Microsoft gives an update on Teams call and meeting quality improvements

By Robert Carnevale
published

Can you hear that? It's the sound of better calling in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams PC
Microsoft Teams PC (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft has been updating Microsoft Teams to improve calls and meetings.
  • It released a blog post outlining the features and updates it's provided to Teams to make the service better.
  • Those features and updates can be divided into three categories: AI improvements, real-time adjustments, and admin tools.

Microsoft's been working to make sure Teams doesn't rest on its laurels. It's been adding new meeting and call features over the recent months, as well as setting up plans to add more. There are a lot of new items in total, which is why Microsoft's crafted a blog post (opens in new tab) to get everyone up to speed on what's on the way for Teams as well as what's already here.

Microsoft breaks the general lineup of its Teams improvements into three categories: AI enhancements, real-time elements, and administrator tools.

One big example of how Microsoft's improving audio and video in Teams through AI is with its Satin audio codec. Here's what Microsoft has to say about it:

There are many scenarios that can contribute to low bitrate – parents and children sharing the household's network for meetings and classes, the high cost of premium data plans, aging infrastructure, among others. To help with these challenges, our new audio codec, Satin, offers great audio quality at a bitrate as low as 7kbps, making meetings sound natural and clear even when the network has low bandwidth.

Teams Alerts

Source: Microsoft (Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

On a related note, IT admins have the power to control Teams bitrate caps. And when it comes to other user-facing features, Teams can help cut out background noise so people aren't focused on the wrong audio. It also offers real-time alerts and optimizations for situations such as the following:

  • When joining a Teams meeting that is already in progress, users are automatically joined with their microphones muted
  • If users join a Teams meeting with their speakers muted, Teams provides them with an alert to un-mute their speakers
  • During an active Teams meeting, if users are on mute and begin to speak, Teams detects this and alerts users they are speaking while muted

Back on the IT side, Teams provides admins with real-time and call analytics so they know what's going on, when. You can check out Microsoft's blog post for the full scoop on what's fresh in Teams, but those are a few of the recent big-ticket items.

Microsoft Teams App Icon
Microsoft Teams


Microsoft Teams isn't going to stop updating, so hop in now and stay in the loop, or forever wonder about what improvements you're missing out on.

Robert Carnevale
Robert Carnevale

Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He's a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author of Cold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.

6 Comments
  • Call quality not an issue. Literally no one I know wants to install this because they don’t want to tie their phone number to it. They all think they’ll just end up with more spam calls or texts, so the service is worthless as I have 0 contacts on it despite knowing about 50 Windows users (though I reckon less than 5 have upgraded to 11, at this point). If I try to install on my phone or iPad, it requires a phone number or you can’t set it up - despite having set it up without one on Windows 11. If you use Windows 10, it won’t set up without giving them your phone number. So, even if you use Windows 11 the service is not portable unless you’re willing to part with that sliver of personal data. It adds that number to your Microsoft accounts and sets it as another login. They (and I) don’t want that. It seems like a useful service, especially with the Calendaring features. That can be useful for club activities, etc. in my inner circle. But it’s only as useful as others’ willingness to buy in. Microsoft has made this more hassle than it’s worth. I’ve uninstalled and hidden the chat button as a result. Will continue to use iMessage and FaceTime on my Apple Devices. Most people I know have at least iPhones.
  • That's a bizarre post. Teams doesn't use your phone number, unless you set it up for VoIP through Teams, which is purely a choice and not something you could do by accident. You literally can't get a "spam call" in Teams (unless you make it your VoIP phone, in which case it suffers the problems of any other phone number). The phone number requirement you're talking about is a security measure so that if you lose your password, you can reset the account with 2 factor authentication. That's it.
  • Yeah it's a pretty irrelevant comment lol. It's like leaving a review at a restaurant you didn't even eat at.
  • Teams requires a phone number and will set it up as a login and add it to your Microsoft Account. You cannot use the software on anything but Windows 11 without giving them your phone number. Try it and come back.
  • iN8ter, are you maybe talking about the non-business version of Teams? This article and the other replies are talking about the business version, which is a different install. I haven't messed with the personal one, but the business one definitely doesn't require a phone number.
  • This is not about Teams for personal use. I work in a very big organization and I use Teams several times a day. Teams is a big thing for businesses.