The installation phase of the campus telephone upgrade has been completed. Please see http://manhattan.edu/phone for details.
Why Upgrade?
As with any technology, there eventually comes a time when that technology no longer performs optimally - becoming harder and more costly to maintain, running out of capacity, and operating less efficiently that newer models. The "old" campus telephone system was installed in the 1990's and was desupported by the manufacturer in the mid-to-late 2000s - making it harder and more costly to find replacement parts, run, and maintain. At the same time, we were running out of capacity and did not have the ability to upgrade or add new features.
The process of selecting a replacement system started over 2-years ago and a number of solutions from a variety of vendors were reviewed including innovative cloud-based solutions, campus-hosted VoIP (Voice over IP) systems, more traditional digital/analog systems, as well as hybrid solutions that incorporated one or more of these technologies. With more and more resources needed to maintain the aging telephone system, the "conservative" decision was made in Fall 2012 to move to a new system that most closely matched our existing system, using the incumbent telephone support vendor who had been maintaining our "old" telephone system for a number of years and was most familiar with what was already in place and the requirements for the new system to be deployed.
Installation / Repair
The installation phase of the campus telephone upgrade has been completed. We are aware that a small number of locations that have not been upgraded due to access limitations or inaccurate documentation. Telephone installation resources will be available the first 2 weeks of school to provide priority support for installations and repair requests If you have not received a new phone or need changes to your new phone, please contact phone@manhattan.edu
Name Change
Please forward all requests for name change (updates and/or spelling changes) to phone@manhattan.edu
Conference Rooms
If you are responsible for reserving or maintaining a conference room with a conference telephone, please test the conference phone prior to scheduling use. We have seen instances where conference room phones were not properly migrated. Issues should be reported to phone@manhattan.edu Early in the Fall semester, ITS will be unveiling a new network-connected (VoIP) portable conference solution for use across campus.
Voicemail Setup
Dialing x7116 (or 718-862-7116) current presents users with a choice of accessing the “old” or “new” voicemail systems. Access to the “old” voicemail system will be removed on Monday 9/9/2013. Please see voicemail transition instructions here for information on retrieving any messages left on the old system as well as performing the intial setup steps for your new voicemail box. Any voicemail message on the “old” system will not be accessible after 9/9/2013. Please note that once your phone was replaced, messages were no longer being delivered to the “old” system.
Voicemail Features
One of the most-requested features delivered by the new telephone system is the ability to forward voicemail messages to your email inbox - providing the ability to receive and check voicemail messages from any network connected device including smartphones, iPads/tablets, laptops, and desktop computers with speakers. Click here opt-in to the Voicemail to Email feature.