Did you get a new phone in your room at school?  Hurray for you if you did!  To help you understand how to use your new phone, we have put together this handy little blog entry as well as a few cheatsheets.

The phone is pretty simple…as you would expect a phone to be!…but there are a few special characteristics about it:

For one, it doesn’t plug into a normal phone line plug.  It actually uses the same internet (IP) connection that your computer uses to connect to the network, which is why most of the time, you will find the phone right next to a computer.  The phone uses Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology to place your phone call (same kind of things that makes Skype pretty cool).  Because of this, an individual phone can have a specific extension tied to it and become pretty smart!  It even gets tied to your specific location, so if you call from the phone in an emergency, they know exactly where you are! (So NEVER move your phone!)

The second characteristic that makes the phone pretty powerful is it’s wide range of features and menus, all accessable through the various buttons on it’s display and view screen.  What are all of those options?  It’s the basics, like setting up voicemail, checking messages, etc., but also some fairly valuable features in checking missed calls, slowing down speech, and more.

So how do you get to all those features?  Well, to find that out, you will need to check out the cheatsheets we created for your phone!  You can find them in our resources section or by simply click HERE!  And of course, feel free to call the Help Desk at ext. 0220 if you have any questions…

But how to do I make a call or receive a call?!  That’s a great question!  The phones will not ring during the school day if dialed from outside of the building, but you can dial from room to room from within the building as long as you know the classroom extension to a specific classroom. 

PLEASE NOTE: The number on your phone is not the same as your assigned voicemail extension! 

To find your voicemail extension, please CLICK HERE and enter your last name! 

If someone does call the classroom extension in your classroom, that call will automatically be sent to your campus’s front office.

That may have been confusing,so let’s look at it again:

Classroom Extension: This is the extension number on the phone in your classroom.  There is NO voicemail tied to this number.  It will NOT ring during the day…unless that extension is dialed by another classroom in the building or from an office in your building.  It WILL ring before and after the school.

Voicemail Extension: This is the extension you should give to parents!  If a parent calls you on this number, it won’t go to any phone, but rather to a voicemail box, where you will receive an email notification that you have a voicemail that you need to check.

And how do you dial out?  Simply press 9 before dialing!  Your campus phone number will show up on the caller ID.

We hope the new phones in your room are a huge help for you staying connected with your colleauges and students’ parents.  Don’t forget to check out our Cisco Phone Cheatsheets and if you run into any problems, please call the Help Desk at ext. 0220 and they will get you going!  Happy dialing!