UC Berkeley Web Feature
Campus voicemail services may be sporadic this weekend
BERKELEY – Having dodged an e-mail bullet, campus communicators now are facing a weekend of spotty voicemail service as a result of a system upgrade being implemented by Communication and Network Services.
CNS is beefing up its voicemail hardware to address chronic performance problems, such as delayed messages or unavailable voice mailboxes. Because the upgrade also requires that existing mailboxes, messages and greetings be transferred to the "new" system, there will be several stretches over the weekend when voicemail service will be interrupted. Specifically:
- From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday (Jan. 9), the call controller (an application that allows callers to use a menu tree to route calls within certain departments and other units) will be unavailable.
- From 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday, voicemail messages will not be able to be left or retrieved. (All existing messages and greetings will be preserved.)
- Transfer of data to the upgraded voicemail platform will continue until roughly noon Sunday (Jan. 11). During this time, users should be able to leave, retrieve and forward voicemail. However, the system will be operating at reduced capacity, and users may experience some performance issues.
One likely problem during this transfer period is the occasional loss of personalized outgoing messages, similar to what happened during an Aug. 8, 2003 failure of the voicemail system. A work-around devised during that outage should allow users to leave and retrieve messages again this weekend.
To leave a message:
When you hear the non-standard voicemail prompt, dial the campus extension you are calling (again) and you will reach the mailbox, where a message can be left.
To retrieve messages from your voicemail box:
Dial the campus voicemail access number as usual. When you hear the system message ("to leave a message..."), dial your own 5-digit campus number, and press #. You will hear your outgoing voicemail message; immediately press the star (*) button. You will then be asked for your password, and can listen to stored messages.
According to CNS's John Hess, network operations center manager, campus users were not notified of the voicemail upgrade until Friday because of a glitch in a Web notification form that was not noticed and resolved until late in the week.
For major problems over the weekend, voicemail users can call the CNS operations help desk at 642-4920.