Description
Ohio University offers a number of phone solutions it offers faculty and staff depending on the use case and needs of the user.
For most users, Microsoft Teams Calling can be provisioned to you at no cost. This will enable you to place and receive calls, receive voice mails while out of office or otherwise away and access the many features of Microsoft Teams calling.
For other users, such as members of a university call center or when requesting a lab or common-area phone, a different solution may be required.
The "Request Phone Service" button at the top right of this page will ask you a few questions about the way you would use your requested phone line. An OHIO IT technician will follow-up with you regarding setup and billing (if necessary).
If you already have OHIO phone service but are experiencing an issue, please use the "Report Phone Issue" button.
Definitions
There are a variety of use-cases for phone service across OHIO University. When requesting service or discussing service solutions with a technician it will be helpful to understand the different types of phone services that are available and what we certain terms mean within the context of Phone Services at OHIO university.
If you are looking for university-approved headsets for our Softphones options they can be found here Article - Choosing a Headset
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OHIO Direct line - A personal line is a line that calls directly to your OHIO phone number. If you can make and receive calls from the device without the caller needing to interface with an operator or call queue system, you probably have a personal line. This is far and away the most common phone use-case at OHIO. Sometimes called an Individual Work Phone or Single-user Line
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Service Phone - A phone line that is published to the university or the public to contact a department or university service. This line can be forwarded to other phone numbers to answer incoming calls and will have a voice mailbox available on the line that the department can access.
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Device - A phone line for a SIP device that can make or receive phone calls. If the device processes credit card data then it must be secured to our PCI security standards
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Analog Line - An analog phone line used by devices requiring an RJ11 phone jack.
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Call Center - This is commonly used by departments such as Housing and the IT Service Desk. A caller is placed in a call queue and is connected with available agents when they are ready to take the call.
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Call Center Agent - Works as a call center agent and take phone calls for a call queue supporting our critical university functions.
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Departmental Line - Is when a single number rings several devices simultaneously.
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Front Desk Phone - Is an office-assistant/operator-type use case where calls come in to a single line and are frequently redirected to other numbers within a subset of other numbers.
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Common-Area Phone - A primarily outgoing phone line, which can be used to place calls (such as needing to make an emergency call in a lab or call out a conference call in a meeting room)
Who can access
- Any Ohio University faculty and staff
How to request access
Use the "Request Phone Service" button on the top right of this page.
Detail of Services
There is a difference in applicable phone service mediums depending on if the service is used in a Call Center environment or used to service an individual line. The two types are explored below.
Call Center Software
Cisco Finessse
Cisco Finesse is the system used to manage incoming call queues for our call centers at OHIO University. Finesse makes it possible to handle large numbers of incoming calls by automatically diverting those calls to pre-defined groups of people and queuing excess calls when all group members are busy.
Finesse Cost and Resources
Cisco Jabber
Jabber for Desktop is a softphone application that lets you use a Windows or Mac computer to place and answer calls from your Ohio University work number. It is primarily used by members of a call center and by some remote workers who are members of a shared departmental line.
Jabber Resources
Individual Line Options
Microsoft Teams Calling
Calls is a softphone application within Microsoft Teams that allows you to place and answer audio calls from your OHIO work number. You can have one-on-one calls or calls with several people. Using Teams Calling you can place calls to and receive calls from any phone number.
Microsoft Teams Resources
Physical Telephones
To support the Telephone Modernization Project, the University is adopting Teams Softphone as the primary phone service application for single line users. Physical telephones will only be issued when necessary to comply with safety regulations.
Telephones Cost and Resources
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Analog Line - $450
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Advanced Telephone (Wi-Fi Desk Telephone) - cost is current market cost and will be quoted upon request
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Conference Telephone - cost is current market cost and will be quoted upon request
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Article - Help and Resources: Telephones is available with resources for accessing telephone features.
Additional resources
Service support
Get help
- Visit the Technology Help Center (help.ohio.edu) to get live support, view outages, and browse trainings.
Accessibility
Ohio University strives to make its digital resources and services accessible to all visitors, including those with disabilities who may also be using assistive technology. If special steps are necessary in order to improve the accessibility of experiences for end users, those steps must be taken.
If you experience a barrier that affects your ability to access OHIO websites, videos, online forums, documents, or other information technology, please let us know.
For further information about OHIO's digital accessibility resources, see:
Security
The Ohio University Information Security Office strives to educate and empower the University community to appropriately manage risks and protect OHIO’s information and systems. This effort is facilitated through policies, standards, an information security risk management program, as well as other tools and guidance that are provided to the University community. This modern approach creates a safe computing environment in which the university community can teach, learn, and conduct research.
For additional information about OHIO’s security resources, see: