On January 28, 2006, Communication and Network Services (CNS), will upgrade and enhance our legacy voicemail system. The new system will continue to offer basic voicemail services like receiving and retrieving voice messages through the telephone. Additionally, we will offer new Unified Messaging, Follow-me and Virtual Fax services.

This will affect all administrative 642, 643, 664 and 665- (Centrex) voicemail numbers. This will NOT affect your work or personal cell phones, personal voicemail systems or answering machines. We have provided answers to many frequently asked questions at http://unibears.berkeley.edu/faq.html

We are happy to announce that the rates for current voicemail services will not change. Your class of service will not change (Voicemail Basic, Plus or Enhanced), though we encourage you to review the new services at http://unibears.berkeley.edu/unibears-services.html because we feel they will better meet some of your needs.

Everyone will need to take action and configure the new mailbox before the cutover on January 28th, 2006:

1. Dial 3-2929 to access the UniBears voicemail system. You MUST initialize your mailbox from your assigned phone. If you have number blocking activated on this phone, you must do a one-time de-activation of number blocking by pressing *82 and then dialing 3-2929 after the 3 beep prompt.

2. Enter the temporary passcode: UniBears (86423277) followed by the # key.

3. You will hear the new user tutorial which will guide you through changing your passcode and recording your name.

4. You MUST change the temporary password.

5. After the tutorial finishes, you will be placed in your mailbox. At this point you can hang up. Your configuration is complete. Or you can stay a while and navigate around your mailbox to become familiar with the new system.

You can find answers to many of your questions about how to use the new UniBears system including an on-line guide and available training via our UniBears web site at http://unibears.berkeley.edu

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call us at 642-3300.

Thank you,

Clifford Frost
Director, IST Communication and Network Services