UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Some Penn Staters will need to dial a few more digits when making phone calls on campus beginning Feb. 1.
The change will require on-campus Centrex phone users to dial “8” plus a seven-digit phone number for all calls and faxes to other University Park numbers and within the 814 area code. International and 911 emergency dialing will remain the same. Centrex phone service is typically used on campus for some fax machines and residence hall courtesy phones.
Although five-digit phone extensions will no longer be supported on Centrex phones at University Park, students, faculty and staff members will see no change to the quality of their phone and fax services. Those who use Cisco VoIP phones at University Park can continue to dial five-digit extensions.
“The dialing change will save the University money by eliminating the maintenance of the infrastructure required to provide five-digit dialing through Centrex analog service,” said Mark Katsouros, director of network planning and integration in Enterprise Networking and Communication Services. Where analog services are desired, Katsouros says departments should transition to the VoIP Analog service, which eliminates per-minute calling costs.
The dialing change will only affect Centrex phone services at University Park. The current five-digit dialing plan and the new eight-digit dialing plan will both be accepted until Feb. 1, when the new dialing plan takes effect. During that time, users should manually update any current pre-programmed, five-digit dial settings for fax machines to seven-digit phone numbers.
For dialing instructions, visit the IT Knowledge Base.
For help or questions, contact the IT Service Desk by calling 8-865-4357 or by submitting an inquiry through the Penn State Help Request Portal.