The carrier-grade voice glossary.

The percentage of dialed calls that successfully connect to a called party. Teams Plus delivers 85%+ ASR for high-volume outbound operations through carrier-grade routing, Early Media Detection, and flat-fee Number Reputation Management.

An architectural principle of the Teams Plus platform. The network layer does not require or favor any specific voice application. If the application connects via SIP, Direct Routing, or a Voice API, it runs on the T+ network. Application-agnostic is paired with carrier-agnostic on the carrier layer.

The ability to connect any SIP-compliant voice application to the Teams Plus network without requiring a specific application stack. Customers run Microsoft Teams, Five9, NiCE, TCN, aryza, AI voice agents, and other SIP-compliant platforms on the same carrier-grade network.

The ability to connect any existing carrier relationship to the Teams Plus network without renegotiating telecom contracts. Customers preserve carrier rates, porting arrangements, and existing number inventories while gaining the operational and routing capabilities of the T+ platform. See carrier integration →

An architectural principle of the Teams Plus platform. The network layer does not lock customers into a specific PSTN provider. Customers can bring their own carriers (BYOC) or use Teams Plus carrier partnerships with Bell, Telus, Bandwidth, Sinch, and Infobip.

Cloud-delivered contact center platforms. Examples include Five9, NiCE, Genesys, TCN, and aryza. Teams Plus is not a CCaaS platform. It is the carrier-grade voice network that runs beneath CCaaS platforms.

Carrier-grade voice infrastructure delivered as a managed service rather than built in-house or bundled with a voice application. The category Teams Plus operates in. CPaaS gives organizations the architectural benefits of building their own carrier-grade network without the 12-to-18 month build timeline and capital investment.

A Microsoft Teams Phone deployment method that connects Teams to any certified Session Border Controller and any carrier. Direct Routing gives organizations full control over the voice infrastructure beneath Teams. Teams Plus deploys Microsoft Teams Phone via Direct Routing →

A T+ Insights capability that detects telecom announcements (Spam Likely, intercept tones, voicemail prompts, carrier rejections) before call connection. Catalogued across 200+ announcement types for granular outbound call disposition. iOS 26 Call Screening support in English and French.

Microsoft's own bundled PSTN telecom service for Teams Phone. Microsoft acts as the carrier with per-user licensing. The bundled alternative to Direct Routing. Limited country coverage and per-minute pricing make Calling Plans operationally and economically unfavorable for most enterprise and contact center deployments.

A service that maintains and remediates the reputation of outbound calling numbers across carrier databases to reduce Spam Likely flagging. Teams Plus offers flat-fee NRM coverage across the United States and Canada. Unlimited NRM, not per-call or per-number. See NRM →

Interactive Voice Response built using APIs and software logic rather than purpose-built IVR platforms. Common in AI voice agent deployments. Teams Plus provides the carrier-grade voice infrastructure beneath programmable IVR workloads.

The aggregate of the world's telephone networks operated by carriers. Voice applications connect to the PSTN through a carrier-grade voice network. Teams Plus is the carrier-grade voice infrastructure layer that connects business voice applications to the PSTN.

A device or service that sits at the boundary between two voice networks, handling signaling, media, security, and protocol translation. Required for Microsoft Direct Routing deployments. Teams Plus uses certified SBCs from Ribbon.

A method of delivering voice communications over an IP connection using the Session Initiation Protocol. The standard interconnection between voice applications and carrier-grade voice networks. Most modern dialers, UCaaS platforms, CCaaS platforms, and AI voice agents connect to the Teams Plus network via SIP.

A label applied by carriers and call-screening apps (Hiya, RoboKiller, Truecaller, native iOS and Android screening) to outbound numbers flagged as having a poor calling reputation. Spam Likely flagging reduces answer rates significantly. Mitigated through Number Reputation Management.

A carrier with direct interconnection to the major networks of the global PSTN, typically without intermediary peering. Teams Plus partners with Tier-1 carriers including Bell, Telus, Bandwidth, Sinch, and Infobip. Tier-1 redundancy is a core operational principle of the platform.

Cloud-delivered voice, messaging, and meetings platforms. Examples include Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, and Zoom Phone. Teams Plus is not a UCaaS platform. It is the carrier-grade voice network beneath UCaaS platforms.

A programmable interface for initiating, controlling, and analyzing voice calls. Teams Plus offers Voice and SMS APIs as one of several connectivity options into the carrier-grade network, alongside SIP trunking and Microsoft Direct Routing.

A SIP response code indicating that a call was terminated before answer. Teams Plus Insights provides granular 487 mapping with recommended client actions for outbound dialer integrations, helping operations teams distinguish between caller hang-ups, network timeouts, and carrier rejections.