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Telephone

Printed Directory

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NACS offers faculty and staff the option of receiving a printed campus directory. To manage costs and conserve resources, NACS wants to ensure that copies of the printed directory are sent only to those who require them.  To receive a printed directory, you must request one at the directory update web page.  NACS thanks those who elect to “go green” and use electronic alternatives.

After logging in, check “Yes” under the question: “Do you want one (1) copy of the printed UCI Campus & Medical Center Directory?”. You may also use this link to update your other directory information.  Please note NACS distributes only to faculty and staff on the main campus.  Medical Center personnel have their own distribution mechanism.

NACS also offers an online directory tool which can be found on the campus home page through the “People” search feature, or at http://directory.uci.edu/

The on-line directory has been recently enhanced to offer a wider and more flexible range of search criteria, including the ability to limit searches to faculty and staff, students, or department names.  The “Advanced Search” makes it easier to search based on first name, last name, UCInetID, department, or phone number.  You can also combine those criteria for more specificity.

And You Thought You Take a Lot of Calls

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You may not realize it, but NACS employs telephone operators as a part of the campus telephone service.

Two operators are on duty Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. The operators handle calls from campus telephones dialing “0” and calls to the University from all over the country and the world. The operators are the first contact the public has when calling the general telephone number listed for University of California Irvine (949-824-5011).

Not only do these professionals have to know a great deal about the units, services, structure, calendar, and activities of the University, they are called upon to handle an impressive number of requests.

In the course of a typical year, the operators handle almost 100,000 calls, with a peak day being almost 600 callers. Their goal is to help every caller quickly, and almost 80% of all calls are answered within ten seconds.

Should you ever need to reach someone by telephone while off campus, our friendly Campus Operators are ready to help you.

Improvements to Cellular Coverage

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NACS is working with Sprint Nextel to improve Sprint PCS coverage on the main campus.  Sprint Nextel is adding Sprint PCS equipment to the existing Nextel site located at Engineering Tower.  This should improve in-building coverage for Sprint where it has been poor.

NACS and other campus departments are also working with AT&T (formerly Cingular) to construct a new cell site that will be located on the rooftop of the Science Library.   This site will bring coverage to the western portion of the campus in an effort to restore coverage to UCI’s AT&T users.  Cingular sold their interest in the joint venture network to T-Mobile when Cingular bought AT&T Wireless assets a few years ago.  Since then, their two sites on campus have only carried T-Mobile traffic, which had a negative impact on AT&T/Cingular coverage at UCI.

In addition to these two projects, NACS is developing a “master plan” for future cell site installations to bring new carriers on board, and add better coverage to existing carriers that have sites on the campus.  One idea that we are evaluating is a distributed antenna system or DAS.  This system, installed by a third party, leverages advances in technology to deploy small “microcell” nodes that are fed by fiber optic cable back to a central distribution point on our campus.  The DAS system has a very small profile compared to the sites that exist on campus today.  This solution can work better in our environment, improving in-building coverage and adding carriers without the challenge of finding a rooftop or other space for several hundred square feet of equipment and large antenna arrays.  In some cases, the antennas can be completely hidden, with attendant aesthetic benefits.

In this information age, NACS understands the desire of many to be mobile, whether it’s simply a cell phone, PDA, or data card for their laptop.  We will continue to work with cellular carriers to implement better coverage on campus.

Three Common Questions

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I have been assigned a phone number that was used by my predecessor, but I can’t get into Infomail (voice mail).  How do I get the password reset?

Please fill out a Service Request Form (SRF) http://www.nacs.uci.edu/service-request/ and specify in the comments section that you need an Infomail password reset. There is a $10 charge to reset the Infomail password. It is reset to the default password (the phone’s 5-digit extension).  This will normally happen the same business day.

What email programs can I use with my NACS email account and how do I configure them?

NACS offers a web-based email program at http://webmail.uci.edu and supports many common desktop email programs. A list of desktop email programs, including Thunderbird, Mac Mail, Outlook, and Eudora, with configuration instructions is available from http://www.nacs.uci.edu/email/settings.html.

What is a ‘Corporate Time’ or ‘Oracle Calendar’ account?  Why do I need one?  What is my password?  How much does it cost?

‘Corporate Time’ is the former name of the campus-wide calendaring service NACS supports.  Since being purchased by Oracle, it has been renamed ‘Oracle Calendar’.

Oracle Calendar allows its users to keep track of tasks, reminders, and meetings (like a planner/organizer), but adds the functionality of viewing and interacting with other users’ accounts, which allows joint planning and collaboration, even between members of different departments.

Many units on campus use Oracle Calendar as their scheduling tool. You can obtain your password by contacting the NACS response center at (949) 824-2222 (extension 42222 on campus).

The cost is $7.00 annually per account, payable by recharge.

For more information, please see our Oracle Calendar web page at http://www.nacs.uci.edu/calendar/

Service Request Form Now Online

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NACS’s service request form (SRF) is now available on line. It is intended as a replacement for the current paper-based form. To use the new form, please visit:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/service-request

Use the form to request new service or modify any of the telecommunication or network services offered by NACS. These services include, but are not limited to, telephone, voice mail, network, cellular service, and 800Mhz radio. You can track the status of a service request at:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/tools/srf/

For more information on the services offered, please refer to the following:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/telephone/
http://www.nacs.uci.edu/network/

The online form has several advantages over the paper version. Customers will see that it is easier to complete the online form than to print, fill out, and fax the paper form. NACS can streamline requests that are submitted electronically, and better track fulfillment.

NACS will continue to accept the paper service request form at least through June 30, 2005. Please direct questions or comments to NACS Telecommunications Customer Service at (949) 824-5123, or by email at NACS-TCS@uci.edu.