LearnMicrosoft Teams › 5 · Calling & Enterprise Voice

Caller ID and voicemail

What number shows when you call, and what happens when nobody answers — both are policy machines with legal edges (CLI regulations, recording consent) that vary by country.

Caller ID: the CallingLineIdentity machine

CsCallingLineIdentity policies decide the outbound presentation per user class:

  • Identity substitution: show the user's DID (default), a SERVICE number (the main-office pattern — everyone presents +44 20 7946 0000), or Anonymous.
  • Inbound blocking: BlockIncomingPstnCallerID strips PSTN CLI display.
  • User override: policy can allow users to toggle anonymity per call.

Sharp edges: substituting a service number requires that number to be a real, assigned service number (Microsoft validates); regulatory reality is that some countries constrain CLI manipulation — presenting numbers you don't hold is a carrier-contract violation before it's a Teams question. On Direct Routing, the SBC/carrier can rewrite CLI again downstream — when 'wrong number showing' tickets arrive, establish WHERE the number changed (policy vs SBC header manipulation) before touching anything.

Voicemail: the answering machine in Exchange

Unanswered-call handling follows the user's calling settings (un-answered ring duration then voicemail/forward/nothing) inside TeamsCallingPolicy allowances. Messages: recorded by the voicemail service, stored in the user's Exchange mailbox, transcribed (per OnlineVoicemailPolicy — transcription on/off, profanity masking, translation; 4 instances in a typical tenant, all scanned). Consequences of the mailbox home: no EXO mailbox = no voicemail; retention/holds apply like any mail; leavers' voicemails follow mailbox offboarding.

Shared voicemail (AA/CQ overflow target) lands in a GROUP mailbox — governance as per the call-queues concept.

What to watch (proofs)

  • Presentation truth per user: Get-CsCallingLineIdentity | fl + the user's assignment — then one test call to a mobile; the display IS the test.
  • CLI rewrite hunting (DR): SBC egress SIP trace — From/PAI headers on the wire vs what policy set; the diff locates the rewrite.
  • Voicemail policy census: Get-CsOnlineVoicemailPolicy all instances (nightly in serv365 — EnableTranscription et al. already appear in your tenant search).
  • Delivery proof: leave a test voicemail → arrives as mail item with transcription in the mailbox (visible via Outlook/eDiscovery) — storage claim, demonstrated.

PowerShell for this concept

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