Prepare your organization's network for Microsoft Teams

Publisher

Microsoft (Microsoft Learn)

URL

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/prepare-network

Published

2026-07-09

Updated

unknown

Accessed

2026-09-06

HTTP status

200

License

Microsoft Learn documentation under Microsoft site terms; short excerpts and locators only

Source notes citing this source

• Microsoft gives Teams audio bandwidth, for both one-to-one calls and meetings, as 10/10 kbps minimum, 58/58 kbps recommended and 76/76 kbps for best performance (up/down per endpoint). in context
• When bandwidth is insufficient, Teams prioritises audio quality over video quality. in context
• The Teams minimum, recommended and best-performance bandwidth figures are per endpoint, so a user joined on both a computer and a mobile device counts as two endpoints. in context
• Microsoft points Teams administrators to the Network Planner in the Teams admin center, which calculates network requirements for Teams and cloud voice across physical locations. in context
• Vendor planning figures are not directly comparable, because each source defines its unit differently: Webex Calling gives 100 kbps per audio stream, Zoom Phone 60-100 kbps per call, Teams 58-76 kbps up/down per endpoint, and Webex Contact Center WebRTC at least 100 kbps per call. None of these pages states the header overhead it includes. inferred in context
• As of 2026-10-02 the current Microsoft Teams Prepare your organization's network page publishes bandwidth figures but no latency, round-trip or jitter target table. in context
• Microsoft recommends a split-tunnel VPN so that Teams traffic bypasses the VPN and goes directly to Microsoft 365. in context
• Microsoft warns that VPN routing can send Teams traffic to a service front door farther from the user, introducing extra latency and jitter, and can hairpin traffic through the VPN device. in context
• Microsoft's Teams network guidance lists calls that have static, cut out, or make voices sound like robots as a symptom that could be caused by jitter or packet loss, and as a reason to do network optimization. in context
• Microsoft recommends a split-tunnel VPN so that Teams traffic bypasses the VPN and goes directly to Microsoft 365. in context
• Microsoft gives these reasons to keep Teams media off the VPN: VPNs are typically not designed for real-time media, some do not support UDP, they add another layer of encryption on already-encrypted media, they can hairpin traffic, and they can route users to a more distant front door, adding latency and jitter. in context
• For Wi-Fi, Microsoft recommends QoS or Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) to prioritize media, prefers the 5-GHz band (with band steering on dual-band networks), and recommends non-overlapping channels on neighbouring access points. in context
• Microsoft lists Teams one-to-one audio bandwidth per endpoint as 10/10 kbps minimum, 58/58 kbps recommended and 76/76 kbps for best performance (up/down). in context
• Microsoft's current Teams network preparation page (ms.date 2026-05-26) covers requirements, optimization tasks and bandwidth but appears to publish no numeric latency, jitter or packet loss targets. inferred in context
• Microsoft recommends a split-tunnel VPN so Teams traffic bypasses the VPN, noting that VPNs are usually not built for real-time media and some do not support UDP. in context
• For Teams, Microsoft says the firewall must not change mapped NAT addresses or ports for UDP (session persistence). in context
• Microsoft (Teams) and Zoom both explicitly recommend keeping real-time media off corporate VPN tunnels, and Cisco publishes split-tunnel configuration to exclude Microsoft 365 and Webex traffic, so bypassing the VPN for media is consistent vendor guidance rather than one vendor's preference. inferred in context
• Microsoft lists Teams one-to-one audio bandwidth per endpoint as 10/10 kbps minimum, 58/58 kbps recommended and 76/76 kbps for best performance (up/down). in context
• When bandwidth is insufficient, Teams prioritises audio quality over video quality. in context
• Microsoft recommends giving Teams traffic an alternate path that bypasses the VPN (split-tunnel VPN), saying this improves Teams quality and reduces load on VPN devices. in context
• Microsoft advises that firewalls must not change the mapped NAT addresses or ports for UDP during a Teams session. in context
• Microsoft's reasons for keeping Teams off the VPN are that VPNs are usually not designed for real-time media, some do not support the UDP that Teams requires, they add a second layer of encryption, they hairpin traffic, and they can send traffic to a service front door further from the user. in context
• For Wi-Fi carrying Teams media, Microsoft advises QoS or Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM), preferring the 5 GHz band over the congested 2.4 GHz band, band steering on dual-band networks, and non-overlapping channels on neighbouring access points. in context
• The current Microsoft Teams prepare-network page attributes robotic or cutting-out audio to jitter or packet loss but carries no numeric latency, jitter or loss requirement table. in context
• Microsoft's Teams network baseline requires site internet access to Microsoft 365 endpoints and a verified Microsoft 365 domain before rollout. in context
• Microsoft's Teams network guidance calls for external DNS resolution stable NAT mappings adequate NAT pool capacity efficient Microsoft-network egress VPN bypass for Teams traffic and QoS across managed network segments. in context
• Microsoft describes Call Quality Dashboard as an organization-wide trend view and Teams admin center as a per-user call and meeting troubleshooting view. in context
• Microsoft's Teams network guidance lists calls that keep dropping as a symptom that might be due to firewall or proxy blockers. in context
• Teams uses long-lived WebSocket connections for chat updates, call notifications and signaling, and presence; if WebSockets can't be established it falls back to HTTP long polling, which increases bandwidth and latency. in context
• Microsoft says 5 GHz is better suited to real-time media than 2.4 GHz but needs more access points for coverage, and endpoints must support and be configured for it. in context
• Microsoft's Teams network guidance says to consider band steering on dual-band Wi-Fi to push clients to 5 GHz. disputed in context
• Microsoft says neighbouring access points should be on non-overlapping channels to avoid co-channel competition. in context
• Microsoft's Teams network guidance says to implement QoS or WMM so media is prioritized over Wi-Fi. in context

Cite this source record

APA

WarmTransfer. (2026, July 9). Prepare your organization's network for Microsoft Teams. WarmTransfer. https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/sources/ms-learn-prepare-network-for-teams

BibTeX

@misc{warmtransfer-ms-learn-prepare-network-for-teams,
  title  = {Prepare your organization's network for Microsoft Teams},
  author = {{WarmTransfer}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/sources/ms-learn-prepare-network-for-teams},
  note   = {Microsoft (Microsoft Learn), accessed 2026-09-06}
}