Multiple Numbers Assigned to Users in Microsoft Teams
Multiple Numbers Assigned to Users in Microsoft Teams
We know right now this isn’t possible for Microsoft Teams. Although, it’s a valid use case for customers. Sometimes users will need to have multiple numbers assigned to them for a few different reasons such as:
- Users moving internally in the business between countries
- Collapsing multiple PBX’s into one
- Taking on another user’s number when they leave
- Sites located close to the border of a country that serves both
The last one being one a customer came to me with recently.
The Problem⌗
This customer had site that was on the border of the United States of America and Mexico. They would be assigned both a Mexican DID and US DID, and they would give those numbers out accordingly.
However, what the customer found was, over time their users would only give out the US DID but a number of their customers had the Mexican DID and would ring into that so they couldn’t drop those numbers for fear of losing business.
The Solution⌗
For this I had a couple of ideas:
Using the Unassigned Number routing rules ❌ - Wouldn’t satisfy the requirement of not missing calls from the customers that already have the Mexican DID, calls would be pushed towards an Auto Attendant or custom announcement. More information here.
Forwarding over PSTN ❌ - Similar issue to the above, and with the forward there would be an additional charge on inbound calls to these numbers as they forward over the PSTN.
Private Line ✔ - Assigning each of the Mexican DID’s to the users as private line they will be able to receive any calls directly to them if existing customers use those numbers while not giving their users the ability to use this number outbound anymore and keeping them to use the US DID they have assigned. As well, on the toast notification inbound for private line calls users can easily that this was a call intended for their private line so they can choose to give their US DID out to this customer. As well, an alternative ring tone will play.
Configuring Private Line right now is only done via PowerShell, users can only be assigned one private line only, and you cannot mix and match PSTN services. For example: if your Primary number is Operator Connect, your private number will have to be Operator Connect as well.
See the PowerShell below:
Set-CsPhoneNumberAssignment -Identity [email protected] -PhoneNumber +123 44444444 -PhoneNumberType OperatorConnect -AssignmentCategory Private
If you’d like to check what private number is assigned to a user you can use the following PowerShell and look for the “Assignment Category” to be Private.
Get-CsPhoneNumberAssignment -AssignedPstnTargetId [email protected]
I love finding new ways to use the features Microsoft Teams Phone has to help out my customers! If you have any stories to tell or suggestions please comment below!