Overview

This article covers the process to configure convert a Teams enabled phone into a Common Area Phone (CAP) Microsoft Teams Shared Device.  A Teams enabled common area shared phone is typically placed in an area like a lobby, kitchen, break room, or conference room.  Common area , and can also be used for hoteling (hot desking). 

Teams enabled shared phones are associated with a user account that's assigned a Microsoft Common Area Phone Teams Shared Devices subscription license.  The Common Area Phone (CAP) The Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license includes a license for Microsoft Teams and an M365 Phone System a Teams Phone Standard add-on license.  The CAP By itself, the license does not include the ability to dial out to the PSTN.  For that you need a direct routing provider like Evolve IP, or you need to purchase a Microsoft Calling Plan to use Microsoft's gateway to the PSTN.

Planning for Common Area Phones

Some important things to know and understand when deploying common area phones. 

User Accounts & Licensing

• The Common Area Phone license can be purchased directly from Microsoft in the M365 Admin Center, from a Microsoft volume license reseller, or from a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner.
• The Common Area Phone license includes a license for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Phone System, and if needed Skype for Business Online (Plan 2).
• Common area phones are associated with a user account, which is licensed with the Common Area Phone license.  It is not a device license.
  • The user account should not be disabled or blocked from signing in.
  • The user account should have a complex password, and should not be assigned any admin roles.

Image Removed

Common Area Phone Limitations

• Common area phones do not support voicemail.
• Common area phones cannot be used as a dial in bridge.  When you use a common area phone in a conference room, the phone is used to dial into the meeting organizer's dial in bridge.
• If you do not configure the user account with Teams direct routing or assign the user account a Microsoft Calling Plan, you cannot dial out to the PSTN, which means it cannot be used to dial emergency services (911, 999, 112, etc.).
• To properly configure a common area phone, you need to use PowerShell.  However, you can set up a common area phone in the Teams admin Center, but that doesn't allow you to configure some important settings, and you won't be able to configure a common area phone for direct routing.

Common Area Phone User Experience

Some notes about the end-user experience with common area phones:

• If the phone's home screen is disabled, which is recommended, the main screen of the phone only displays the dial pad.
• There are no other options such as calendar, call history, or voicemail.
• If your configuration allows it, a user can use the phone to search the directory for other Teams users.
• After signing into the phone it will stay signed in even after a reboot or power cycle.  The user account associated with the phone should not be blocked from signing in.
• To sign the phone out you will need the phone's admin password, which is entered in the Admin Only menu.  The admin password can be set using a configuration policy in the Teams admin center.

Configuring Common Area Phones

Before configuring a CAP, create a user account for it, assign the Common Area Phone license to the user account, and sign into the phone with the user account's sign in credentials.

Teams IP Phone Policy

Teams IP Phone policies manage features related to Teams phone experiences.  Teams phone policies determine the features that are available to users. 

There is a global Teams IP Phone Policy, which applies to all Teams enabled phones including end-user phones.  Therefore, instead of changing the global policy to configure your CAP, you should create a new policy and assign it to the CAP's user account.  None of this can be done in the Teams admin center – it has to be done using PowerShell.

Teams IP Phone Policy settings include the following:

• Enabled
• Disabled (Recommended)

• Enabled
• Enable User Override
• Disabled (Recommended)

• True
• False (Recommended)

• Text

• Number

• Enabled (Recommended)
• Disabled

• User Sign In
• Common Are Phone Sign In (Recommended)
• Meeting Sign In

Determines the sign in mode for the device when signing in to Teams. Possible Values:

• User Sign In - Enables the individual user's Teams experience on the phone.
• Common Area Phone Sign In - Enables a Common Area Phone experience on the phone (recommended).
• Meeting Sign In - Enables the meeting/conference room experience on the phone.

New Features for Teams Shared Devices

As of July 2022, Microsoft has enhanced the Microsoft Teams Shared Devices offering to serve a wider variety of scenarios for customers without increasing the price.  These enhancements apply to all customers with Microsoft Teams Shared Devices subscription licenses, and includes security, endpoint management, and cloud-based voicemail features made available via the following service plans added to the Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license:

• Microsoft Entra ID P1
• Microsoft Intune
• Exchange Online Plan 2

In addition, the following calling features are available for Teams Phone devices enabled with a Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license and the latest Teams app update (minimum version - 1449/1.0.94.2022061702):

• Call park and retrieve
• Cloud-based voicemail through Exchange Online Plan 2
• Call queues
• Auto attendants
• Group call pick-up
• Forwarding rules

To use the calling features on the supported Teams Phone models you need to enable the Advanced Calling settings (see below screenshot) in Teams admin center or on the Teams Phone device, and sign-in through the Microsoft Teams Shared Devices user account.

Image Added

To enroll Teams phone Android-based devices into the Intune service, check the requirements at Configure Intune to enroll Teams Android-based devices.

If you have auto-enrollment set up in the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center, and you do not want to auto-enroll your Teams device, you need to unassign the Intune license when this change rolls out or set-up a grouping structure that omits these devices from auto-enrollment.

Planning for Teams Shared Devices

Some important things to know and understand when deploying Teams enabled shared devices. 

User Accounts & Licensing

• The Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license can be purchased directly from Microsoft in the M365 Admin Center, from a Microsoft volume license reseller, or from a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner like Evolve IP.
• The Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license includes:
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Microsoft 365 Phone System
  • Microsoft Intune
  • Microsoft Entra ID P1
  • Exchange Online (Plan 2)
• Teams enabled shared devices are associated with a user account, which is assigned the Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license.  It is not a device license.
  • The user account should not be disabled or blocked from signing in.
  • The user account should have a complex password, and should not be assigned any admin roles.
  • With the included Microsoft Entra ID P1 license you can apply conditional access policies to restrict the phone's sign in conditions.

Set-CsOnlineVoicemailUserSettings -Identity user1@contoso.com -VoicemailEnabled $false

Image Added

Teams Shared Devices Limitations

• Teams enabled shared devices cannot be used as a dial in bridge.  When you use a Teams enabled shared device in a conference room, the phone is used to dial into the meeting organizer's dial in bridge.
• If you do not configure the user account with Teams direct routing or assign the user account a Microsoft Calling Plan, you cannot dial out to the PSTN, which means it cannot be used to dial emergency services (911, 999, 112, etc.).
• To properly configure a Teams enabled shared device, you need to use PowerShell.  You can set up a shared device in the Teams admin Center (TAC), but the TAC doesn't allow you to configure some important settings.

Teams Shared Devices User Experience

Some notes about the end-user experience with Teams enabled shared devices:

• If the phone's home screen is disabled, which is recommended, the main screen of the phone only displays the dial pad.
• Except for voicemail (when enabled), there are no other options such as calendar or call history.
• If your configuration allows it, a user can use the phone to search the directory for other Teams users.
• After signing into the phone it will stay signed in even after a reboot or power cycle.  The user account associated with the phone should not be blocked from signing in.
• To sign the phone out you will need the phone's admin password, which is entered in the Admin Only menu of the phone.  Depending on the OS of the phone, the admin password can be set using a configuration policy in the Teams admin center.

Teams IP Phone Policy

Teams IP Phone policies manage features related to Teams enabled phones including Teams enabled shared devices. 

There is a Global Teams IP Phone Policy, which applies to all Teams enabled phones including regular end-user Teams phones.  Therefore, instead of changing the global policy to configure a shared phone, you should create a new policy and assign it to the phone's user account.  Unfortunately, none of this can be done in the Teams admin center – it has to be done using PowerShell.

Teams IP Phone Policy Settings

Below are the Teams IP Phone Policy settings, and here are the PowerShell commands used to configure custom IP Phone Policies:

• Get-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy
• New-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy
• Remove-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy
• Grant-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy

Scenarios & Settings for Teams IP Phone Policies

This section covers the scenarios and the Teams IP Phone policy configuration settings for each scenario:

• Shared devices for general purpose areas (reception, kitchens, break rooms, etc.)
• Shared devices for meeting areas (small meeting rooms and meetup areas)
• Shared devices for hot desking (shared desk or cube spaces).  Note: This scenario does not require a Teams Shared Devices license.

Teams Shared Devices - General Purpose

Teams Shared Devices - Meeting Rooms

Teams Shared Devices - Hot Desking

Create a New Teams IP Phone Policy

Make sure you have the latest version of the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module installed, and sign into your Microsoft Teams services.  PowerShell requirements and sign in details can be found in the Teams Direct Routing Planning and Prerequisites article.

PowerShell Command Reference

• Get-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy
• New-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy
• Grant-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy
• Remove-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy

View Existing Teams IP Phone Policies

Get-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy

Create a New Teams IP Phone Policy

###
### This example will create a policy for general areas and allow directory search.
###

$PolicyProperties = @{

    Identity                    = "EvolveIP-Common-Areas"
    SignInMode                  = "CommonAreaPhoneSignIn"
    AllowBetterTogether         = "Disabled"
    AllowHomeScreen             = "Disabled"
    AllowHotDesking             = $False
    SearchOnCommonAreaPhoneMode = "Enabled"
    Description                 = "General common area phones"
}

New-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy @PolicyProperties

###
### This example will create a policy for meeting areas and allow directory search.
###

$PolicyProperties = @{

    Identity                    = "EvolveIP-Meeting-Areas"
    SignInMode                  = "MeetingSignIn"
    AllowBetterTogether         = "Disabled"
    AllowHomeScreen             = "Disabled"
    AllowHotDesking             = $False
    SearchOnCommonAreaPhoneMode = "Enabled"
    Description                 = "Meeting area phones"
}

New-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy @PolicyProperties

Create a New Teams IP Phone Policy

Make sure you have the latest version of the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module installed, and sign into your Skype for Business Online services.  PowerShell requirements and sign in details can be found in the Teams Direct Routing Planning and Prerequisites article.

View Existing Teams IP Phone Policies

• Get-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy

Get-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy

Create a New Teams IP Phone Policy

###
### This example will create a new policy for hot desking with a 6 hr timeout.
###

$PolicyProperties = @{

    Identity                       = "EvolveIP-HD-CAPSales"
    SignInMode   SignInMode                  = "CommonAreaPhoneSignInUserSignIn"
    AllowBetterTogether            = "DisabledEnabled"
    AllowHomeScreen                = "DisabledEnabledUserOverride"
    AllowHotDesking                = $True
    HotDeskingIdleTimeoutInMinutes = $False360
    SearchOnCommonAreaPhoneMode    = "EnabledDisabled"
    Description                    = "Common Area Phone PolicyHot desking users in sales dept."
}

New-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy @PolicyProperties

Assign Delete a Teams IP Phone Policy to a User Account

GrantRemove-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy -Identity cap1@contoso.com -PolicyName "EvolveIP-CAPCommon-Areas"

Remove Assign a Teams IP Phone Policy from to a User Account

Grant-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy "cap-Identity cap1@contosokitchen@contoso.com" -PolicyName $null"EvolveIP-Common-Areas"

Remove Delete a Teams IP Phone Policy

from a User Account

Remove-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicyGrant-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy "cap-kitchen@contoso.com" -Identity "EvolveIP-CAP"PolicyName $null

Configure

for Teams Direct Routing

In this section we will configure the user account assigned the CAP Microsoft Teams Shared Devices license for Teams Direct RoutingTeams direct routing and assign the Teams IP Phone Policy.

PowerShell Command ReferenceCommand Reference

• Get-CsOnlineUser
• Get-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy
• Get-CsTenantDialPlan
• Get-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy
• Set-CsPhoneNumberAssignmentGet-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy
• Grant-CsTeamsUpgradePolicy
• Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy
• Grant-CsTenantDialPlan

Get

Get the name of the Evolve Voice Routing Policy, which will be entered into the below block of PowerShell code.

Get-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy | Where { $_.Identity -like "*Evolve*" }

Get the name of the Evolve Tenant Dial Plan, which will be entered in the below block of PowerShell code.

Get-CsTenantDialPlan | Where { $_.Identity -like "*Evolve*" }

Get the name of the Evolve Teams IP Phone Policy, which will be entered in the below block of PowerShell code.

Get-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy | Where { $_.Identity -like "*Evolve*" }

Provision the CAP shared device for Direct Routing

# Enter the name of the Evolve voice routing policy
$VrPolicyName = "EvolveIP-EastUSEast"

# Enter the name of the Evolve tenant dial plan
$TdpPolicyName = "EvolveIP-TenantDialPlan"

# Enter the name of the Evolve Teams IP phone policy
$TipPolicyName = "EvolveIP-Common-CAPAreas"

# Enter the CAP's user principal name
$UPN = "user@domain.com"

# Enter the CAP's telephone number (no spaces, dashes, or parentheses)
$Phone = "tel:+16105551234"


### Begin User Provisioning ###

# This will check if the CAP's account coexistence mode is set to TeamsOnly for Direct
# Routing. If it is not set to TeamsOnly, it will be set.
 
If ((Get-CsOnlineUser $UPN).TeamsUpgradeEffectiveMode -ne "TeamsOnly") {
  Grant-CsTeamsUpgradePolicy -Identity $UPN -PolicyName UpgradeToTeams
}

# The Thisfollowing will configure the CAP's account for direct routing and add the account
# to the voice routing policy, the tenant dial plan, and the Teams IP phone policy.  

Set-CsUserCsPhoneNumberAssignment -Identity $UPN -OnPremLineUriPhoneNumber $Phone -EnterpriseVoiceEnabledPhoneNumberType DirectRouting $true
Grant-CsOnlineVoiceRoutingPolicy -Identity $UPN -PolicyName $VrPolicyName
Grant-CsTenantDialPlan -Identity $UPN -PolicyName $TdpPolicyName
Grant-CsTeamsIpPhonePolicy -Identity $UPN -PolicyName $TipPolicyName

### End User Provisioning ###