The day to day activities of the Chapel depend upon a very old telephone system that: was designed in the 1980s …. is no longer supported by the “telephone companies” … is expensive to operate … and, for which, you can only get replacement parts on E-Bay! The Technology Committee and the maintenance staff are fixing all of this … AND, lowering the Chapel’s monthly costs.
Starting next week, the old PBX phone system is being replaced by a state-of-the-art internet-based, VoIP system that gives us lots of new features and capabilities at a lower monthly “phone bill.” Just a few of the benefits of the new system are:
- Polycom conference phones in several meeting rooms for better “teleconferencing.”
- Unique direct dial-in numbers for every telephone and conference phone.
- FREE long distance calls.
- Call forwarding, call waiting, voice mail, etc for the entire staff.
- Easy, inexpensive expansion if/when needed.
- Many other new features.
And that’s not all. As part of the total project, the Chapel’s internet service speed was more than doubled. This is a great convenience for everyone who uses internet connections in their classes, meetings, etc.
And that’s STILL not all. Another benefit of the total project is that the fire alarm systems for the Chapel and the Broyles Center were revamped to a state-of-the-art system that provides better, faster (and less expensive) fire monitoring service/protection.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, we asked Phil Yeakel (Technology Committee project leader for this project) and he told us about the one small “downside” of the new systems. In order to do all of this, the Chapel will have to change primary phone numbers. Over the next few weeks, the Chapel’s old phone number, 470-273-6768, will be changing.
The Chapel’s NEW PHONE NUMBER is 470-273-6768, and the NEW FAX NUMBER is 470-273-7922.
P.S. This all sounds great … and it is … but it has taken many hours of hard work by the maintenance staff (Paul and David) and the Technology Committee. Be sure to tell them THANKS when you see them.