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New phone system will bring dialing changes

Telephone connections between the districts and Headquarters will change with introduction of a new phone system, explains Dave Merriweather of the Enterprise Technology Services Project Management Office.

The new VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) recently was installed in District 4; other districts will follow, explains Merriwether. The new system will reduce long-distance costs by using the ITD network rather than conventional phone services. It also replaces an obsolete and aging PBX system and brings new functionality not available with the old system.

Headquarters employees who want to contact counterparts in D-4 will first dial 4 and then the individual’s four-digit extension; for example, to reach the district office HQ callers would dial 47800.

“As we deploy VoIP to the other districts, the calling scheme will change to a five-digit pattern as it is in D-4 today,” Merriweather says. “The five-digit pattern will be made up of the district number, followed by the four-digit extension.”

As districts are converted to VoIP, Headquarters will become “7” and all calls from the district will begin with 7 and be followed by the four-digit Headquarters extension, such as 78000 for the main number.

“For technical reasons, D-3 will have to use long-distance to reach D-4 today and D-2 after D-2 conversion on July 20. D-3 will have to continue to dial D-2 and D-4 using long distance until D3 is converted to VoIP on Aug. 17. After VoIP rollout to D-3, the five-digit calling scheme will apply to D-3.

District	Dial number	Example
HQ to D4	4 then the extension	47820
D1 to D4	74 then the extension	747820
D2 to D4	84 then the extension	847820
D3 to D4	Must use long distance dialing
D5 to D4	84 then the extension	847820
D6 to D4	84 then the extension	847820
D4 to all districts	District number then the extension	11252 for D1, 24212 for D2 etc.
D4 to HQ	7 then the extension	78524