About Departmental Telecommunications Services

Information is available about many different services available to departmental users.

• Understanding Your Bill
• Calling Cards
• Cellular Service
• Telephone Manual
• Voice Mail
• Personal Calling Plans
• PhoneticOperator
• General Phone Information including area codes, international codes, etc.

Understanding Your Bill

Brown University is billed for equipment and services by various vendors. These charges help determine our internal rates which are charged back to the departments for monthly equipment rental, tolls and message units. Administrators should carefully review internal charges on ledger sheets in order to:

1. Report any discrepancies to the Telecommunications Financial Coordinator x3-1717
2. Monitor and control costs (especially on long distance toll and message units)
3. Enable forecasting at the departmental level for next year's budget.

Sub Codes

The following subcodes may appear on your bill from time to time:

• 6310--Monthly equipment rental
• 6320--One time installation/service charges
• 6370--Toll calls, domestic and international
• 6380--Message units
• 3670--Non-SL-100 Toll calls
• 3680--Non-SL-100 Message Units
• 3690--Non-SL-100 Line charges

Telephone Equipment as Listed on Your Ledger Sheets

Long Distance Calls Are Not Free

Brown uses many different types of lines to make up our long-distance network. The charges are then distributed back to the user on a cost-per-minute basis. Bills should be examined by department managers each month to detect possible fraudulent calls.

Calling Cards

Any faculty or staff member can request a calling card from the Telecommunications Office for business related long-distance calling. These cards are available from the Telecommunications Department.

To order a calling card, send an e-mail to:Financial Administrator. Please include:

1. User Name
2. Desk Phone #
3. Account number to be charged

You will be notified when the card is ready, which is usually within one business day after receipt of the request in Telecommunications. Cards are picked up at the Telecommunications Department on the 1st floor of the CIT building.

Authorization Codes

An authorization code is a six digit number that can be used at any University telephone line. These codes allow the administrator to:

• Control access to long distance/local calling
• Gain flexibility in assigning costs associated with calls charged to different grants
• Control access to off-campus calling from phones located in public areas, etc., while permitting the use of the phone for campus calls.

Calls made with the authorization code will be charged to the account number you have assigned to the authorization code.

To obtain an authorization code, please send an e-mail to Operations Coordinator, Requesting as many authorization code numbers as you need. Your memo should include the following:

1. Name of user
2. Account number
3. Department
4. An authorized signature for the account charged

You will receive your number(s) by return mail with user instructions. Please notify the Telecommunications Department if you wish to cancel an active authorization number.

Voice Mail

Voice Mail is a computerized messaging service which can be accessed 24 hours a day using a touch tone telephone, anywhere in the world. Voice mail offers you features and capabilities which set it far above the basic taped message. Any faculty or staff member can request Voice Mail through their department contact person. For more information on Voice Mail, contact the Voice Mail Administrator at x3-3374 or please take a look at the Voice Mail Manual.

Problems? Questions? Send e-mail to communications_coord@brown.edu