Telephone and Voice-Mail Services

Telephone

Students need to provide their own phones. The touch tone feature and a modular jack (RJ11) are required. CNS does not recommend or guarantee the effectiveness of cordless phones in a residence hall or clubhouse setting. Answering machines are not needed since voice mail is provided. A basic outline of phone system feature will be provide upon arrival. A complete outline, including instructions, is available in the campus phone directory.

Voice Mail

Voice mail functions as an answering service and is provided to all faculty, staff and students. Voice mail also functions as a campus-wide announcement service. Information such as weather announcements and upcoming activities is delivered to all voice mailboxes. There are also dial-up announcement mailboxes which provide similar services.

• Residence Halls/Students. Using a concept known as "shared-extension voice mail" each roommate has their own voice mail box. Students, especially those living off-campus, may access this information at will. Instructions for student shared-extension mailbox initialization are found here and available at the front desk of CNS. For instructions on how to use your voicemail from your cell phone, click here.
• Campus Offices/Employees. Most offices are provided with a single line phone which has a small light to indicate the presence of voice messages. Instructions for dialing on and off campus as well as voice mail initialization and utilization are printed in the inside front cover of the yearly university phone book. You may also access these instructions as a PDF file.

Dterm Series E (multi-line) Telephone User Guide

For those employees with the new NEC Dterm Series E telephone, here is the User Guide.  This guide should answer 99% of your questions regarding normal operation of this phone in the Muskingum University environment.

Directory

Campus Directory information is also available through the university web page. In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), you have the right to have "directory information" withheld. If you wish to exercise this right, and expect this information to be excluded from the directory, please contact the Registrar's Office prior to the end of drop/add. A copy of the yearly campus directory is distributed to every student's U.S. mail box at the start of school.

Long Distance Authorization Code (AuthCode)

Students may request a secure PIN to make long distance calls by signing the Long Distance Service Agreement. This 5-digit PIN is combined with the last four digits of the students ID number to create a unique long distance authorization code (AuthCode) to insure that students are not billed for calls placed by others. Therefore the PIN should not be given to others. The person accepting a PIN takes full responsibility for calls placed against it. Long Distance PINs are distributed via email. Forgotten PINs cannot be recovered, however, upon request CNS can deactivate a PIN and issue a new one. Positive identification is required when requesting a PIN. New PIN requests, as well as requests for deactivation, may be made in person at the CNS office, 331 Boyd Science Center.

Student Telephone Rates

Direct dialed toll calls are billed directly to the student's telephone account at the rate of 6 cents per minute. After the first minute, calls are billed in 10 second increments. Students are not taxed on these calls. These rates are generally less expensive than calling cards. Calling card providers normally apply a surcharge on each call. These surcharges can be as low as 25¢ and as high as $1.00. Therefore, we recommend that students utilize our direct dial capabilities.

Telecommunication Fee

Unlimited on-campus and local calling is provided as a component of the telephone fee. Long distance calls are billed directly to the student on a monthly basis. Students with unpaid long distance charges in excess of $50.00 will have their long distance AuthCode disabled until payment occurs. Bills are sent directly to the student's on-campus mailbox unless otherwise specified on the Long Distance Services Agreement.