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NACS Hosts Ericsson User Group Board Meeting

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The newly elected board of the Ericsson User Group (EUG) held its first meeting at UCI’s University Club on Friday, December 3. The EUG is a national organization of Ericsson MD110 telephone system and wireless users which includes UCI, UCSC, and UCSD, and several CSU campuses.

NACS staff member Bruce Cotsonas was recently elected to a two-year term as Vice President/President Elect of the Ericsson User Group. In that position, Bruce is able to maintain close ties with Ericsson and serve as an advocate for UCI to be sure UCI telephone customers’ needs are addressed in Ericsson’s evolving product and service strategy.

Among the more interesting elements in Ericsson’s strategy is a migration from PBX to IP technology. John Whelan, Manager of Product Marketing, reported on Ericsson’s “PBX Migration Plan to IP” at the board meeting.

Pacific Bell Wireless cell site installed at UCI

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Pacific Bell Wireless, in cooperation with NACS’ Electronic Communications Services group, Campus Asset Management, and Facilities Management, has installed a digital cellular telephone cell site on the roof of Engineering Tower at UCI. The installation was completed during December. The new site affects users of Personal Communication Services (PCS) digital telephone service provided by Pacific Bell Wireless. With the new cell site, Pacific Bell PCS service is significantly improved on campus and in the surrounding service area. If you would like to sign up for Pacific Bell Wireless, you may contact Shelly Toole of NACS-ECS at x4311. We are also in touch with other cellular service vendors about possible additional cell sites on campus.

Long Distance Rate Reduction

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Because long distance telephone costs continue to drop, NACS has implemented another rate reduction to campus telephone system users. Interstate and international long distance rates were reduced by another fifteen percent effective December 1, 1999.

An initial fifteen percent reduction went into effect on March 1, 1999 and an additional ten percent became effective July 1, 1999. Interstate and international long distance telephone call rates have been reduced by a total of forty percent as of December 1, 1999.

In addition, all monthly recurring charges for Ethernet services have been discontinued effective October 1, 1999 as part of the Network Service rate reduction plan.

Departmental bookkeepers were notified of the most recent price change in the December NACS-ECS telephone billing statement.

Digital Cellular Telephone Service

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NACS is pleased to announce a new digital cellular telephone service from Pacific Bell Mobile Services (PBMS). PBMS was recently awarded the California state contract for cellular service, with good service and pricing. NACS has established a relationship with Pacific Bell to provide convenient cellular service to the UCI community. PBMS’s digital Personal Communication Service (PCS) features good coverage throughout California, and has no roaming charges in California or Nevada. The service includes voicemail and numeric paging along with many other features. Several service plans and many equipment options are available for both UCI-paid (billed through NACS Electronic Communication Services) and employee-paid (personal) service.

For more information, see:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/communication/cellular.html

Area Code Change on October 17th and UCI’s Modems

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As of Saturday, October 17, 1998, the new 949 area code must be used with UCI telephone numbers when dialing from outside the area; the 714 area code will no longer work. Among other things, the new area code will affect users of UCI’s dial-up modem pool.

If you are using a Macintosh computer, or Windows 3.x, and are dialing from within the 949 area code, no change is required. If you are using Windows 95/98, or are dialing in from a different area code, you must update the area code in your computer’s dial-up configuration. NACS has prepared a detailed document explaining how to do this, it is available on the web as follows:

http://www.nacs.uci.edu/computing/areacode.html