Greater collaboration, access and mobility are just a few of the benefits the University of Toronto faculty and staff will experience through a new telephone communications system.

Starting in spring 2017, a new modern Voice over IP (VoIP) system provided by BroadConnect Telecom will be available for adoption by Divisions and Departments at the U of T.

This new service offering has been selected after extensive community consultation, needs analysis and technology evaluations with the goal of providing better services and advanced unified communications features for staff and faculty while also reducing costs.

“Improving access to communication for faculty and staff was at the forefront of our selection process for this VoIP solution,” said Patrick Hopewell, Director of Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions. “Users can expect a modern telephony system that allows them to easily communicate with colleagues from virtually any location while still providing familiar processes for daily telephone needs like checking voicemails or forwarding calls. The end result will be a more connected community whether working remotely or in an office and at lower cost per phone line.”

Departments will experience immediate monthly savings once lines are migrated and the University anticipates cost savings of $10 to $12 million over five years.

The project is rolling out over the next three years. Additional details will be released by the Telecommunications Department over the coming weeks. Please visit the VoIP & Unified Communications section to view the latest information. Questions about this project can be directed to Tony Danas, Manager, Telecommunications at 416-946-8820 or tony.danas@utoronto.ca.

 

 

 

We would like to remind the community about the requirements to enrol in the UofT Corporate Bell Mobility plan

 

1. Employees must submit a request to their immediate manager for approval
2. The manager is to approve the request based on departmental requirements and budget and submit the request to their departmental business officer
3. The business officer is responsible for submitting it to telecom.services@utoronto.ca 

The billing invoice must indicate a UofT billing address

The invoice must be paid directly by UofT. The Corporate plan is intended for departments that require their staff to use a cellphone for University business. It is not intended for individual use even if the individual plans to submit an expense reimbursement to their department.

Please note that as of October 2016, Bell has published new Cell Phone Roaming Rates. If you are travelling abroad on business with a corporate cell phone, please ensure to request a roaming package for voice and data ahead of your trip via your business officer.

Go to the Cell Phone Roaming and Tethering section to view the latest roaming rates.

New Web Presence for the Telecommunications Department

Since the transition of the Telecommunications Department to the Information Technology Services portfolio, we worked to provide a new web presence for the department. Staff and faculty can now easily access information related to the available products and services, including billing rates and telecom support resources. In addition to this website, all Telecommunications products and services will remain listed in the IT Service Catalogue, as a complimentary channel for easy access to information.

What’s new?

We worked to streamline the content and organize it in a more user friendly manner. The only other change to the Telecommunications online content is a new dedicated space, separate from the previous portfolio, Facilities and Services, and current portfolio Information Technology Services. Telephone coordinators and staff requesting any Telecommunications changes will still be able to use the same tools as before to manage the U of T Directory and create Telephone Services Orders. 

Looking ahead:

We invite all faculty and staff utilizing telecommunications services (land lines, conference services or mobile phones) to give us feedback on the information available on the website. We will be working to bridge any gaps and add other helpful content to the website going forward. Faculty and staff may send their feedback to the ITS Communications Office.