All Employee Email 2 - Monday, March 29, 2021 at 4:27 PM

CSU Employees,

If you have a CSU phone extension either forwarded to a cell # or a desk phone, then this email is for you.

Two weeks ago we sent out an email about the coming Vonage port of the majority of our phones.

If your office has received a Yealink desk phone then we expect your new phone to start working fully sometime on Wednesday. Probably around noon. That means your CISCO phone will no longer receive off campus calls, the 800#s and main line (570.586.2400) will work via Vonage, and our faxing will migrate as well. As to the CISCO phones they will remain in place until IT can arrange pickups. Most likely this will begin after the students return to campusIf your office has received a Yealink desk phone then we expect your new phone to start working fully sometime on Wednesday. Probably around noon. As to the CISCO phones they will remain in place until IT can arrange pickups. Most likely this will begin after the students return to campus.

Have you completed the Training Check Sheet? Have you accessed the Vonage apps?

If you have NOT, please do so by Wednesday. You may refer to my previous email or these urls for help.

Training Check Sheet - https://clarkssummitu.atlassian.net/wiki/x/BwCGe

General Overview of all Training Resources - https://clarkssummitu.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AYB1e

Previous Email: https://clarkssummitu.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/kb/pages/2119630851

My CSU extension is forward to __________, what is going to happen to my number?

Every number is being sent to Vonage either in this port or our next one. I would expect that your number will be ported on Wednesday and that the forwarding will stop functioning. Going forward CSU no longer has a reason to forward numbers to users landlines or cell numbers. We can now provide you a CSU number that is remotely accessible via the Vonage Apps. Please setup your Vonage app and begin making calls via it going forward for CSU related calls.

What if I am having internet issues, how will I get calls?

Vonage relies on using VOIP technology which relies on the internet (insert: WiFi, ethernet, or mobile data). When these services go down or are not available how do you get a call? Vonage has a solution. It is called CALL CONTINUITY. Watch the training or search the Vonage training center for information on setting up this service. Never miss a call even if CSU, your home, or your mobile device has no internet or data access. As long as you have signal or a working landline you can receive your work calls. But you need to set it up for it to work.

I do not have a CSU extension and I work remotely, can I get a number to separate my CSU work from other work and personal calling needs?

That is a great question! At this time I do not have an answer, but CSU now has the ability to do so. We are not doing so yet, but it may happen in the near future.

I had a department extension appearing on my CISCO phone, but on the Yealink it is missing it?

With Vonage these lines will no longer appear on your phone. They will instead be sent to your extensions. When the phone rings you will receive a message on the phone’s display about an incoming call from [callers number] via the department extension of [ext description]. It will be similar to the image below. You should also get an announcement from the phone system regarding the department the caller called. Be advised if you get an announcement, once it is over you are live with the person. Be friendly and greet them with a smile 😊. We have done our best to have all of these clearly setup, but if you notice a department Call Group without information on the number called or it is not clear, please submit a ticket with the extensions information and desired labels.

In this image you can see an incoming call from 1.570.892.0564 that was sent to the Helpdesk Classroom help line. This would indicate to any IT worker that a caller on a wireless # has a classroom need.

How do I know if my department number has been ported?

On Thursday, once I have tested all of the department numbers are working I will send out to each department their information on how to access their Vonage Call Group. This will include a pin code and guidance on setting up the greetings.

How do I access the greetings and voicemail messages on the department line?

I am glad you asked. The following article will provide guidance on doing that. Please be aware that these Call Groups have the standard greeting for a phone system. You will want to customize them based on Communications Guidelines.

Call Groups:

Communications Guidelines:

What about my supervisors line appearance on my phone or my assistants?

IT has been working hard to identify employee relationships that will require the ability to answer or see another employees numbers. Many of these have already been setup. Some are yet to come. If you are missing a non-department line on your phone, please let me know and I arrange to have it setup, if it is still relevant to the new phone system.

What’s Next?

We will have one more Port for all remaining numbers. Most of these will include student worker locations and other locations that are role based.
Collecting the old phones
Setting up personal faxing
Giving administrators an overview of the Vonage system so they can better leverage it for CSU.
And more….

REMINDERS…

Usernames are Case Sensitive.
Ignore the firewall permissions when installing the desktop app on a school PC
Most phone settings can be adjust from the Vonage Desktop App.
Voicemail passwords are changeable via the Vonage Apps, but are only needed for accessing your phone greetings when dialing in.
We now only have three copier fax machines: the Business Office, the Registrar’s Office, and the Library (outgoing only).

Thank you for your feedback and patience during this transition. Once this is all complete CSU will be better placed to serve our students, alumni, and each other no matter where we work. Here is another commercial flash back on the “good old days” of mobile phones, .

Godspeed,

Wesley