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We have teams external users in our call center and want to have them be part of a call queue

Davis, Sophie 20 Reputation points
2025-08-11T08:09:45.07+00:00

We have teams external users in our call center as they are technically agency staff. We want to have them be part of a call queue, however I am being advised this cannot be done for EXT users, I don't feel this is correct - does anyone have any advice on how I can push to get this done - or let me know if this is 100% correct and cannot be actioned. TIA

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Other
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  1. Tamara-Hu 1,865 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-08-11T10:10:56.4033333+00:00

    Hello @Davis, Sophie, 

    Thank you for posting your question on Microsoft Q&A forum. 

    According to your description, I've done some research and this is what I've known so far: 

    • External (guest) users cannot be added as agents in a Teams call queue. 
    • Only licensed users within the same tenant can be assigned to a call queue. 
    • To include external/agency staff, they must be: 
      • Given a full user account in your tenant. 
      • Assigned the necessary Teams Phone licenses. 
      • Enabled for Enterprise Voice and set to TeamsOnly mode. 

    There are a few workarounds you can consider depending on your setup and licensing flexibility: 

    1. Provision Full Tenant Accounts for External Staff 

    • Create full Microsoft 365 user accounts for agency staff in your tenant. 
    • Assign necessary licenses: 
      • Microsoft Teams Phone Standard 
      • Enterprise Voice enabled 
    • Set them to TeamsOnly mode. 
    • Add them to the call queue like any internal user. 

    This is the most reliable method, but it requires licensing and administrative setup.   

    2. Use Call Queue Overflow or Timeout Routing 

    If the goal is to route calls externally, you can configure the call queue to forward to an external phone number (PSTN) as an overflow or timeout option, but this isn't the same as having them as queue agents - they won't receive calls through Teams. 

    • Navigate to: https://admin.teams.microsoft.com and sign in with your admin credentials. 
    • In the left-hand menu, go to Voice > Call queues. Select the call queue you want to configure or create a new one. 
    • In the call queue settings, scroll down to: 
      • Call overflow handling 
      • Call timeout handling 
    • For either Overflow or Timeout, choose: 
      • Forward to external phone number 
      • Enter the external number in E.164 format. 
    • Click Save at the bottom of the page to apply the configuration. 

    This allows external staff to receive calls indirectly. They won’t be true agents in the queue, and won’t see caller info or queue metrics. 

    For document related, please check: 

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  1. Davis, Sophie 20 Reputation points
    2025-08-14T07:34:36.69+00:00

    Hello Tamara-Hu

    Thank you, i am being advised this might be to do with the fact their email addresses are linked to the agency and not our company - so they are ******@agency.com and not ******@company.com - this is what they sign into teams with - this is ongoing

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