The solution is to move to five-digit dialing on campus.
An embargo on changes to extensions is in effect from
Monday June 26, 2006 until the five-digit conversion has
been made.
The embargo does not affect voicemail changes.
The evening of Tuesday August 8, 2006, after 5:00pm,
is the target date to
change the campus dialing plan from four to five-digit numbers.
All extensions and voicemail boxes will be changed with a minimal
interruption in service.
There will be a short interruption of telephone service as the
switch is made from four to five-digit dialling. It will be done
in the evening of Tuesday August 8 to lessen the impact of the brief outage.
SpeechAttendant is the computer application that answers all incoming
calls to the university's two outside numbers, 519 888-4567 and
519 885-1211. The call is directed on by entering an extension number
or saying the name in its directory. It can be used as an internal directory
by calling extension 7777 or extension 7-7777 after the change.
If you enter an extension number you will need to enter all five-digits of the new number to be successful but if you say the name then no change is needed and the system will read back to you the new extension.
All voicemail boxes will be renumbered from a four-digit number to
five to match the change in extension numbers. The voicemail passwords,
recorded greetings and any stored messages will not be affected.
It may take a day to renumber all of the voicemail boxes. When CallPilot asks you for your "mailbox" you may have to enter the old four-digit mailbox number until all the mailboxes get updated. The message waiting light will not function on the new five-digit extension number until the mailbox has been renumbered.
The 10-digit number for calling into a DID extension will not change.
These are numbers of the form 519 888-4xxx.
As described above, as internal extensions the number will be the last five digits -- 8-4xxx.
With the five-digit conversion, the number to access an outside line
will now be "6" instead of "9".
This change is being made to reduce the number of false 9-1-1 emergency calls.
Autodial and Call Forward values on telephone sets will be cleared. These will have to be reprogrammed with the new five-digit extensions and a leading "6" for outside calls.
Speed Call lists used by some groups on campus will have to be reprogrammed with a leading "6" for outside calls.
There will be no change when placing an Emergency Call from the campus.
The number to dial remains 9-1-1.
As an alternate Emergency Call number, the old system supported dialing 9-9-1-1. This number will continue to work but we discourage documenting and using this number as the standard Emergency Call number is 9-1-1 everywhere in North America.
Any device connected to an analog extension line that places an outgoing
telephone call will need to be reprogrammed. The leading digit to access
an outside line needs to be a "6" instead of "9". This change
cannot be made in advance of the changeover date.
And remember that all local calls require a 10-digit number.
The online Personel and
Departmental directories
now show the new five-digit extension numbers.
In how many places is your old four-digit extension still found?
Directories, websites, email signatures, letterheads and business cards
are just a few.
| Location | Five-digit extension | Outside Number |
|---|---|---|
| Security Help Line | 2-2222 | 519 888-4911 |
| Voicemail | 7-0000 | 519 888-4966 |
| University's main number: SpeechAttendant | 7-7777 | 519 888-4567 |
Need more information? Call Telephone Services at extension 6000 or
extension 3-6000 after August 8th.