Admitting PSTN users from the lobby
There are two cases covered in this item.
1) Bypass the lobby for PSTN: The ability for admins and organizers to be able to specify a meeting option to bypass the PSTN lobby independently of the VoIP lobby. This is completed.
2) Ability for an organizer joined via PSTN to admit users from the lobby with a PIN. If you enable “Always let callers bypass the lobby” in your meeting options, people calling in by phone will join your meeting without having to wait for someone to admit them. See details here: https://support.microsoft.com/office/change-participant-settings-for-a-teams-meeting-53261366-dbd5-45f9-aae9-a70e6354f88e. This is on the backlog.
Please Note: In Q2CY20, we launched a new default in for the Teams meeting policy (https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=&searchterms=63388). If tenants have not modified their default meeting policy, lobby is now enforced.

There are two parts to this topic:
1) Completed: Bypass the lobby for PSTN: The ability for admins and organizers to be able to specify a meeting option to bypass the PSTN lobby independently of the VoIP lobby.
2) On the backlog: Ability for an organizer joined via PSTN to admit users from the lobby with a PIN. If you enable “Always let callers bypass the lobby” in your meeting options, people calling in by phone will join your meeting without having to wait for someone to admit them. See details here: https://support.microsoft.com/office/change-participant-settings-for-a-teams-meeting-53261366-dbd5-45f9-aae9-a70e6354f88e
Please Note: In Q2CY20, we launched a new default in for the Teams meeting policy (https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=&searchterms=63388). If tenants have not modified their default meeting policy, lobby is now enforced.
77 comments
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Joaquin commented
Hello Alex,
any update on this?
We had activated the option * 21 for a few days to allow access to the participants, but it has already disappeared.
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Anonymous commented
Our CEO has an executive assistant who helps manage her calendar. We have assigned licensing to our admin assistant to allow her to schedule MS-Teams meetings for customers, vendors, investors, etc. who may or may not have access to log into MS-Teams, and therefore would dial-in using the PSTN option.
We have instances where, however, our CEO would like to hold private meetings with her managers, and she is concerned about the privacy of someone gaining access to our internal meetings. I know we could do this by modifying licensing, or creating a custom meeting template. However, it would be convenient if we could do this during the meeting setup.
- Allow Dial-in users (or not)
- Allow Dial-in users, and allow them directly into the meeting
- Allow Dial-in users, but place them in the lobby until access is granted by the meeting host.With these options, we would have better control over who is granted access to public meetings vs. private meetings.
Thank you!
Scott -
Mark Senior commented
RE: With an MS Teams Audio Conferencing meeting, User remains in lobby after meeting organizer joins with PIN.
I there any update regarding when this might be resolved please. I am being chased for updates on this regularly.
Thank you
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Mark Senior commented
With an MS Teams Audio Conferencing meeting, User remains in lobby after meeting organizer joins with PIN.
Do we have any further update regarding when this might be resolved please as I am being chased for updates on this regularly.
Thank you
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A-Train commented
I have a user that is having the same issue. The user created a audio conferencing meeting and added me an a test. I called first from my personal cell phone and got put into the waiting room. The user joins the call and enters their PIN code. The user is in the room but i'm still in the waiting room. The use said it has been working the past week until today.
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Deborah Rigoglioso commented
Can I host a live event in teams and have people watching phone in to ask questions instead of just using the QA chat?
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Herman commented
Still not working. Same issue as Mike Yam documented with the same settings as the test environment. Guests are still stuck in the lobby while the host is already logged in. There are occasional prompts to Admit people but as soon as you click Admit, the caller is disconnected from the lobby.
Had an audio call today for 40 attendees and after retrying for 30 minutes, attendees gave up. I'm ready to give up as well and buy into a different product
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Joshua Tepper commented
I am experiencing the same issue with the same settings as Mike Yam from below.
Is bypass PSTN lobby available in Government Tenants? -
Mike Yam commented
James, I believe this is still not working. I've just tested, the experience is now:
1. Meeting host send out Teams meeting invite to external people (anonymous)
2. External people joins the meeting as a guest by using TEAMS APP
3. Meeting host then dial in to the meeting via PSTN.
4. Now the system is able to ASK for the PIN code.
5. However after the host input the PIN code and goes into the meeting.
6. The guest who joined first is still stuck at the lobby lonely!My test environment:
- Let anonymous people to start a meeting: OFF
- Automatically admit people: EVERYONE
- Allow dial-in users to bypass the lobby: ON -
James commented
Hi I just tested this earlier and it looks like it is now working?
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James commented
We are currently trialing the MS Teams Audio Conferencing and are now getting complaints that they are not asked for the PIN unless they are the first caller into the meeting.
Basically this is the same scenario as in the diagram from Mike Yam from 27 June last year! When will this be fixed?
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Roger Navarro commented
@Alex, are you saying that PSTN callers can now bypass the lobby even if no Admin is on the call via Teams? Sorry to be dense, but it's my nature....
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Mike Yam commented
The following scenario doesn't work even we set "Everyone" bypass the lobby:
1. Meeting host send out Teams meeting invite to external people (anonymous)
2. External people joins the meeting as a guest by using TEAMS APP
3. Meeting host then dial in to the meeting via PSTN.
3. The system NEVER ASK for the PIN code, as a result all people stuck at the lobby. -
Anonymous commented
Great feature take a while !!! When MICROSOFT will work on BUGS? And why bugs not really documented on O365 Status at least as advisory ?
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Jim from NZ commented
I recently had a related (?) problem. I set up a meeting on MS Teams and invited a non-Teams user to the meeting. When I joined the meeting, they were waiting in the lobby. I clicked "Admit" but then they were stuck in the ether - we waited 3 or 4 minutes but they were not admitted. So we gave up and used a mobile phone on speaker. Not very satisfactory.
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Anonymous commented
what is the Status of this bug, is a fixe deployed ?
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Ben Phillips commented
Alex - does this roadmap item cover all the functionality listed here, i.e. we might see something in November?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?featureid=51047
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Anonymous commented
when is this going to be fixed? This is ridiculous.
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Willem commented
I have a similar issue. When organizing a meeting with Teams I always select the option to allow everyone to bypass the lobby. However, when I dial in via phone, I am not even asked to enter the pin, I am treated as if I were a participant (while I am the organizer). I have heard the voice before to ask if I am the organizer or a participant, but lately I do not have the option anymore to indicate that I am the organizer.
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Ben Phillips commented
Hi Alex - could you provide an update on this please? It's currently a blocker for our company-wide rollout.
If the organiser joins via dial-in and enters PIN, this should admit everyone that has been waiting to join. We cannot assume that the organiser will be joining via Teams app.
Many thanks!