Telecommunications

IP Phones

Instead of a standard phone line, these phones use a LAN to transmit conversations. These phones are available in most faculty and staff offices on campus. The most typical phone is the Mitel 5215. These phones offer a wide array of features like call forwarding, hold, do not disturb, speakerphone, call transfers and conferencing capabilities.

VOIP [Voice Over Internet Protocol] vs. Analog Phones

Voip phones function quite similarly to analog phones.  With the voip phones users can place and recieve calls in the same fashion as they did before on the analog phones.  An advantage to voip phones is that they bring added features.  Instead of a standard phone line, the voip phone sends voice over the network, the same network as your computer.  It can even share this network connection with your computer.  You do not have to have a computer for your voip phone to function, but you must have a network connection.

Dorm Phones:

All dorm rooms on campus have basic analog phone service. If the students choose to use this service they must provide their own phone. No activation is required. Long distance is not available but calling cards can be used for this purpose.

Blue Light Security Phones:

All student parking lots are equipped with at least one Security Phone. This phone is a one button pedestal-like device. By pressing the button a call is placed to campus security, the student is able to have a conversation with them, but if they would be unable to communicate for any reason the information regarding the location of the call is sent to campus security. A blue strobe light flashes on the top of the pedestal to notify others of an emergency.

Power Failure:

In the event of a power outage analog service will not be disrupted. There is an emergency/courtesy phone located in all the buildings on campus for this purpose. All dorm rooms will not loose phone service as well. Voicemail will also still function, so any calls placed to campus, callers will still be able to leave a message.

Voicemail:

Voicemail is available to all faculty and staff members on campus. They can access their mailbox from any phone anywhere in the world. Each mailbox has its own password so privacy is never an issue.

Conferencing:

All IP phones on campus are capable of handling a multiple party conference. The 5220’s and 5235’s have a side car attachment that includes a 5310 conference unit. This unit is available for checkout upon request. The full duplex speaker provides superb voice quality, aided by the directional microphone that changes its focus based upon where the sound is originating from.

We also have 2 conference bridges available for hosting our own conferences. One will support up to 48 simultaneous users while the other can support up to 60.

Night Auto Attendant:

Calls placed to the main campus number after hours will be greeted by our automated attendant. This will give callers a full campus directory list, they can also key in a name from their phone keypad to speed up the process, the attendant will then forward their call to whomever they select.

PS/ALI – 911:

When a call is placed to 911 detailed information is sent along with it. The police station will see what building, floor, and room the call is being placed from. This is a great safety feature brought by the new system.