Beginning at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, September 25, MGA’s Office of Technology Resources will be transitioning the Macon Campus phones from a traditional phone system to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system. This transition may potentially cause the Macon Campus switchboard (478.471.2700) to be down for up to three hours.
If you encounter a problem with the switchboard during this time, please use the alternate phone number to contact the Cochran Campus at 478.471.2701.
The message below was emailed to staff on Monday, September 23, from Geoffrey Dyer, chief information officer of MGA’s Office of Technology Resources, regarding the VOIP phone system port.
This Wednesday, September 25 at 10:00 AM, all remaining Macon numbers will be ported to our VOIP system. Included in this port is Middle Georgia State University’s main phone line, 471-2700. This number may be unavailable for several hours Wednesday morning, so an alternative number, 478-471-2701, has been established and will be available during the outage. Notices are being placed on InsideMGA and will appear on the MGA website Wednesday.
A list of phone lines being ported is available online - MaconPort2.xlsx. If your number is on the port list, you can expect your old AT&T desk phone to stop working and your VOIP phone to start working around 10:30 AM Wednesday. You will need to log into your VOIP phone using your MGA credentials, which you should do before Wednesday. If you have trouble logging into your phone, please review the material on our website or reach out to the IT Help Desk.
Once your number has been ported to VOIP, you will be able to receive and make external calls using Teams on your desktop, laptop, or mobile phone. On your Teams desktop application, a Calls tab will appear along with a dial pad. So long as you have a headset or webcam on your desktop, you will be able to make and receive calls. Internal calls and meetings will work the same as usual.
Should you wish to use your cell phone for work calls, you can do so by installing the Teams application found in your phone’s app store. When you use the Teams app on your phone, only your work number is displayed to the person you are calling. Please be sure to set your Quiet Hours in the Teams phone application so you will not be disturbed when you are not working!
There are a few key differences between the old system and our new VOIP system that you need to be aware of before Wednesday:
Additional VOIP information is located on our website, but if you have any questions or issues with your phone after the port Wednesday, please contact the IT Help Desk for assistance.