VoIP expanding to Brown Building

  • Published
  • 66th Air Base Group Communication and Information Division
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is expanding once again at Hanscom and the next step begins April 4. The Brown Building, Building 1305, is the next to receive new telephones and a new telephone system, as building occupants will transfer from the General Services Administration (GSA) phone system and move to the VoIP telephone system.

Communication and Information Division (SC) officials say the conversion will save the taxpayer thousands of dollars over the course of a year.

Implementation will be conducted April 4 through 8. The third floor will implemented on April 4, the second floor will convert on April 5 and the first floor will change over on April 6. Thursday and Friday will be used to make any last minute changes or additions.

The Global Access List (GAL) for these users will be updated and all affected telephones will be updated the night of April 6. Users must go into AtHoc and update their alert notification information with their new information.

After implementation users are asked to log into voice mail as a first time user and re-establish passwords. Old voice mailboxes will still be available for two weeks so that users can get any of their old messages and account for personnel that may be on leave. Telephone Control Officers (TCOs) will have the procedures available for accessing voice mail and for VoIP telephone procedures.

For telephone issues or problems, users in Building 1305 will no longer call GSA for telephone support. All support will come from the Response Center at 781-377-HELP (4357).

Since many key offices are located in the Brown Building, the following is a list of updated important phone numbers. To reach these offices from another on-base phone, users may dial 5, plus the last four digits of the phone number.

66th Air Base Group commander's office: 781-225-1305
Military Pay: 781-225-1210
Personnel Office: 781-225-1401
Customer Service: 781-225-1320
Commander's Straight Talk: 781-225-1380

The Command Post telephone number, 781-377-5144, and Emergency Operations Center number, 781-377-7572, will change at a later date.

In each building, several phones will be left on the GSA system to provide a second path for telephone calls. In the various projects that SC deploys, they are constantly looking for and minimizing "single sources of failure." The same is true for VoIP. In case the power goes out in the building, the GSA phones will still operate. These phones will be spread over each floor and are located in public areas. Each phone will be labeled "Emergency Backup Phone" for easy identification.

During all VoIP changes, the emergency number 9-911 will not change and will continue to ring in the Hanscom Fire Department.