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Solutions · Teams Direct Routing

Bring your own carrier to Microsoft Teams.

Direct Routing is Teams' bring-your-own-carrier door, and SIPNEX is the carrier to bring: FCC-licensed SIP trunks feeding your certified SBC — owned, integrator-run, or hosted — with A-level STIR/SHAKEN on every outbound call and carrier rates instead of per-user calling plans.

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Where Direct Routing fits

Teams has four doors to the phone network.

Microsoft Calling Plans (Microsoft as your carrier), Operator Connect (a program-enrolled carrier, managed for you), Teams Phone Mobile (SIM-level convergence), and Direct Routing — the only one where any carrier qualifies. They can even be mixed within one tenant.

CAPABILITY DIRECT ROUTING CALLING PLANS / OPERATOR CONNECT
Carrier choice Any PSTN carrier Microsoft, or program-enrolled operators only
Per-minute economics Carrier rates you negotiate Per-user plans / operator bundles
Local survivability (SBA) Supported Not available
Analog devices & legacy PBX interop Via ATAs behind the SBC Not the designed path
Infrastructure Certified SBC (yours, integrator's, or DRaaS) None customer-managed
Attestation control Your carrier's — SIPNEX signs A-level Whatever the plan provides
The three pieces

What a Direct Routing deployment needs.

1. Teams Phone licensing. Each user needs Teams Phone — the Teams Phone Standard add-on on Business/E3-class plans, or included with Microsoft 365 E5. With Direct Routing, Microsoft requires no additional calling license; PSTN costs move to your carrier, which is the point.

2. A certified SBC. Microsoft certifies border controllers, not carriers — AudioCodes, Ribbon, Oracle, and Cisco CUBE anchor the certified list. Own one, let your integrator run one, or consume Direct-Routing-as-a-Service; Microsoft sanctions all three models.

3. Carrier trunks. The piece SIPNEX supplies: SIP trunks with unlimited concurrent channels, DIDs and toll-free from carrier inventory, number porting handled, and every outbound call signed at A-level under our own STIR/SHAKEN certificate — the bring-your-own-carrier model, applied to Teams.

Picking the carrier

How to choose a Direct Routing carrier or partner.

The SBC decides whether calls flow; the carrier decides what they cost and how they're trusted. Four questions sort any candidate: What are the per-minute rates at your actual volume — and are they published? Who signs your outbound calls, at what attestation level? How fast do numbers provision, and does porting run in parallel with your rollout? And when a call sounds wrong, can support read the SIP trace — or only open a ticket with someone who can? Direct Routing exists so those answers can come from a carrier you chose on merit rather than whichever operator a program enrolled.

Frequently asked

About Teams Direct Routing with SIPNEX.

What is Direct Routing in Microsoft Teams?
Direct Routing is Microsoft's bring-your-own-carrier option for Teams Phone: your PSTN calls flow through a Microsoft-certified Session Border Controller (SBC) connected to the SIP trunks of a carrier you choose. Microsoft provides the phone system; the SBC bridges it to your carrier; the carrier handles calls, numbers, and rates. It is the most flexible of Teams' PSTN options — and the only one where the carrier decision is fully yours.
Does my SIP carrier need to be certified by Microsoft?
No. Microsoft certifies the SBC — the hardware or software border controller — never the carrier. Microsoft's own documentation states Direct Routing works with 'any PSTN operator': any carrier's trunks connected to a certified SBC are supported. That is exactly why Direct Routing exists — so carrier choice stays open.
What do I need to run Direct Routing?
Three things: a Teams Phone license per user (Teams Phone Standard as an add-on, or included with Microsoft 365 E5), a Microsoft-certified SBC (AudioCodes, Ribbon, Oracle, and Cisco CUBE are common choices — owned by you, run by your integrator, or consumed as Direct-Routing-as-a-Service), and SIP trunks from the carrier of your choice. SIPNEX supplies that third piece: the trunks, the numbers, and the attestation.
Do I have to own an SBC?
No. Microsoft explicitly allows the certified SBC to be 'procured, installed, and managed by you, your integrator, or a Direct-Routing-as-a-Service (DRaaS) provider.' Many deployments consume a hosted SBC from an integrator and simply point carrier trunks at it — you get Direct Routing's carrier freedom without operating border infrastructure.
What's the difference between Direct Routing and Operator Connect?
Operator Connect is the managed version: a carrier enrolled in Microsoft's program runs everything and appears natively in your Teams admin center — simpler, but limited to enrolled operators. Direct Routing works with any carrier through an SBC and is the only option with local survivability (via a Survivable Branch Appliance) and analog-device integration. Our comparison guide covers the decision in depth.
Do we keep our phone numbers when moving to Teams Direct Routing?
Yes. Numbers port to the Direct Routing carrier through the standard LNP process while service continues, then appear in Teams once routing is configured. Moving from Calling Plans or another carrier to SIPNEX trunks is a porting event plus SBC configuration — not a number change.
Why does the carrier behind Teams matter?
Because Teams only handles the app layer — the carrier determines per-minute rates, concurrent capacity, number inventory, and how outbound calls are signed under STIR/SHAKEN. SIPNEX signs at A-level with its own certificate, which follows your calls into Teams. A Teams deployment inherits whatever trust and economics its trunk layer provides.

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Put a real carrier under your Teams tenant.

Tell us your seat count, your SBC situation — owned, integrator, or none yet — and your monthly minutes. You get trunk credentials and a porting plan within one business day.

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