April 07 Phone Issues

Issues we are investigating:

1. Widespread issues with phone conversations cutting out, garbled speech, etc.
   • We have found out why this is happening. The two phone switches communicate with each other using the internet (both the East side phone switch and the West side phone switch are connected to the internet and communicate with each other over that connection). The East side Internet connection is shared between the phone system and the student wireless network. This causes a lot of data to be going out over that line and phone traffic gets dropped sometimes, especially when there is a lot of student Internet traffic. That’s why you will be ok talking across the street at certain times of the day (low student Internet traffic times).
     Solution:
     • Install new direct, dedicated data lines from Nuvox (one for each phone system) for the phone system to communicate with each other. We are currently having Nuvox price this out. This will also result in us moving the student internet connection to the LRC on the west side of campus, significantly improving the speed on that network. The net result willbe adding 2 new lines (nlsm lines).  We will be taking the old T1 from the Raines Bldg and using that as the student internet connection on the West side of campus. I am waiting on Nuvox to give us pricing on this. I just called them about this option today (3-30-07)
   • Need to set up FlexiCall for 7232 (security) to dial security cell phone.  Needs to be changeable for cell phone 1 or 2 or both at the same time. - We can’t set up Flexicall for 7232 as it is currently a boss group number.  If we remove the boss group and give one of the security phones the 7232 number instead, we can set up Flexicall for that.  With Flexicall, both the cell and the actual phone ring at the same time and the first to answer gets the call.

Issues we have to call CSM to fix.

1. OM would like an analog fax line installed for Carol Collett in her office.  ITS is waiting on an account number from OM to which to charge.

Issues Fixed:

1. Delinda in Physical Plant has requested a digital Coral FlexiCom FlexSet 280D - Price: $266.00 (does not include phone and line programming fees). She currently has the Coral FlexiCom FlexSet 120D.  The phone is on order from CSM, Florida. Fixed on 4/10/07.
2. Extension 7114 (Fax line) is unreliable.   4/2/07 - I called Verizon and they are going to install that phone line in the Ratliff Ministry Center. They said that they will be out on April 5, between 8 and 12. They will also be able to use that same number (863-638-7114) - Fixed on 4/5/07.
3. The gateway cards had out of date firmware.  - Bob from CSM updated the firmware as well as the compression used for calls going between the phone switches across the gateway.

E-mail Security

Every once in a while, we find an article that does a good job of explaining how to protect yourself in this technological world of e-mail, spam, viruses, etc.

 The link below goes to an article that is very helpful with the latest ideas that you can do yourself to help protect your e-mail account(s).

 Enjoy.

http://www.itsecurity.com/features/25-common-email-security-mistakes-022807/

March ‘07 phone issues

Issues we are investigating:

1. Widespread issues with phone conversations cutting out, garbled speech, etc. (Jeff Hayes-7256 and Andrew McAllister-7250 are the latest to report it)
   • We have found that this is only happening in 3 situations:
     When calling someone on the other side of campus directly
     When you are transferred a call from the other side of the campus
     When you check your voicemail from the east side of campus
   • We have found out why this is happening. The two phone switches communicate with each other using the internet (both the East side phone switch and the West side phone switch are connected to the internet and communicate with each other over that connection). The East side Internet connection is shared between the phone system and the student wireless network. This causes a lot of data to be going out over that line and phone traffic gets dropped sometimes, especially when there is a lot of student Internet traffic. That’s why you will be ok talking across the street at certain times of the day (low student Internet traffic times).
     Possible solutions:
     • There are 4 possible solutions (listed here in order of cost - lowest first)
     • Buy a separate Internet connection for the phone system to use on the East side. (Cost = time to program the change - $300.00 one time, plus over $400/month from that point on for the extra line.
     • Install new direct, dedicated data lines from Nuvox (one for each phone system) for the phone system to communicate with each other.  We are currently having Nuvox price this out.  This would also result in us moving the student internet connection to the LRC on the west side of campus, significantly improving the speed on that network.  The net result would be adding 2 new lines (nlsm lines) and dropping the Raines bldg internet T1 that was used for the phone system.  I am waiting on Nuvox to give us pricing on this.  I just called them about this option today (3-14-07)
     • Pay $28,000 for a new wireless link across the highway so that the phone systems could communicate with one another. 
     • Bury a fiber-optic cable across the highway and let the phone switches on with sides of campus communicate over that connection. (Cost would be approximately $30,000)
2. Extension 7114 (Fax line) this is unreliable.
   1. 2/26/07 - We ran a new cable on Monday, 2/26/07, for that fax extension and the problem still exists.
   2. 2/26/07 - Nuvox informed us that we must call Verizon to get a local phone line installed. They also said that Verizon should be able to port that number from Nuvox, hence keeping the same phone number for the fax line. I want to try to get the same extension so we don’t have to change our documentation.
   3. 2/27/07 - I called Verizon and they are going to install that phone line in the Ratliff Ministry Center. They said that they will be out on March 21, between 8 and 5. They will also be able to use that same number (863-638-7114).  This date is approximate due to Verizon having to wait on Nuvox to release the number before they are able to hook it up.
3. When dialing 7232 (security) from the East side, the call fails.
4. Delinda in Physical Plant has requested a digital Coral FlexiCom FlexSet 280D - Price: $266.00 (does not include phone and line programming fees). She currently has the Coral FlexiCom FlexSet 120D
5. Lottie’s phone is having issues calling the West side of campus (and people are having a hard time connecting to her from the West side as well.

Issues we have to call CSM to fix.

1. nothing at the moment

Issues Fixed:

1. Security says that everyone that calls them shows up as Veta Marshall  from physical plant. Fixed - Actually, the cell phone for Security 1 was showing the number as 638-1426, which is the general Warner number.  When security forwards their phone (ext. 7232) to the cell phone (412-0916), it is actually dialing an outside number.  Any Warner phone dialing the outside shows as 638-1426.  The cell phone had the wrong name in the contact list for that number, so we changed it from Veta to Warner Xfer so we would know that it is a call being forwarded from the security phone 7232.
2. The faculty lobby phone in LRC needs a new extension number (7683) and then we can get the 1-800-497-2972 number to go there, and then call-forward to Cindy if no-one is there. Fixed. 
3. Physical Plant has requested a new phone line put in their lobby. They would like it to be a digital line. They will use the old digital phone from Delinda’s desk that is being replaced by the Coral FlexiCom FlexSet 280D. The charge will be $95/hr. Fixed - the extension of the new line is 7813 - 1.5 hours to set up
4. Dr. Dall (ext. 7230) says that his voice mail lamp is not lighting up when he has voicemail.  Fixed - his boss group setup was backwards.  Once corrected by Bob, the lamp started working - 1.5 hours to troubleshoot and fix
5. Voice Mail issue
   1. Due to a water leak in the LRC during the last major rainfall we had, the voice mail server was damaged beyond repair. We placed a new system on order and it just arrived at our service provider’s offices on Wednesday, Feb 28, 2007. They (CSM) will be out on Thursday, March 1, with the new voice mail system. They have scheduled Thursday and Friday for the install. Fixed
6. Dr. Terry Fasel would like his phone (x5122) set up to ring to Kim Buchanon instead of to voice mail. Fixed
7. Extension 7306 (Internal Athletics) is not able to dial long distance numbers, even using codes that are valid. Fixed - turns out it worked the whole time, so there must have been something wrong with the phone that they were trying to use.
8. Jeff Hayes would like his phone setup so that if callers got my voice mail and dialed “0″ they could be transferred to NANCY nancy Anderson. Currently, if they dial zero, once they get his voice mail, they are taken back to the main switchboard. This is a setting that should also be set on the voicemail box for #7115 and any other extensions in the Church Ministry Group that have voicemail. 
   1. We will have to look into that.  It’s an unusual request that we have not done before.  We may have to call CSM to have this done.

Over 195 people using wireless!

There are over 195 people signed up and using the wireless system.  It appears as though the bandwidth is holding up.  However, as more and more people get signed up to use the wireless, it will slow somewhat.  Internet browsing should be fine. 

Hewlett Packard is still trying to solve the problem that is causing our wireless network to reboot every so often.  As a matter of fact, they have sent engineers out 3 times to look at the problem.  They think they have it narrowed down.  It looks like there are some older network cards that are causing problems on the network.  The problems are not a result of intentional abuse, but rather a problem with the HP equipment itself.  We are actually helping them solve a problem that everyone has with this particular piece of equipment (we were the ones that found the problem). 

 For helping them, they have assured us that they will give us more wireless access points for free.  This will enable us to spread wireless to even more places on campus.  We look forward to being able to do this, so as soon as they fix this problem, we will be working on just that.

 We’ll keep everyone up to date with their progress.

February 07 Phone Issues

 Issues we are investigating:

1. Voice Mail issue
   1. Due to a water leak in the LRC during the last major rainfall we had, the voice mail server was damaged beyond repair.  We placed a new system on order and it just arrived at our service provider’s offices on Wednesday, Feb 28, 2007.  They (CSM) will be out on Thursday, March 1, with the new voice mail system.  They have scheduled Thursday and Friday for the install.
2. Widespread issues with phone conversations cutting out, garbled speech, etc.
   • We have found that this is only happening in 2 situations:  
     When calling someone on the other side of campus directly
     When you are transferred a call from the other side of the campus
   • We have found out why this is happening.  The two phone switches communicate with each other using the internet (both the East side phone switch and the West side phone switch are connected to the internet and communicate with each other over that connection).  The East side Internet connection is shared between the phone system and the student wireless network.  This causes a lot of data to be going out over that line and phone traffic gets dropped sometimes, especially when there is a lot of student Internet traffic.  That’s why you will be ok talking across the street at certain times of the day (low student Internet traffic times).
     Possible solutions:
     • There are 3 possible solutions (listed here in order of cost - lowest first)
       Connect the two phone switches to the corporate network and let them use our wireless like across the highway to talk to one another, just like our computers do. (Cost = time to program the change - approximately $300.00 one time) Bob from CSM is checking on this to see if it’s possible. We think it is, but he’s the expert.
     • Buy a separate Internet connection for the phone system to use on the East side. (Cost = time to program the change - $300.00 one time, plus over $400/month from that point on for the extra line.
     • Bury a fiber-optic cable across the highway and let the phone switches on with sides of campus communicate over that connection.  (Cost = a lot more)
3. Extension 7306 (Internal Athletics) is not able to dial long distance numbers, even using codes that are valid. Bob, from CSM, said that this was not blocked in the system and that we need to call Nuvox to find out what the problem is. We also need to try other valid long distance codes. We will test this Wednesday, Feb 28.
4. Extension 7114 (Fax line) this is unreliable. 
   1. 2/26/07 - We ran a new cable on Monday, 2/26/07, for that fax extension and the problem still exists.  
   2. 2/26/07 - Nuvox informed us that we must call Verizon to get a local phone line installed.  They also said that Verizon should be able to port that number from Nuvox, hence keeping the same phone number for the fax line.  I want to try to get the same extension so we don’t have to change our documentation.
   3. 2/27/07 - I called Verizon and they are going to install that phone line in the Ratliff Ministry Center.  They said that they will be out on March 9, between 8 and 5.  They will also be able to use that same number (863-638-7114). .
5. Extension 7256 (Jeff Hayes) is experiencing cut-out and interference - We will watch to see if the cut-outs are happening on direct-dialed numbers from that side of the campus (West).  We know it is happening when talking b/n the East and West sides.  Also, it appears that it may also be happening on phone calls that are transferred from switchboard on the East side to someone on the West side.
6. Extension 7250 (Admissions) is experiencing excess noise on the line, as well as the phone cutting out while in the middle of a conversation. - We will watch this one just like Jeff Hayes’ issue.  I think they are probably due to the same issue.

Issues we have to call CSM to fix.

1. The faculty lobby phone in LRC needs a new extension number and then we can get the 1-800-497-2972 number to go there, and then call-forward to Cindy if no-one is there. We have given the necessary information to Bob at CSM for him to create the new extension. We will try following up with him on Monday, 2/26/07, for extension creation. 

Issues Fixed:

1. Kurt Bienias asked for a black phone cord to match his new black analog phone. Fixed
2. Extension 7646 (Faith Gallian in the RD office at the Women’s Dorm) has been reported as to not being able to use her long distance code.  Fixed
3. Extension 7636 (Kurt Bienias) is experiencing interference from other lines while having conversations on the 7636 line. Bob said we need to try giving Kurt a new phone to see if that solves the problem first. We will bring one over Friday. Fixed. We will consider this fixed, but Kurt will continue to let us know if it continues. He said the problem has mostly surfaced on Fridays, so it’s hard to test that specifically, as he is often out of town on those days.
4. Jeff Hayes needed 3 extension numbers to which to be able to forward. We set up 7000 to go to xxx-1055, 7001 to go to xxs-1532, and 7002 to go to xxx-9122 (I am leaving out the xxx parts for privacy). Fixed
5. Jeff Hayes needed 3 extension numbers to which to be able to forward. We set up 7000 to go to xxx-1055, 7001 to go to xxs-1532, and 7002 to go to xxx-9122 (I am leaving out the xxx parts for privacy). We set this up for his regular extension, 7256, but he would also like to do the same thing from 7115 (his other extension, I guess). Fixed
6. Student Accounts needs an additional line at the front desk.  Fixed
7. When Wendy Riggins (Ext. 7231) calls the West side, she gets a “CoDisc.xxxx Cause#000″ message (where xxxx is the extension she is calling) on her phone and does not hear it ring, and the person on the other end hears a ring, but there is no one there. Fixed
8. Ken Ebanyat’s phone (Ext. 5140)  is not reachable using a direct number from the outside. It needs a DID set for it. Fixed
9. Registrar Student Worker phone (ext. 7320) is not ringing. Fixed
10. Faith Gallian (ext. 7596) is not ringing. Fixed
11. Athletics needs a new phone in Alicia’s office. Her student worker needs it.   Fixed - new extension 7532
12. Extension 7117 (Cindy Polston) is not lighting its voice mail lamp when messages are left. Bob fixed this problem. Cindy, can you verify this for me? I did not get a chance to ask you. Fixed
13. Extension 7240 (School of Ministry) seems to be set to a busy state and automatically rings to Office Manager–additional report submitted that line is dead when picked up. Pair has possibly gone faulty. Fixed- replaced analog phone

January 07 Phone Issues

1. Extension 7250 (Admissions) is experiencing excess noise on the line, as well as the phone cutting out while in the middle of a conversation. This is an analog phone that is due to be changed to a digital line as soon as possible.
2. Extension 7117 (Cindy Polston) is not lighting its voice mail lamp when messages are left. Bob fixed this problem. Cindy, can you verify this for me? I did not get a chance to ask you. Issue needs to be followed up on.
3. Extension 7636 (Kurt Bienias) is experiencing interference from other lines while having conversations on the 7636 line. Bob said we need to try giving Kurt a new phone to see if that solves the problem first. We will bring one over Friday. Issue needs to be followed up on–replacement analog phones have been shipped.
4. Extension 7306 (Internal Athletics) is not able to dial long distance numbers, even using codes that are valid. Bob said that this was not blocked in the system and that we need to call Nuvox to find out what the problem is. We also need to try other valid long distance codes. We will test this Friday. Issue needs to be followed up on.
5. The nex faculty lobby phone in LRC needs to get the 1-800-497-2972 number and then call-forward to Cindy if no-one is there. We need to have Nuvox change the DID for that 800 number to be 2972. He has programmed that when this happens, we can control to which phone the call goes. He has it set to go to 7117 (Cindy) when Nuvox does this. Then we will call Bob to have him remotely program the switch-over. Issue needs to be followed up on.

Previous Issues

1. Extension 5117 needs to be reactivated for department use. Additionally, the large operator style phone used by their office manager has stopped working; a replacement is needed. Bob did not get to this one today. He will look at this one as soon as he comes back out. Extension has been mapped to ring to main Physical Plant line, 7228.
2. Extension 7206 (Lottie Sanders) is not receiving voice mail notification lamps, and old messages do not clear out after being reviewed. Verified with Lottie that this is working properly.
3. Extension 7679 (Marvelia’s old office - which is vacant at the moment) is dead. Bob is still working on this one. Pair swapped for extension 7679. The problem regarding water affecting lines in the Cleary Center needs to be addressed.
4. Extension 7570 (Ken Rosover) is dead. Bob is still working on this one. The analog phone used for extension 7570 did not work properly. It has been swapped with the analog phone from the 7679 office, which is currently vacant. A replacement analog phone will need to be delivered and installed.
5. Extension 7230 (Dr. Darr) has set up voice mail, but cannot access it. Bob ran out of time but will dial in Friday, 1-18-07 to look at the problem more closely. Have edited the voicemail system CP.INI file (which required a voicemail system reboot) to ring to the correct extension in the 7230 boss group. Additionally had to configure the features properly for the boss groups to allow ringing through to the voice mail system.
6. Extension 4112 (Beth Boys) will not allow a voice mail box to be set, returns an error message stating a Private Library entry already exists. Bob ran out of time but will dial in Friday, 1-18-07 to look at the problem more closely. Issue has been resolved, voicemail box has been created.

Dec 06 and Jan 07 phone issues

Bob from CSM (our phone maintenance company) came out today, Thursday, 1/18/07 .  Everything that he did not get done, he will finish as soon as we schedule the next time he is available to come out.  CSM had him booked all day tomorrow, so it will probably be early next week.  This was his progress today:

1. Extension 7117 (Cindy Polston) is not lighting its voice mail lamp when messages are left.  Bob fixed this problem. Cindy, can you verify this for me?  I did not get a chance to ask you.

2. Extension 5117 needs to be reactivated for department use. Additionally, the large operator style phone used by their office manager has stopped working; a replacement is needed.  Bob did not get to this one today.  He will look at this one as soon as he comes back out.

3. Admissions has made several moves and require extension swaps.   Bob was able to move all of these extensions.

4. Extension 7206 (Lottie Sanders) is not receiving voice mail notification lamps, and old messages do not clear out after being reviewed.  Bob said he finished this.  Lottie, could you verify this for me?  I did not get a chance to call you to verify.  Thanks.

5. Outgoing caller IDs are being incorrectly displayed as our main campus phone line from several extensions, notably extension 7310/3907  (Danielle Richardson), extension 7218 (Joanie Kerr). Voice mails are also not allowing sufficient time to leave a message.  We discussed this with Danielle and Joannie and the extensions are working fine.  We all agreed that it was best to leave it as showing the general Warner Southern phone number (638-1426).  Also, Joannie said the phone message issue has been solved.

6. Phone swap needed for extensions 7634 and 7679 (both in Teacher Ed). Bob swapped the phones successfully. 

7. Extension 7679 (Marvelia’s old office - which is vacant at the moment) is dead. Bob is still working on this one.

8. Extension 7570 (Ken Rosover) is dead. Bob is still working on this one.

9. Extension 7230 (Dr. Darr) has set up voice mail, but cannot access it.  Bob ran out of time but will dial in Friday, 1-18-07 to look at the problem more closely.

10. Extension 4112 (Beth Boys) will not allow a voice mail box to be set, returns an error message stating a Private Library entry already exists. Bob ran out of time but will dial in Friday, 1-18-07 to look at the problem more closely.

11. Extension 7636 (Kurt Beinias) is experiencing interference from other lines while having conversations on the 7636 line.  Bob said we need to try giving Kurt a new phone to see if that solves the problem first.  We will bring one over Friday.

12. Extension 7306 (Internal Athletics) is not able to dial long distance numbers, even using codes that are valid.  Bob said that this was not blocked in the system and that we need to call Nuvox to find out what the problem is.  We also need to try other valid long distance codes.  We will test this Friday.

13. Swap 7655 with 7241.  Bob completed this successfully.

14. 7250 to be added to the same boss group as other admissions phones.  Bob completed this successfully.

15. New phone line for PLRC faculty lobby (extension 7661).  Bob completed this successfully.

16.  The nex faculty lobby phone in LRC needs to get the 1-800-497-2972 number and then call-forward to Cindy if no-one is there. We need to have Nuvox change the DID for that 800 number to be 2972. He has programmed that when this happens, we can control to which phone the call goes.  He has it set to go to 7117 (Cindy) when Nuvox does this.  Then we will call Bob to have him remotely program the switch-over.

Issues have been reported to CSM for service.

Dec 06 phone issues

The east side of campus is not currently able to retrieve voice mail messages. Dialing the voicemail button or voice mail extension directly yields the following error message UNDEFINED VMail APD. Additionally, polling the east side system via the network reveals that for each voice mail extension there is “No Card” in the shelf. A visual check of the hardware reveals a OP-STA2 error light (red light).

A service ticket has been opened with CSM.

ICMC hard drive was diagnosed as unusable. All East side telephone users were redirected to West side voice mail system. ICMC hard drive was not repairable and it is also an end-of-life product.

Extension 7636 and 7298 need to be swapped

Extensions swapped. Additionally, CSM technician programmed Station Relocation feature that can be run in-house for simple phone swaps–as long as phones are of the same platform.

Extension 7306 in Turner Athletic Center gym floor did not work.

Pair switched and line is working as normal.

Technician also noted that our West Side CMC 7.49 voice mail system is only running on four ports. We will need to locate four additional ports to ensure lines do not go to busy instead of going to our voice mail system.Extension 7258 noise issues addressed. Technician switched cable pairs and tested OK.

Nov - Dec 06 phone issues

The switchboard is having issues with night ring and forwarding to other extensions. We need to test each situation to ensure proper working functionality. If either of them does not work correctly, we need to have CSM fix it. Issue has been reported to CSM for service Technician programmed a group FWD button on the operator’s phone. In the evening, button can be pressed to redirect all incoming phone calls to our Security Department.

Church Ministry extension 7115 is experiencing a problem remotely retrieving voice mails. East side system has been checked and the 7115 voice mail box that had been on that system has been deleted. There should only be a 7115 voice mail box created on the West side phone system. Previous problems such as this were due to a routing issue. Extension 7115 was added to the extension remap in the CMC software.

Entry originally posted November 28, 2006.
School of Business extension 7310 is experiencing problems transferring calls to other extensions within their department. Issue has been reported to CSM again, and will be addressed during next service call.

School of Business extension 7573 is expericing interference on their handset. On occasion, conversations on other extensions can be heard (notably conversations on extension 3801). It has also been reported than Nextel phone conversations can be heard on the phone line as well. Extension 7573 had static, however, has been clear for a a few days.

Athletics extension 7258 is experiencing a high amount of noise on their line. Issue has been reported to CSM again, and will be addressed during next service call.

Two new phone additions in Church Ministry, in addition to service needed on analog lines 7114 and 7115. FAX line on extension 7114 is connected to a non-twisted pair house cable and is located 2500 to 3000. This cable does not meet modern standards in communication and will need to be upgraded. Extensions 7150 and 7151 were added to the Church Ministry offices

Miscellaneous
Extension 5135 was updated to display Phone Room–was previously FAX Athletics. For future reference: UGW cards are version 3.19 and will need to be upgraded to version 3.33. Upon logging into East Side Coral system, a general protection fault was noted on screen CS=8788, Tadiran will need a snapshot of dialog for troubleshooting.

108+ people now using wireless

It’s looking good for the wireless system on campus so far.  There are over 108 people signed up and using the wireless system.  It appears as though the bandwidth is holding up.  However, as more and more people get signed up to use the wireless, it will slow somewhat.  Internet browsing should be fine. 

ITS has noticed a small problem with the wireless that had not been reported to date.  Approximately two times per day, the wireless system reboots.  ITS has found the cause of this problem and is in communication with Hewlett Packard (HP) on fixing it.  Currently, this problem is not disrupting users enough to motivate calling into the ITS department, but ITS is looking to correct it as soon as possible.  The rebooting does disconnect people on the West side for about 3 minutes.  However, users on the East side don’t come back up until after about 7 minutes.  We will update this blog as soon as the problem is corrected.