Soft Phones

A softphone is a software program that allows for making telephone calls using a computer, cell phone, iPad, etc. rather than a dedicated physical phone. Softphones will take place within the Microsoft Teams environment. Users will be able to use their Teams application to make calls, configure their speed dials, check their voicemails and answer their extension, wherever they are, using Teams.

The Telecom billing model of $30 per month per extension plus long-distance fees will apply to Microsoft Teams Softphones.

Migration will be per department and take place from November 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022. OIT is requesting to attend an all-staff meeting for each department and using 10-15 minutes to review how to use softphones and answer any questions at that time. Departments have an opportunity to sign up for their migration date by selecting a date here. During this time, the department will be migrated over from physical to softphone capabilities. Departments that have not signed up for migration date by February 1, 2022, will automatically be assigned a forced migration date.

Individual users who currently have an extension, will be migrated over to MS Teams softphones when their department identifies a date/time. After a department has been migrated over, requests for new users (extensions) may be requested by submitting a ticket to the Service Desk. New users/extensions will need to meet any previous Cisco requirements until April 2022, and requests may be delayed as prioritization of departments migrating will take place over new requests.

During the migration period, users will be required to hang onto their current phones. Once the migration has been completed and the Cisco phones are no longer required, we will release a plan for disposal of the Cisco phones.

For MS Teams softphones, dialing a “9” for an outside phone number will no longer be required.

No. An extension for Teams Softphones will be $30 and act as a regular phone line.

Voicemail box only users will retain their voicemail box only extension as their new extension. The primary extensions attached to the voicemail box only extensions will not carry over to the new system.

As of September 29, 2021, we do not have a formal migration plan for call centers. Please check back later for more information.

No. Each user will be responsible for setting up their new voicemail and any existing messages will not transfer to the new system.

Migration will be per department and take place from November 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022. OIT is requesting to attend an all-staff meeting for each department and using 10-15 minutes to review how to use softphones and answer any questions at that time. Departments have an opportunity to sign up for their migration date by selecting a date on the virtual calendar here. During this time, the department will be migrated over from physical to softphone capabilities. Any departments that have not signed up for migration date by February 1, 2022, will automatically be assigned a forced migration date.

Only until the migration has been completed.

Yes! Unlike the with the current method, speed dials can be set and controlled by the user within Teams.

Yes! To do so, the user in control of the line will need to delegate to you through Teams. Lines not associated with individuals will have to request delegation from Telecom.

Unlike extensions assigned to a physical phone and department, extensions will stay with the users Microsoft Teams profile. If a user changes departments, the phone number will go with the person to the new department. It is the departments’ responsibility to submit a ticket to update billing. OIT is not responsible for journal entries to correct extension billing due to a transfer of user.

Yes! So long as the student has an active st-xxxx email account, and the department agrees to the monthly service charges as well as any additional applicable fees, the student may have a phone extension. Please see FAQ #3 for requesting this service. A disconnect ticket would need to be submitted should the service no longer be desired for this account.

No. The expense of an extension will reside within one department only. Should the expense need to be shared, this will be the responsibility of the departments to now provide the appropriate Journal Entries.

Yes! All analog lines will be cut-over to the new system as a collective independent of the respective department migrations due to hardware requirements. Any analog lines currently used in conjunction with a Cisco phone will only be cut-over as a Teams soft phone with the respective department migration.

At this time, headsets and (Teams) physical phones are not available. Once inventory has been received, users will be able to request certain hardware by submitting a ticket. The FAQs will be updated as more information about inventory is received.