August 12, 2004

Information Technology (IT) will update the ROLM telephone system on Monday, Aug. 16 as a result of faculty and staff requests.

The first update simplifies the erase/delete command by removing the confirmation step. With this update, if faculty or staff want to erase/delete a message after listening to it, they only have to press the 7 key, and the system will proceed to the next message without requiring a confirmation step.

The second update eliminates the new or old voice prompt. Users no longer have to press 1 for the new system, or press 2 for the old system (if you were still doing so). Employees will now be taken directly to the new system when they access their voice mailbox.

Users wishing to access the old system may still do so by dialing extensions 6-1311 through 6-1318.

Following are five of the top questions related to the new voice mail system. Additional frequently-asked-questions can be found at www.uh.edu/voicemail.

Q How can I get the date and time my messages are recorded?
A Press 5 anytime during the message playback or at the end of the message to get date and time      information.

Q When listening to messages, how do I change the order of my messages?
A Contact Customer Services Telephone Support at 3-1111 and request a “message order change.” By      default you will hear the most recent message when retrieving messages. To reverse the order and hear      an older message first, select order change to “first in, first out.”

Q How can I delete a message and skip to the next message without listening to the entire message?
A While listening to a message, press 3-3-7 to skip to the end of the message and delete it. If you want      to skip to the next message without deleting, press 3-3.

Q Sometimes I think I have lost a message. Is this possible?
A Research has indicated that the system is not losing any messages. Two possibilities exist as to why it      may appear that a message has been lost:

• Some callers are activating the voicemail system by hanging up without leaving a message. To minimize this, the minimum message duration has been increased to two seconds.
• Occasionally the message waiting indicator light gets out of sync. IT has identified the problem and is implementing a solution to ensure that the message waiting indicator light stays in sync. Messages that have been delivered to your voice mailbox are not affected by the message waiting indicator light. They remain in your voicemail box until you handle them.

Q How do I bypass the voice mail prompts?
A If you know the appropriate menu response/option you can press it at any time before the prompt      message completes to bypass the prompt. For example, when calling for messages, you do not need to      wait for the system to ask for your password; you can key it in as soon as the system answers.

For more information, go to www.uh.edu/voicemail. Questions regarding telephone or voicemail services can be directed to 713-743-1111 or voicemail@uh.edu.