Students will be able to speak with their professors from the comfort of their beds once the university installs its new telephone systems.
Ohio University officials are testing new voice over internet protocol, VoIP, phones that will replace the current phones in staff offices, a $4.12 million cost that will be footed by the university’s telephone auxiliary account.
The phones would allow professors to set up a web conference during their office hours so students could log in and video chat with their professors from anywhere with an Internet connection.
“They will provide outbound caller ID,” said Sean O’Malley, director of OIT communications. “Right now, when you call from one of our wired lines to a cellphone, it comes up as unknown. So people often don’t answer because they think it’s a spammer.”
Other features bring the old phone system into the modern era.
“I can run an app on my phone that lets me forward my office phone to my cellphone without using my minutes,” O’Malley said. “It also ties into the staff directory, so you can find people without going through a phone book.”
@SetPArcher
sa587812@ohiou.edu
