Call quality is make-or-break for Teams Phone adoption. If users experience lag, dropped audio, or echo, they won’t blame the network, they’ll blame the system.
And when IT gets flooded with tickets or complaints, it’s often for issues that could’ve been prevented with the right setup from the start.
Microsoft Teams Phone brings enterprise-grade calling to the same platform users rely on for meetings and messaging.
But voice traffic is sensitive. Delivering consistently high-quality calls takes more than enabling dial tone. It often requires network configuration, hardware standards, proactive monitoring, and user education.
Whether you’ve already rolled out Teams Phone with Operator Connect or are planning your deployment, here are the steps IT teams should take to ensure great call experiences across the business.
Optimize your network for voice traffic
Even with a fast internet connection, voice quality can suffer if your network isn’t tuned for real-time traffic.
Unlike email or file sharing, voice packets are sensitive to jitter, latency, and packet loss, and when Teams Phone call quality dips, your users will notice it immediately.
That’s why optimizing your network is the first step toward consistent performance. Microsoft provides detailed configuration guidance for Teams environments, but it starts with these fundamentals:
- Prioritize Teams traffic using Quality of Service (QoS) settings across routers and switches
- Enable DSCP tagging to properly classify audio, video, and screen sharing packets
- Segment voice from guest or public traffic, especially on Wi-Fi, to reduce competition and interference
These changes help ensure Teams Phone traffic moves through your environment with the speed and reliability it needs.
These changes help ensure Teams Phone traffic moves through your environment with the speed and reliability it needs.
If you support remote users, consider split tunneling on VPNs to avoid routing calls through congested corporate gateways. Even basic missteps, like unmanaged consumer-grade routers or inconsistent VLAN policies, can quietly erode call quality until it becomes a support headache.
A properly configured network prevents problems by building the foundation to ensure every call goes right.
Related Content: The complete guide to connecting Microsoft Teams with a voice solution
Use certified devices and headsets
Your network might be perfectly configured, but if someone’s using a tinny laptop mic or Bluetooth earbuds with questionable connectivity, the call is still going to sound bad.
Device quality plays a huge role in perceived call performance, and it’s often the weakest link in the chain.
That’s why Microsoft certifies specific devices for Teams Phone. These headsets, speakerphones, and desk phones are tested for compatibility, audio clarity, and reliability under real-world conditions.
Choosing certified gear helps eliminate echo, background noise, and connection dropouts that frustrate users and reflect poorly on IT. Best practices include:
- Standardize on Teams-certified headsets for consistent performance across users and environments
- Avoid laptop mics and built-in speakers for external-facing or mission-critical calls
- Keep device firmware updated to ensure compatibility and call stability
A small investment in hardware can result in a major improvement in call quality, reducing the number of “bad call” tickets IT has to chase down later. If your users are hybrid or fully remote, controlling what’s on the other end of the line is even more important.
Related Content: The ultimate guide to Microsoft Teams Phone certified devices.
Monitor performance with built-in analytics
Once Teams Phone is live, visibility becomes the difference between reactive support and proactive management.
Call issues don’t always show up in help desk tickets. Sometimes they show up as dropped opportunities, frustrated employees, or gradual user abandonment.
Microsoft includes powerful analytics tools to help IT stay ahead of these issues. The Call Quality Dashboard (CQD) and real-time call analytics in the Teams admin center let you dig into performance at both the macro and individual levels.
You can use them to:
- Spot trends in jitter, packet loss, or poor call quality across users, departments, or locations
- Drill into individual call sessions to identify root causes like bad Wi-Fi or underperforming devices
- Flag environment-specific issues, like a certain office with weak connectivity or common headset problems
These tools help fix what’s broken while guiding network upgrades, justifying hardware investments, and identifying training needs before they affect end users.
With analytics baked into the platform, IT can lead the conversation around voice, not just react to complaints and support tickets.
Educate users on best practices
Even the best-configured environment can’t prevent user-side issues.
We’ve all experienced this: someone joins a call on hotel Wi-Fi using a laptop mic with a ceiling fan humming in the background and the call quality suffers.
But the problem isn’t the system. It’s how it’s being used.
That’s why user education matters. Teams Phone introduces new tools, new workflows, and new expectations. Helping users understand how to get the best results prevents frustration and reduces false positives in your support queue.
Consider creating a short best practices guide or onboarding session that covers:
- Testing audio settings before joining important calls
- Choosing a certified headset over speakerphone, especially in shared or noisy spaces
- How to escalate persistent call issues (and what information to include in the ticket)
Most users want to do the right thing. Giving them the tools and knowledge to use Teams Phone correctly turns them into allies, not IT problems.
Work with a provider who actually supports your Teams environment
You can optimize your network, deploy certified devices, and educate users, but if your voice traffic is still running through a patchwork Direct Routing setup or a subpar telco partner, it’s all for nothing.
Too often, we see Teams Phone deployments fall apart at the last mile: poor number porting support, unreliable SBCs, no SLAs, or limited expertise in Microsoft environments. That’s where the difference between “Operator Connect” on paper and Operator Connect done right becomes obvious.
Momentum isn’t just another voice carrier. We’re a certified Operator Connect provider built specifically to support Teams-first organizations. Here’s how we help:
- We eliminate the need to manage or troubleshoot your own SBC infrastructure
- We offer direct, carrier-grade integration with Microsoft’s cloud — no middlemen, no workarounds
- We deliver 24/7 voice monitoring, faster provisioning, and white-glove porting support
- We help enterprises replace Direct Routing setups that were duct-taped together and never truly scalable
- We understand Microsoft’s platform inside and out, and we align with it at every level
If you’ve done everything else right, don’t let a legacy telco undo it at the voice layer. Momentum gives you an Operator Connect experience that actually delivers on the promise: secure, reliable, enterprise-grade voice without the headache.
A better calling experience starts with preparation
High-quality Teams calls aren’t just about turning on a feature. They’re the result of intentional setup, the right hardware, good user habits, and smart monitoring.
Skip those steps, and IT ends up chasing complaints. Get them right, and voice becomes just another thing that works.
From QoS to call analytics, and certified devices to trusted providers, you have the tools to make Teams Phone feel seamless for everyone.
Momentum helps make that happen. As a certified Operator Connect partner, we handle the telecom complexity so you can focus on performance, user satisfaction, and continuous improvement.
Learn how to deliver a better calling experience with Momentum
