CURIOUS ABOUT THE CHANGES WITH THE NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM?
CURIOUS ABOUT THE CHANGES WITH THE NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM?
HERE'S THE TECHNICAL ANSWERS TO SOME QUESTIONS:
What are the departmental costs to install a telephone?
There is a $400 charge for a new telephone number install. Install includes wiring and labor to get the number to your desk, and a standard Model 2500 phone. Click here to see other phone models available for additional cost. After installation, there evolve 2 other request types; move and add an extension.
Move means you want an existing number "moved" from one wall jack to another. A move to an existing wall jack incurs a $35 charge. A move that requires new wiring is billed the additional costs of materials and labor.
Extensions, or "Party Lines" that share the same telephone number can only be between analog (single line) phones. There is a $35 dollar charge for this also. An extension that requires new wiring is billed the additional costs of materials and labor. An extension includes a standard Model 2500 phone. Note that you can not "party line" a digital DTerm phone's number!
What's that "screech" I hear when I pick up the phone?
Immediately after the first ring, the system sends the caller ID information to your phone. On a DTerm digital phone you don't hear it, but on a regular analog phone you can hear this digital signal. It sounds like a modem or fax hiss, and if you pick up at the same time it's coming down the line you can hear it (the person calling you can't). We can turn it off if you request, but then you won't recieve caller ID.
What happened to the "double ring" for off-campus calls?
It's still there, but it's after the first long ring and caller ID information has been sent. Then you get the double ring as before.
I can't retrieve my voicemail from home, or another phone on campus besides my office!
Anytime it asks for your mailbox, add a "1" in
front of it (Example: your phone number is 7000, your mailbox would be
17000). The same holds true if you send a voicemail to someone else's
voicemail... add the "1" in front of *their* mailbox.
When you call from your own phone it knows who you are and skips the asking for
the mailbox, so that's why it's worked from your office but not remotely.
We went to 5 digits so we would have enough mailboxes for dorms/apartments that
have multiple occupants and a single phone. They will need to add a 1,2,3,or 4
etc. to their phone numbers for their mailboxes depending on how many people
share the phone.
Will the dial-up internet number change?
No. The dial-up numbers are not
connected to UTM's telephone system. They are Frontier numbers rather than one
of our old 587-1xxx, 7xxx or 8xxx numbers. If dial-up was connected to our
system, users would be tying up the lines we need for voice calls.
Eventually the price of "renting" the service from Frontier may become more
expensive than adding more lines to our system, but for now you don't have to
make any changes.
Why don't people hear the "hold music" and messages when I put them on hold?
If you're using a phone other than a DTerm with a "hold" button, the system doesn't see it as an actual "hold". All your phone is doing is keeping the line active (so the caller doesn't get cut off) and muting the microphone and speaker, so the campus telephone system is unaware of your phone's "hold" status.
If you "flash" instead, then you get a second dial tone (like if you are going to transfer a call) and the system will put the caller on hold. If you "flash" again, you're reconnected with the caller. If you have the caller on hold this way long enough that the second dial tone goes into fast busy (reorder), then nothing (lockout), you may have to press "flash" twice to be reconnected.
Why did the 11xx numbers change to 18xx?
Because of 911. The 911 phone in Public Safety is now really extension number 11. So if you try to reach someone with the old 11xx number, the system sees the 11 and will ring the Public Safety 911 dispatcher after the next two digits pressed! The system ignores the "9" when followed by "11" for real emergency calls. That's why there's no area code that begins with a "1". Think about it... " 9" for an outside line, "1" for long distance access, then area code 1xx... the entire 911 system nationwide wouldn't have worked.
Why did the 5 change to 9 for an outside line?
Because 9 is the standard number to press for an outside line just about anywhere in the USA. Also, with the new Office Code (prefix) of 881, we can use the 5xxx group of numbers for campus extensions. That's 1000 more numbers we can assign for use as Direct Inward Dialing, so 1000 more people in the Campus Community can have numbers that people can dial from anywhere in the world.
So that's why the 3xxx numbers can now be dialed from outside too?
Correct, but only using the 881 prefix! Frontier, our local telephone company, "owns" the 587 office code, and "rented" the 587-1xxx. 587-7xxx and 587-8xxx numbers previously used by UTM. Frontier has already assigned a lot of the 587-3xxx numbers to people in Weakley County. Since UTM's office code is now 881, we have (almost) the whole 731-881-0000 thru 731-881-9999 group of numbers to utilize.
Does that mean I can request a "vanity" number that spells out something?
Sure! But there's a couple of catches... For one, implementing a new phone number still costs $400. We can "swap" your old number for free, but if people are used to using it, you may want to add the vanity number rather than swapping it. We will phase in a number change for 3 months if necessary, otherwise it's a immediate change, meaning callers will get a "not in service" message until we again assign your old number to someone else.
Please note that we cannot assign 2xxx numbers (UT1-Axxx, UT1-Bxxx or UT1-Cxxx) because "2" is used to enter your authorization code for outside lines. The same goes for 9xxx (UT1-Wxxx, UT1-Xxxx, UT1-Yxxx and UT1-Zxxx) because the "9" is used for outside line access. There's a few other caveats, but if you're interested in a vanity number let us know your choice and we'll see what we can do.
Where did my speed dial numbers on my DTerm go?
There was no way we could retrieve the information from the old PBX to transfer it to the new. You'll have to reprogram them. If you need assistance, call the Help Desk at 7900 or dial HELP (4357).
I'm trying to reach the conference bridge and it doesn't work. What happened?
The telephone system already supports 3-party conferencing. You can schedule multi-party conferences of up to 8 inside/outside lines by calling the UTM Information Desk at 7000.
Also note that conferencing equipment is available for rental from Telecommunications. The advantage of using this rather than a speakerphone is that your conversation will be "duplex", meaning you won't have the switching going on between talking and listening.
For small rooms we have a Polycom VoiceStation 100, with 3 built in microphones, is available for $10/day. For medium size rooms, we suggest our Polycom SoundStation Premier with its 3 built in and 2 satellite microphones for 12.50/day. For even larger rooms, for $15/day the Premier can be set up with an extension speaker, 2 additional microphones, a wireless microphone, and even a cordless telephone attached so you can walk away from your group and can have a private conversation with the person(s) on the other line(s), then hang the cordless up and you're back to letting everyone in your group listen in!
Note you must already have an analog (not DTerm) phone line available in the room you want to use this equipment. If not there is not, an additional connect fee of $20 will be charged to make dialtone available in the room. Call the Help Desk at 7900, Telephone at 7905 or click the email link below for more information or to schedule the use of this conferencing equipment!
More questions?