- How do I diagnose a fault with my phone?
- What telephone system is in use at the University?
- What options are there for telephones in terms of facilities?
- Caller Line Identifier (CLI)
- How do I go about setting these facilities?
- How do I go about setting up a conference call?
- How much does it cost to have a UEA extension?
- How long does it take to install or move an extension?
- Who do I contact if I want a new extension?
- Who do I contact if I'm swapping extension?
- What happens about the call charges?
- So what if I use a third party - I phone them and then make an onward call because it's cheaper?
- So what's the next stage for telephony, what will you be doing next?

Q. How do I diagnose a fault with my phone?
A. Firstly we'd like you to check that the phone is properly connected, both to the wall and from the handset to the receiver.  Then we'd ask that you try another, known working, handset on the line - to discount the possibility of a problem with the phone itself.  If you're still experiencing problems - then you'll need to Email telephonists@uea.ac.uk or use a colleague's phone to contact the operators on extension 0.  Please be ready to provide details of: the fault, the extension number, the location and any circumstantial information which may be relevant (e.g. the phone has just been relocated within the room or there is new operator of the phone who is expecting certain services or features which don't appear to be applied to the extension).

Q. What telephone system is in use at the University?
A. Currently the University runs a pair of Siemens ISDXL exchanges. One exchange deals with 592000 and 593000 extensions, whilst the other processes calls for 591000 and 597000 numbers. Each has independent links to the main IP exchange for calls to the rest of campus and the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) and they are interlinked by high capacity cables.  They also have a separate ISDN service for 999 calls and for credit card machines.

Q. What options are there for telephones in terms of facilities?
A. Each UEA extension number can have a range of facilities. The most basic relates to who can phone you and whom you can phone.

Note that all phones have the ability to call 999 in the event of an emergency.

* National or International call privileges are required to call mobile numbers.

For dial-in, this has to be enabled on a per extension basis and is known as direct dial-in or DDI. Where this is enabled the direct dial number will be Norwich (01603) followed by 59 and the internal extension number.

Q. Caller Line Identifier (CLI)
A. This is the system which displays the incoming caller's number (or, indeed, your outgoing caller number) and is active across the whole University.  Please note that you will need to have a phone with a display AND the person calling you must not hide their number for it to work.  By default all UEA extensions will advertise themselves to the callee when making out-going calls.  It is possible to switch this outbound feature off on an extension-by-extension level but not on a call-by-call basis.  Please contact telephony@uea.ac.uk or dial 0 to talk to the switchboard to prevent your extension from advertising itself when making calls.

Q. How do I go about setting these facilities?
A. The person in your department responsible for telephony should contact the operators on extension 0 and ask for the changes to be done. Typically they are undertaken on the same or next working day. Calls from those other than the contacts will need to be verified by the switchboard and may lead to delays in making the necessary changes. You will appreciate that we have a number of people who have access to the telephony system and, for our own protection as well as yours, we need this safeguard to ensure we are not enabling services for unauthorised persons.

Q. How do I go about setting up a conference call?
A. Telephone conference calls are normally arranged through departmental contacts who have an account with a specialist provider of this service. If you don't know if there is an account holder in your area, please ask the switchboard operators by dialling 0 (zero) on your telephone or via their email address of telephonists@uea.ac.uk. Further details of conference call arrangements are available on-line. 

Q. How much does it cost to have a UEA extension?
A. Line rental is £12.75 per quarter (4.25/month). The costs are the same regardless of whether you have voicemail or DDI or not and it is the same whichever outbound call package is chosen from the table above. Note that call charges are in addition to this figure.

Q. How long does it take to install or move an extension?
A. The lead time depends on our contractor availability and the number of lines you are intending to request or move.  Minimum lead times are stated in our Lead times for cabling document although moves and changes are now typically made through migrating to the VoIP exchange.  The timeframes listed in the document are still relevant to allow us time to set up the handsets and any associated handsets that will be impacted by the moves (such as others in the same pick-up or hunt group) which will also be moved to VoIP at the same time.  Note that there is now NO COST for having existing handsets migrated to VoIP.  We also provide an excel [27k] and PDF [20k] version of our extension move form for your convenience.

Q. Who do I contact if I want a new extension?
A. The first stage in obtaining a new extension is to Email telephony@uea.ac.uk. You'll need to provide details of: the room number you wish to have the phone installed into, whether you require DDI (as defined above), what dial-out service you require, who the phone should be registered to in the phone book and with the operators and, of course, which account code the running costs should be charged to. The costs of installation, thanks to our policy of providing new handsets via VoIP, is at the fixed price of £100 inc. To aid this process we have provided both an excel [27k] and PDF [20k] version of our new extension request form.  Minimum lead times are stated in our Lead times for cabling document.

Q. Who do I contact if I'm swapping extension?
A. If the two telephone numbers are on the same exchange, i.e. they are either both 591000 and/or 597000 or they are both 592000 and/or 593000 numbers - then this can be done by the nominated contact for telephony calling the operators on extension 0. Usually these changes are actioned the same or the next business day at zero cost. Note: it is usually necessary for the request to be made for number swaps to be made from BOTH handsets which are part of the exchange. This prevents mistakes in identifying the numbers and, thus, inadvertently changing other numbers in error.

Where the numbers to be swapped are on different exchanges - then this is typically treated as a move or change and so each handset (and related handset) will be changed to a VoIP handset at no cost. Contact telephony@uea.ac.uk to start this process. The lead time on this is dependent on the workload of our engineers - see our Lead times for cabling document for indicative timeframes.  We also provide an excel [27k] and PDF [20k] version of our extension move form for your convenience.

Q. What happens about the call charges?
A. Each month the accounting server totals up the calls made from each extension and assigns them to each department. The total is deducted from the department accounts and the list of calls, and their charges, are sent through for reference.  Both the VoIP and the analogue exchange are tied to the same accounting server so migrations between exchanges and call rates are consistent.

Q. So what about if I use a third party - I phone them and then make an onward call because it's cheaper?
A. The call logging server isn't able to make the distinction between a direct dialled number and one which is going through an external call provider. To this end the discounted call rate will not be able to be passed back to you.

Q. So what's the next stage for telephony, what will you be doing next?
A. We are in the process of migrating the University to the next step in voice communication - namely VoIP (Voice over IP) or IPT (IP Telephony), where 'IP' stands for Internet Protocol - the communications schema used for the Internet. We have some remote sites of the University using VoIP handsets which provide UEA extensions away from campus (see our VoIP FAQ page for more information on this service) as well as an increasing number of locations on campus (see our VoIP roll-out schedule for details).

Benefits of this include: single infrastructure (no more need for high capacity phone lines in parallel with data connections), and ease of deployment and migration/management (simply unplug the phone and replug to move/add lines into a location). A large number of organisations are looking into this technology and it may be possible to route phone calls directly between institutions (especially those on JANET).

If the above FAQs do not answer your query then you could try the following:
IT Helpsheets and documents
IT Services section of this website
Contact the relevant IT Helpdesk (see below)  

There are also FAQS about other areas of  IT Services.

 

Contact:

IT Helpdesk: extension 2345 (external callers: 01603 592345),  Contact Helpdesk
 

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