    : Redmond 1

To create the Redmond 2 route, enter:

New-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -Identity "Redmond 2" -NumberPattern "^\+1(425|206)
(\d{7})$" -OnlinePstnGatewayList sbc3.contoso.com, sbc4.contoso.com -Priority 2 -OnlinePstnUsages "US and Canada"

To create the Other +1 route, enter:

New-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -Identity "Other +1" -NumberPattern "^\+1(\d{10})$"
-OnlinePstnGatewayList sbc5.contoso.com, sbc6.contoso.com -OnlinePstnUsages "US and Canada"

In some cases, there is a need to route all calls to the same SBC; use -NumberPattern ".*"

Route all calls to the same SBC.

Set-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -id "Redmond 1" -NumberPattern ".*" -OnlinePstnGatewayList sbc1.contoso.com

Verify that you've correctly configured the route by running the Get-CSOnlineVoiceRoute PowerShell command using options as shown:

Get-CsOnlineVoiceRoute | Where-Object {($_.priority -eq 1) -or ($_.priority -eq 2) or ($_.priority -eq 4) -Identity "Redmond 1" -NumberPattern "^\+1(425|206) (\d{7})$" -OnlinePstnGatewayList sbc1.contoso.com, sbc2.contoso.com -Priority 1 -OnlinePstnUsages "US and Canada"

Which should return:

Identity            : Redmond 1 
Priority               : 1
Description         : 
NumberPattern         : ^\+1(425|206) (\d{7})$
OnlinePstnUsages     : {US and Canada}     
OnlinePstnGatewayList    : {sbc1.contoso.com, sbc2.contoso.com}
Name             : Redmond 1
Identity        : Redmond 2 
Priority               : 2
Description         : 
NumberPattern         : ^\+1(425|206) (\d{7})$
OnlinePstnUsages     : {US and Canada}     
OnlinePstnGatewayList    : {sbc3.contoso.com, sbc4.contoso.com}
Name             : Redmond 2
    
Identity        : Other +1 
Priority               : 4
Description         : 
NumberPattern         : ^\+1(\d{10})$
OnlinePstnUsages     : {US and Canada}     
OnlinePstnGatewayList    : {sbc5.contoso.com, sbc6.contoso.com}
Name             : Other +1

In the example, the route "Other +1" was automatically assigned priority 4.

Step 3: Create a voice routing policy named "US Only" and add the "US and Canada" PSTN usage to the policy

In a PowerShell session in Teams, type:

New-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy "US Only" -OnlinePstnUsages "US and Canada"

The result is shown in this example:

Identity            : Tag:US only
OnlinePstnUsages    : {US and Canada}
Description         :
RouteType           : BYOT

Step 4: Assign the voice routing policy to [email protected]

In a PowerShell session in Teams, type:

Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "[email protected]" -PolicyName "US Only"

Validate the policy assignment by entering this command:

Get-CsOnlineUser "[email protected]" | select OnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy

The command returns the following:

OnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy
---------------------
US Only

Example 2: Voice routing with multiple PSTN usages

The voice routing policy created in Example 1 only allows calls to phone numbers in the United States and Canada--unless the Microsoft Calling Plan license is also assigned to the user.

In the example that follows, you can create the "No Restrictions" voice routing policy. The policy reuses the "US and Canada" PSTN usage created in Example 1, as well as the new "International" PSTN usage. This policy routes all other calls to the SBCs sbc2.contoso.com and sbc5.contoso.com.

The examples that are shown assign the US Only policy to user [email protected], and the No Restrictions policy to [email protected] so that routing occurs as follows:

• [email protected] – US Only policy. Calls are allowed only to United States and Canadian numbers. When calling to the Redmond number range, the specific set of SBCs must be used. Non-United States numbers will not be routed unless the Calling Plan license is assigned to the user.

• [email protected] – International policy. Calls are allowed to any number. When calling to the Redmond number range, the specific set of SBCs must be used. Non-United States numbers will be routed using sbc2.contoso.com and sbc5.contoso.com.

For all other calls, if a user has both licenses (Teams Phone and Microsoft Calling Plan), automatic route is used. If nothing matches the number patterns in the administrator-created online voice routes, then the call is routed using Microsoft Calling Plan. If the user has only Teams Phone, the call is dropped because no matching rules are available.

The following table summarizes routing policy "No Restrictions" usage designations and voice routes.

Example 2: Configuration steps

The following example shows how to:

1. Create a new PSTN usage called International.
2. Create a new voice route called International.
3. Create a voice routing policy called No Restrictions.
4. Assign the policy to [email protected].

You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center or PowerShell to perform these steps.

Using the Microsoft Teams admin center

Step 1: Create the "International" PSTN usage

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Voice > Direct Routing, and then in the upper-right corner, select Manage PSTN usage records.
2. Click Add, type International, and then click Apply.

Step 2: Create the "International" voice route

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Voice > Direct Routing, and then select the Voice routes tab.
2. Click Add, enter "International" as the name, and then add the description.
3. Set the priority to 4, and then set the dialed number pattern to \d+.
4. Under SBCs enrolled (optional), click Add SBCs, select sbc2.contoso.com and sbc5.contoso.com, and then click Apply.
5. Under PSTN usage records (optional), click Add PSTN usage, select the "International" PSTN usage record, and then click Apply.
6. Click Save.

Step 3: Create a voice routing policy named "No Restrictions" and add the "US and Canada" and "International" PSTN usages to the policy

The PSTN usage "US and Canada" is reused in this voice routing policy to preserve special handling for calls to number "+1 425 XXX XX XX" and "+1 206 XXX XX XX" as local or on-premises calls.

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Voice > Voice routing policies, and then click Add.

2. Type No Restrictions as the name and add a description.

3. Under PSTN usage records, click Add PSTN usage, select the "US and Canada" PSTN usage record, and then select the "International" PSTN usage record. Click Apply.

   Take note of the order of PSTN usages:

   • If a call made to number "+1 425 XXX XX XX" with the usages configured as in this example, the call follows the route set in "US and Canada" usage and the special routing logic is applied. That is, the call is routed using sbc1.contoso.com and sbc2.contoso.com first, and then sbc3.contoso.com and sbc4.contoso.com as the backup routes.

   • If "International" PSTN usage is before "US and Canada," calls to +1 425 XXX XX XX are routed to sbc2.contoso.com and sbc5.contoso.com as part of the routing logic.

4. Click Save.

To learn more, see Manage voice routing policies.

Step 4: Assign the voice routing policy to [email protected]

1. In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users, and then select the user.
2. Select Policies, and then next to Assigned policies, select Edit.
3. Under Voice routing policy, select the "No Restrictions" policy, and then select Save.

The result is that the voice policy applied to the calls for [email protected] is unrestricted and will follow the logic of call routing available for United States, Canada, and International calling.

Using PowerShell

Step 1: Create the "International" PSTN usage

In a remote PowerShell session in Teams, enter:

Set-CsOnlinePstnUsage -Identity Global -Usage @{Add="International"}

Step 2: Create a new voice route named "International"

New-CsOnlineVoiceRoute -Identity "International" -NumberPattern ".*" -OnlinePstnGatewayList sbc2.contoso.com, sbc5.contoso.com -OnlinePstnUsages "International"

Which returns:

Identity                  : International
Priority                  : 5
Description               :
NumberPattern             : .*
OnlinePstnUsages          : {International}
OnlinePstnGatewayList     : {sbc2.contoso.com, sbc5.contoso.com}
Name                      : International

Step 3: Create a voice routing policy named "No Restrictions"

The PSTN usage "Redmond 1" and "Redmond" are reused in this voice routing policy to preserve special handling for calls to number "+1 425 XXX XX XX" and "+1 206 XXX XX XX" as local or on-premises calls.

New-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy "No Restrictions" -OnlinePstnUsages "US and Canada", "International"

Note the order of PSTN usages:

• If a call is made to number "+1 425 XXX XX XX" with the usages configured as in the following example, the call follows the route set in "US and Canada" usage and the special routing logic is applied. That is, the call is routed using sbc1.contoso.com and sbc2.contoso.com first, and then sbc3.contoso.com and sbc4.contoso.com as the backup routes.

• If "International" PSTN usage is before "US and Canada," calls to +1 425 XXX XX XX are routed to sbc2.contoso.com and sbc5.contoso.com as part of the routing logic. Enter the command:

New-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy "No Restrictions" -OnlinePstnUsages "US and Canada", "International"

Which returns:

    Identity              : International 
    OnlinePstnUsages : {US and Canada, International}     
    Description         :  
    RouteType               : BYOT

Step 4: Assign the voice routing policy to [email protected]

Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity "[email protected]" -PolicyName "No Restrictions"

Then verify the assignment using the command:

Get-CsOnlineUser "[email protected]" | Select OnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy

Which returns:

OnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy
------------------------
No Restrictions

The result is that the voice policy applied to the calls for [email protected] is unrestricted, and will follow the logic of call routing available for United States, Canada, and International calling.

Run a Self-diagnostics tool

Microsoft 365 admin users have access to diagnostics that can be run within the tenant to verify a user is correctly configured for Direct Routing.

Select Run Tests, as follows. This will populate the diagnostic in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Run Tests: Teams Direct Routing

The diagnostic performs a large range of verifications.

See also

Plan Direct Routing

Configure Direct Routing