The Office of Information Technology (OIT) has launched the Zoom Phone Transition Project, a phased transition from the university's 20-year-old on-premise phone system to Zoom Phone.
Zoom Phone works with the Zoom software you've used for meetings and webinars. You can make and receive audio calls from the devices you are already using, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. Plus, you can still have a desk phone if you want one. With Zoom Phone, you have complete control over your telephony experience.
Please see our
Overview of the St. Edward's University Zoom Phone Transition Project for a summary of the transition project and a list of Zoom Phone resources from Zoom and OIT.
This article covers:
What is the Zoom Phone Transition Project?
- The Zoom Phone Transition Project, led by the Office of Information Technology, aims to replace our existing 20-year-old outdated telephony system, which no longer serves the university's current or future communication needs. For more information, please see ourOverview of the St. Edward's University Zoom Phone Transition Project.
- Were replacing these services with Zoom Phone, a cloud-based voice platform. It will simplify operations and management, enhance reporting and improve availability within a secure and compliant environment.
What is the timeline to implement this new platform?
- The timeline is evolving as we learn from the first phase of the transition. We expect this phased transition to take approximately 10 months, and every effort is being made to accelerate this timeline.OIT will work closely with each department and school to ensure we communicate the appropriate details and create the best schedule for this major transition. For the latest updates to the Zoom Phone transition timeline, please see the project overview.
- Special devices such as fax machines, elevator phones, lab phones, blue light phones and fire panel phones will be migrated last.
What will happen to our existing phone numbers?
- Existing numbers will be retained and transferred over to the new Zoom Phone system.
Will we be provided mobile phones?
- Faculty and staff will not be provided with mobile phones. Please see the Electronic Communication Expense Reimbursement Policy, which establishes the standard reimbursements that the university will pay for employee-owned cellular telephones and related service plans used for certain critical job functions.
Will people see my personal number in Caller ID when I use Zoom from my cell phone?
- No. If you make a call from the Zoom app on your cell phone, the number that will be shown will be your university number. The name on the Caller ID will be your Zoom Profile Display Name. The default will display your full name. This can be changed by logging into Zoom via MyHilltop and editing your Zoom Profile settings to change the Display Name. The name that shows on the Caller ID will be "St. Edward's University," instead of yourname.
How will I access my voicemail using Zoom Phone?
- Voicemail is fully integrated into the Zoom client you already use. In addition, a notification that includes an automated transcription will be sent to your email when new voicemails are left. Should you prefer to use the desk phone to "dial into voicemails,"that is still possible. Zoom Phone will require a 6-digit PIN to check your voicemail from a desk phone. Your previous 4-digit Voicemail password on the old phone system will not work on Zoom Phone.
Will my voicemail greetings and voicemails be transferred to Zoom Phone?
- No, unfortunately, voicemail greetings and voicemails cannot be transferred to Zoom Phone. Once you have been switched to Zoom Phone, you will need to record a new personal voicemail greeting.
How do I contact university staff that have transitioned to Zoom Phone?
- During the Zoom Phone transition, we encourage all members of the university to use 10-digit dialing. This ensures smooth calling between Zoom Phone and the old system. While it might seem confusing, many faculty and staff, especially those working remotely, are already dialing the full 10-digit numbers. For those who have transitioned to Zoom Phone, makingcallsfrom contacts is recommended.
- Note: There is no need to add any extra digits to a number you are dialing. Meaning, you may dial the full 10-digit number as written (512-xxx-xxxx).
- About Four-Digit Dialing:If you still have an old on-campus phone, you will be able to use four-digit dialing to contact other lines who are using the old on-campus phone.
Will we be able to keep our desk phones?
- Faculty and staff are highly encouraged to choose a softphone (Zoom app on a device) over a replacement desk phone.
- If you choose to keep a desk phone, it will need to be replaced to work with Zoom Phone. You can request a desk phone when OIT starts toworkwith your department or school. Please keep an eye out for a survey from OIT, which will ask you if you would like a new desk phone.
What are the benefits of using softphones over desk phones?
- Ease of Use: Access meetings, phone and SMS capabilities all on the same devices you already use for your day-to-day work life.
- Mobility: Take Zoom Phone capabilities wherever you are whether you're working from your university office or home office.
How do I send an SMS using Zoom Phone? Can I send SMS messages to a group?
- Please see the Zoom Phone SMS FAQson what types of SMS messages you can send to university phone numbers. You can only send an SMS message to a group of up to 10 phone numbers.
How do I find my Zoom Phone University Contacts?
- Zoom Phone Contacts: St. Edward's Zoom Phone users can be found in the Zoom App. To find university contacts, go to the navigation "Menu" > "Contacts" > "All Contacts" >"Company Contacts."
- With Zoom Phone's auto-populate feature, faculty and staff can look up others' university phone numbers in Zoom Phone's Company Contactsby typing their name, which eliminates the need to look up campus numbers.
What new equipment will be deployed to support Zoom Phone and replace the old desk phones?
- The old desk phones will be replaced with a Yealink T54W IP Phone if you request a desk phone when OIT begins to work with your department or school. Please keep an eye out for a survey from OIT, which will ask you if you would like a new desk phone.If you do not request a desk phone, you will use only the Zoom app on your devices (softphone).
Will I be able to use my headset while using the Zoom Desktop App?
What are the minimum system requirements needed to use Zoom Phone on our computers and mobile devices?
How secure is the new Zoom Phone platform?
How reliable is Zoom Phone?
- Zoom Phone runs fully redundant systems across a multitude of data centers around the world, ensuring services remain intact during maintenance.
- Zoom Phone delivers a 99.99% service-level agreement (SLA) rating.
- Agreements with both Amazon AWS and Oracle OCI public cloud infrastructure provide built-in survivability in the event a data center loses internet, ensuring the highest level of uptime possible.
- Each person assigned to the shared line will have their Zoom account tied to it. The project team will be working closely with each department to determine how the phones are used including some of the advanced functionality, such as shared lines, call queues, etc. When we work with your department, one of our admins will add designated members to a shared line group. Once we set up the group, your Zoom account will be tied to that university-shared line. Here is more information from Zoom Phone on using shared lines.
- OIT is working closely with UPD through the transition to ensure Zoom Phone supports campus safety protocols. Please see our article about Emergency Services with Zoom Phonefor more information.
- We will always communicate if there is potential for planned network downtime. However, we know that despite the careful planning our team does to ensure a stable connection on campus, network downtime is a possibility. Once everyone on campus is fully migrated to Zoom Phone, when there is a power outage on campus, the desk phones will still work for at least 20 minutes. Laptops with batteries will still be connected to Wi-Fi access points and have the same 20-minute minimum run time. You could still use your personal device to make a call to 911 emergency services as needed.
- Yes, international calling is available upon request. When OIT begins working with each department, we assess both departmental and individual needs, which can include international calling.
Where can I find more Zoom Phone resources?