04 · Network and QoS
Teams media hates hairpins and proxies. Bandwidth is the expensive way to hide a bad path.
Microsoft’s QoS and network articles tell you to keep the path short: on the order of three to five hops from the client to your edge, and a short path from the ISP to Microsoft. Proxies in the media path are a known way to damage calls. ExpressRoute is not required.
Draw the path a branch actually uses. If that branch backhauls across a continent to egress, you already know why RTT is high. A fatter pipe will not shorten the fiber.
Keep Teams media on a short path to the internet. Do not send it through a proxy or a distant hairpin.
Local egress, no media proxy, ExpressRoute not required.
If it fails: A branch hairpins through headquarters and every call shows long RTT.
Which description of Shortest media path is accurate?
Microsoft’s network guidance prefers a short path to the Microsoft network, without a proxy in the media path. A proxy that was fine for web traffic adds jitter to RTP. Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/prepare-network accessed 2026-10-14.
A colleague reports: One city’s CQD is poor and the firewall team finds a proxy. Where do you start?
One city’s CQD is poor and the firewall team finds a proxy. Egress Teams media locally. Do not hairpin a branch through a distant data center unless you mean to. Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/prepare-network accessed 2026-10-14.
Which description of VPN and real-time media is accurate?
Microsoft recommends that you avoid sending real-time Teams media through a VPN. QoS on the VPN does not fix the extra delay. Split-tunnel designs exist so media can go direct while other traffic stays on the VPN. Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/qos-in-teams accessed 2026-10-14.
Around the call: compliance recording, workforce management, emergency location, analytics, CRM screen pop, and an agent with a human escape. Each one has its own failure.
A branch hairpins through headquarters and every call shows long RTT.
Cisco CUBE is one of the SBC families named in this lab’s certification lesson. A certified release can be the Direct Routing SBC between Unified CM and Teams.
The tenant still needs a verified domain on the SBC FQDN, and the user still needs Teams Phone. The studio translator does not open a live AXL session. Confirm the current certified release before you build.
Teams Phone and Webex Calling are separate clouds. This lab does not describe a feature that registers a Webex Calling user into a Teams tenant.
A number move is usually a carrier port, a certified SBC, or a meetings interop product. Confirm before relying.
Unified CCE stays the ACD until you migrate it. Microsoft’s contact-center articles name Connect, Extend, and Unify. They do not name a UCCE connector in the notes this lab cites.
Voice into Teams is still Direct Routing or Operator Connect. The routing script stays on the contact-center product you bought. Confirm the vendor’s current model. Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-contact-center.
Copilot Studio, Azure Communication Services, and Graph are later tracks in this lab. Treat any uncited limit as confirm before relying.
Opened 2026-10. A row marked confirm did not open. Wikipedia is background. The Teams blog row is the community index.
