ACCESSING THE INTERNET

The Division of Communications frequently receives calls asking how an agency can connect to the Internet. There are three options available to access the Internet. One is through a direct connection via the state backbone. Secondly, access can be made via a dial up connection with an Internet service provider (ISP). Finally, ADSL, cable, wireless and satellite wireless technologies can be used.

*** Please note that to obtain these services, State agencies can only purchase from companies that have been certificated by the Public Service Commission. ***

According to State Statute, all contracts related to Internet service MUST be signed by the Division of Communications and all billing for Internet service MUST come through the Division of Communications. You will see these charges billed to you on your monthly telecommunications billing.

To determine which option is available to you, you will need to work with your IT staff. If you need additional assistance in connecting to the Internet, you will need to contact Ben Mientka (bmientka@doc.state.ne.us), (402) 471-1027 in our office. Ben will be able to provide you with the necessary forms to get Internet service through the appropriate ISP for the city where you are located.

2003 State Telephone Directories

Thank you for your input for the 2003 Nebraska State Government Directory. We are in the process of updating all of the individual employee’s information as well as each agency’s information. Updates are due into our office by November 20th. Your agency will be contacted one last time in December to update the agency information pages located in the front of the Directory. We are anticipating the Directory to be available in early February 2003.

DIAL 711-NEBRASKA RELAY SERVICE

The Nebraska Relay Service is now just a 3 digit call away for both TDD users and Hearing users. 7-1-1 can be accessed anytime, anywhere using any home, business, wireless or pay phone in Nebraska. There is no charge for local calls or call set-up time.

The Nebraska Relay Service is a state-funded telephone service that enables communication by phone via a Communications Assistant (CA) between TDD users and standard telephone users. During the call, everything spoken by the standard telephone user is typed to the TDD user and everything typed by the TDD user is spoken to the standard telephone user. All Nebraska Relay System calls are completely confidential.

You may also view the instructions on how to use this service in the State Government Directory on page 9 under “General Telephone Instructions”. Dial the quick and easy way. Dial 7-1-1.

ALLTEL INFORMATION 411 -- CALLS RATE INCREASE

On October 1, we received notice from Alltel Communications that all 411 Directory Assistance calls currently rated at $.25 are increasing to $.40 per call.

2002/2003 UNL Centrex Directories

The 2002-2003 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Centrex Directories have been distributed to all State agencies that have requested copies. At this time we are unable to obtain extra copies of this directory. If you need to obtain additional copies for your office, the University sells these direc-tories at the UNL Book Store located in the Nebraska Union on the downtown Lincoln campus for $4.00. For those who have offices outside of the Lincoln area, you may call the UNL Telecommunications Office at 402/472-2000.

The information in the UNL Directory is also available on the Internet at http://www.unl.edu/unlpub/facstaff.shtml. Then select faculty/staff directory to obtain employee information. For information on University offices select Faculty/Staff, then Administrative Listing, then click on the office you require.

You may also find the UNL Directory by going to the State of Nebraska web page. Select U, which brings up the University of Nebraska. Click on the campus you are looking for and this will bring up their web page. If you have any questions on this, please call Vicki at (402) 471-2761.

NEW EMPLOYEE

Erin Schmit has joined the staff of the Division of Communications as the Staff Assistant in the Wireless Section. Please contact Erin for all of your cellular and pager needs. She can be reached at 402/471-6391 or by email at eschmit@doc.state.ne.us.

WHAT'S THAT BILLING CODE?

The Division of Communication’s monthly telecommunications billing contains detailed information to assist our customers in verifying their bill quickly and easily. One way this is done is through the use of billing codes. Below is a list of those codes used on our monthly billings.

010 PAYMENTS:

This section displays ALL PAYMENT TYPE CREDITS posted to your account in the last 30 days. This payment may be in the form of a check, warrant, Intrastate Transaction Document (ITD), charge card payment or ACH payment. Billing Code 010 may also show adjustments made to your balance for billing corrections or disputed claims by using a general document/journal entry form.

018 DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE:

ALLTEL Communications bills for 555-1212 directory assistance calls as a summary total under this code. The call detail for each of these charges will appear under the billing code 200 Toll section by station number and will be zero-rated.

200 TOLL:

Long distance calls that are not handled by the State's direct dial network are detailed in this area. These calls can be Operator Assisted, Direct Dialed International, Third Number Billed, Calling Cards, Collect Calls, Local Directory Assistance and the Directory Assistance detail for 555-1212 as mentioned above. Other detail billing under Billing Code 200 is cellular usage and airtime and 800 inbound usage. The detail includes the FROM TELEPHONE NUMBERS, DATE, TIME, CALL DURATION AND RATE for each call listed.

210 EAS BEATRICE:

ALLTEL long distance calls from Beatrice to destinations within the extended area of service, usually a 25-mile range. Each call plan can vary. These calls are usually at a discounted rate as only summary detail is provided. The detail per call is not provided.

300 LOCAL SERVICE:

This area bills for the leased equipment, services and monthly dial tone access that are owned and provided by various local telephone companies. These companies include ALLTEL and Frontier. One example of a type of service is the voice mailbox system. This section of the bill will show the description of service, the quantity per item and the rate charged.

310 STATE TELECOMM:

This section is for equipment and monthly services billed by the Division of Communications (usually split or shared services and are not billed directly by the telephone company). One example of DOC TELECOM billing is for equipment that is owned by the State but currently in the possession of your agency, this information can be used for inventory purposes. Other examples include the shared use of data circuits statewide and any equipment that is leased from the DOC or purchased on a monthly payment plan. It also includes local service from smaller telephone companies that do not have automated billing yet such as Great Plains Communications and Cozad Telephone Co. Each of these different items is listed under the title "INSTALLATION LOCATION" numbers.

320 LOCAL SERVICE QWEST:

This area bills for monthly dial tone services and equipment that is owned by Qwest (formerly US West) and leased to the State of Nebraska.

400 DIRECTORY ADVERTISING:

ALLTEL Communications provides billing detail for the directory advertising charges contracted for that appear in the blue and yellow pages. Some of the extras ordered for the White pages, such as BOLD NAME and EXTRA LINE REFERRALS may be billed under local service (billing code 300).

500 ADDITIONAL CHARGES & CREDITS :

Additional charges and credits from ALLTEL Communications, Frontier and cellular companies are detailed here. These are one-time charges for partial month new service going in and credits for old service getting removed. Also shown are work order processing fees, labor, time, materials, adds, moves and changes that relate to the monthly service billed under billing code 300. Other miscellaneous purchases such as cellular equipment may also be found here.

630 NETCOMM - NEBRASKA:

All direct dialed long distance calls that are made on the State's network and terminate within Nebraska but beyond the LATA (local access transport area). An example is Lincoln to North Platte because Lincoln is in the south 402 lata and North Platte is in the 308 lata. Another example is Lincoln to Omaha because Lincoln is in the south 402 lata and Omaha is in the north 402 lata.

633 NETCOM—LATA:

All direct dialed long distance calls that are made on the State of Nebraska’s network and terminate within the LATA in Nebraska. An example is a call from one ALLTEL number to another ALLTEL number, such as Hastings to Lincoln.

635 NETCOM—NATIONAL:

National is defined as all direct dialed long distance calls that are made on the State of Nebraska’s network and terminate outside the State of Nebraska but within the Continental United States. Nebraska to Washington D.C. is one example. Continental means Alaska and Hawaii are not included here and are treated as international calls. (Look for calls terminating in Alaska and Hawaii to appear under billing code 200). Recently some area code/prefix combinations have been extended to include more of North America in the term “Continental”. For example, you may see some calls as National rated calls and others to

Canada as International Toll rated calls

900 CREDIT & ADJUSTMENTS:

The credits and adjustments are items that have been manually added to your billing by the Division of Communications. These charges will be for items such as: video and conference calls, smaller telephone company toll billing and toll credits, one time purchases of equipment from the Division of Communications (telephone sets or answering machines)and credits requested by agencies to adjust errors from a previous billing.

DIRECTORY LISTING CLOSING DATES:

For more information on Directory Listing Closing Dates, please contact LaDonna (lpankoke@doc.state.ne.us) at 402/471-4701.

Directory Listing Closing Dates: