The Telecom team will be replacing Plymouth State University’s telephone switch and voice mail system on the evening of Friday, July 31, 2009. Work will begin 5:00pm, and will take a total of 8 hours. During that time, dial tone will go out, then come back gradually as we bring each sector of the campus on-line.
During the upgrade, all telephone and voice mail services will be unavailable. Therefore no calls will be coming into campus or going out. The emergency telephones (blue phones outside, red phones in the residence halls, and elevator telephones) will not be operational. This includes the ability to make emergency 911 calls.
The outage period has been carefully selected to minimize the impact on the campus. However, for safety and emergency purposes, Telecom advises anyone who will be on campus during this planned telephone service outage to carry a cell phone, as cellular services will still be available.
This upgrade will allow Telecom to offer several customer-requested feature enhancements in the near future. After the upgrade is complete:
1) Voicemail users will notice very little difference to their service. Voicemail greetings and existing messages will be carried over to the new system. However, the upgrade will go quicker if unwanted saved voice mail messages are deleted from accounts before the 31st.
2) Voicemail passwords cannot be ported over into the new system. The first time you access your voice mail after the upgrade you will need to use “1” as your voice mail password. Upon log-in you will be prompted to reset the password to something with 5 digits. If you like, you may change the password back to your old voicemail password.
3) Offices with digital telephones (gray or black handsets) may see their phones “lit up like a Christmas tree” when they return to work. This sometimes occurs when there is a loss of communication between the phone and the telephone switch. This is easily cleared by unplugging the telephone line and then plugging it back in.
4) Offices with complex automatic call distribution services will be contacted by Telecom in advance with information specific to their operations. We are fully cognizant that your system of handing incoming calls is vital to the way your office functions and while we do not anticipate any problems, we will make every effort to minimize the impact on these critical systems.
Telecom anticipates a smooth transition to the new telephone switch. However, as with changes to any system, minor problems may occur. If they do, they will be addressed immediately. Members of the Telecom Team will be on site until the upgrade is complete.
After the upgrade is complete, if you experience trouble with your telephone or voice mail, please report it to 535-2222 or via email to networking@plymouth.edu . We appreciate your patience and understanding during this upgrade.
