The project board has agreed that the charging model for the old telephony service should apply to the new telephony service for the duration of the Project implementation. When all users have been migrated to the new service then a review of applicable charges will be undertake.

The cost for a new phone and extension is as follows;

• Line rental per extension  -  £63.00 per annum charged on a monthly basis.
• Telephone setup charge - £70.00 (assuming no asbestos issues).
• Supply of standard handset (Cisco 6921) - £25.00.
• Supply of switchboard handset (Cisco 6961) - £190.00

Please note that additional charges will apply if a new UTP socket is required. Unfortunately it is not possible to give a fixed cost for this as there may be a requirement for asbestos surveys and removal.

Please use self service to make an enquiry.

At present there will be no additional charge for establishing the following features;

• Voicemail
• Hunt Groups
• Pickup groups

The issues relating to the connection of third party devices are many and complex but include the following;

• The University has contracted for a complete vendor specific solution and introducing third party devices may impact on the overall service provision in terms of service stability, quality of service and support overheads.
• Compatibility with the University’s Cisco Call manager VoIP solution – In addition to the above there is no guarantee that all third party devices will be compatible with the Cisco VoIP solution either initially or over software updates.
• Licenses – each phone acquires licenses when they register with our system. The more features a phone requires results in more licenses being taken from our fixed pool. Allowing third party devices to register without a proper evaluation and understanding of the license requirements would not be appropriate.

Support

• Cisco devices can be configured with ease whereas third party devices need to have their features determined and manually added to the system
• Issues with Cisco phones can be resolved by involving Cisco and Capita, however support for third party devices would not fall under our current support agreement.

We are all keen to ensure that the VoIP project is successful and deviating from the tendered solution at this stage would involve another risk to the project and possible cost increases due to operational support and license implications.

There are a number existing headsets that are compatible with the new Cisco phones. However some of these require a special converter cable to make them work. If this is a feature you require then please discuss your requirements with the project team via the helpdesk self service facility.

It is possible to keep your DECT phone and have it connected to the new system via an analogue to VoIP gateway. If you have a requirement for a new DECT phone then the project team should be contacted (via the helpdesk self service facility) to discuss options.

As for DECT phones, it is possible to keep your Analogue conference phone and have it connected to the new system via an analogue to VoIP gateway. If you have a requirement for a new Conference phone then the project team should be contacted (via the helpdesk self service facility) to discuss options.