Telecommunications & Software Support

Supervisor: Lora Lee Brinton, llb5@nw.opp.psu.edu

Staff:
Christopher Halbig, clh291@nw.opp.psu.edu
Christine Waite, cal9@nw.opp.psu.edu

 * TSS Staff is often present before and after these normal hours of operation to better serve 2nd and 3rd shift employees.  Please CALL TO CONFIRM availability before visiting.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I order a new cell phone?
• How do I get reimbursement for business use on my personal cell phone?
• How do I get help with a cell phone problem?
• How do I conduct the monthly cellular audit?
• How do I receive help on my desk phone or fax line?
• How do I request telecommunications work for a project or in-house?

Cell Phones for Business Use

TSS handles all requests for cellular services for the Office of Physical Plant.  Our primary provider is AT&T, though we do have some Verizon phones.

Requesting a University-Owned Phone

Use the University-Owned Cellular Request form to request a new University-owned line of service, or to upgrade an existing University-owned device.

University-Owned phones are for University business only.  Users may not make personal phone calls or use any text messaging or data features on a University-owned device.  Users are also subject to a random monthly audit to ensure proper use of the service.  See the cellular audit section below for more information.

Reimbursements for Business Use on a Personal Cell Phone

The process for using a personal cell phone for business use varies depending on each situation.
All requests begin by completing the Personally-Owned Cellular Request form.  The TSS office will guide you through the rest of the process upon receipt of this form.

General Information:

• OPP reimburses the employee a flat rate of $50/month for a voice plan, and an additional $50/month for a data plan if such a plan is deemed necessary for business use.
• Reimbursement is directly deposited as a separate transaction into the same account as your salary.  Employees will receive an e-mail confirmation each month when this deposit is made.
• Because this is taxable income, additional withholdings will be taken out of your regular paycheck to compensate for the reimbursement.
• If you decide to transfer an existing University-owned number into your name under the same carrier, you have the option of keeping your current device which will then become your property.
• If you transfer the number to a new carrier, or if you choose to create a brand-new phone number or use an existing personal number, you are responsible for using your own equipment or purchasing new equipment as necessary.
• A one-time reimbursement for a new device will be granted only if you are also being reimbursed for a data plan and need to purchase a data-capable phone.  If you decline to purchase a new device at the time of transfer, a reimbursement will not be granted at a later date.  Device reimbursements are for the phone only and do not include accessories such as carrying cases, chargers, batteries, bluetooth headsets, etc.
• Penn State Employees can receive discounts on personal cellular plans through AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint/Nextel.  Additional information can be found at: http://www.ohr.psu.edu/discounts/categories/communications.htm

Cellular Troubleshooting

Trouble with your cellular service?
Please try:

1. For standard phones: removing the battery, waiting 30 seconds, and replacing the battery.
   (This resets the phone completely and often solves many problems!)
2. For MC75 PDA phones: holding the red power button until the screen turns white.
   (This reboots the PDA like a computer.)
3. For Verizon phones: dialing *228 and following the prompts to update your phone.
   (This will update the software on Verizon phones.)

Still having trouble?  Contact a friendly TSS Staff Member for repair or replacement of your University-owned cellular device and/or accessories.  TSS may be able to help troubleshoot a personally-owned cell phone, but if repair or replacement is needed, you will need to contact your service provider.

Saving your contacts

When phone problems occur, TSS can usually copy all your contacts to a new device.  You should be aware that on AT&T phones, your contacts may be saved on the phone itself or on the SIM card.  They can be moved from one to the other if the phone is working, but if your phone is completely dead, then any contacts that were not on the SIM card will not be recoverable.  There are settings on the phone to determine whether new contacts will be saved to the phone or the SIM card.  Contact the TSS office for more information.

National Do Not Call Registry

To add your phone to the National Do Not Call Registry, call 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you wish to sign up, or go to www.donotcall.gov.
The Do Not Call Registry will eliminate most telemarketing calls but will not stop calls from or on behalf of political organizations, charities, and telephone surveyors, nor would it stop calls from companies with which you have an existing business relationship (which may include someone who owned that phone number before you did).  The best thing to do in these situations is to ask the caller directly to remove your number from their lists.  If you continue to have trouble with calls on a University-owned phone, please contact our office at 863-3222.

Cellular Audits

TSS conducts monthly random audits of all University-owned cellular phones.  Supervisors are asked to review the audits with their employees to ensure that the phones are not being used for personal phone calls.

Please note: Employees are chosen at random by a computer program for each month's audit.  Therefore, an employee can be audited multiple times throughout the year, and may even be audited in consecutive months.

Here are some points to keep in mind when conducting an audit:

Review

In general, employees do not have to identify each and every call on the audit, unless directed to do so by the supervisor.  The employee need only identify those calls that were personal in nature.  Personal calls should be clearly marked by circling the entire line item.  Please do not use highlighter.  Also, use a clean copy of the audit without additional markings or notations.  The signed original of the entire audit must be returned to TSS by the specified deadline, along with any reimbursements, where appropriate.

If you wish to determine if a certain phone number found on an audit belongs to OPP, you can open the online versions of the OPP Telephone Directories and go to "Edit" and "Find" to search for a specific number.  Remember to check both the staff and tech service directories.

Text Messaging

TEXT MESSAGING is not permitted, even for business use, on University phones.  Any text messages on the bill that are not PSUTXT or part of a granted exception should be identified as personal text messages.

Please note: If an employee is responsible for monitoring alarms and/or emergency equipment using text messages, an "exception" to the OPP Text Messaging policy must be granted prior to receiving these messages.  The budget manager of the area must approve the exception for each employee and an e-mail must be sent to Lora Lee Brinton (llb5@psu.edu) explaining why the exception is needed in order for the process to be complete.  Please contact TSS with questions.

Reimbursement

If personal calls or personal text messages on an audit total more than 30 minutes/messages, the employee must reimburse the University for the total number of personal minutes used (including the 30 minutes, NOT just the overage) at $0.45 per minute and/or text message used. A check or money order should be made payable to "The Pennsylvania State University" and attached to the audit form.  Cash is not acceptable.

Supervisors: To make this process as efficient as possible, PLEASE DOUBLE-CHECK the total number of personal minutes and text messages, multiply that number by $0.45, and ensure that the check or money order is made out for the correct amount.  If an audit where reimbursement is due is returned without payment, or if the payment is incorrect, the audit is considered to be incomplete.  This may result in the suspension of cellular service until the audit process has been completed.

Landline Telecommunications

Troubleshooting

Trouble with your office phone?

OPP Employees should contact our office with any landline phone and voicemail issues or training requests.  A courteous TSS Staff Member will help to resolve the issue!

Telecommunications Project Work

Moving phones?  Upgrading phones?  Need additional wiring and jacks?  Installing video, LAN, or backbones?

Any request for telecom services such as these, whether in-house or through associated OPP jobs and projects, must go through TSS - starting with the Request Form below:

• Telecommunications Request

Please be aware that telecommunications requests can take several weeks to process and schedule!

Business Applications

Software Support

Need help with Microsoft Office?

TSS provides support for productivity software needs on many applications, versions, and platforms.  Please contact us if you need assistance with documents, spreadsheets, databases, macros, Adobe, file conversion, or any other office software issue.  A knowledgeable TSS Staff Member will be happy to help you!

Specialty Services

TSS provides several other specialized services for all of OPP's work areas, including contract administration and publication/presentation design.  What can TSS do for your work area?  Call us and find out today!

Telephone Directories

• Staff Directory
• Tech Service Directory