INCOMING NUMBERS ARE NOW DISPLAYED
ON STATE CELLULAR TELEPHONE CALLS

Over the past few months, upgrades to the various pieces of telecommunications equipment within the State of Nebraska has allowed cellular telephone providers to gradually provide detailed information regarding the originating numbers on incoming calls to cellular telephones. As the billing agent for the State of Nebraska’s telecommunications services, the Division of Communications will process detailed information for cellular calls that is provided by the contracting company. In the majority of cases, this will mean that incoming cellular calls will display the telephone number that originated the call to the state cellular telephone. It should be noted that when you forward calls from your landline to your cellular telephone, the caller’s originating number will appear on your telecommunications bill.

The acceptable usage policies for state issued cellular telephones is covered as a telecommunications service under State Statute 81-1120.27. This statute reads, “The facilities of the State’s telecommunications are provided for the conduct of state business. In addition, the state’s telecommunications systems may be used by state employees and officials for local and long distance calls to children at home, teachers, doctors, day care centers, and baby sitters, to family members to inform them of unexpected schedule changes, and for other essential personal business. The use of the State’s telecommunications systems for essential personal business shall be kept to a minimum and shall not interfere with the conduct of state business. Essential personal long distance calls shall be either collect, charged to a third-party, nonstate number, or charged to a personal credit card.”

If you have any questions regarding State issued cellular telephones, please contact Erin (eschmit@doc.state.ne.us) at (402) 471-6391.

FAX MACHINE DISPOSAL GUIDE

When returning your fax machine to the Division of Communications for surplus, we are requesting your assistance with the following:

• Please mark on the machine, “works”, or “does not work”.
• Remove all paper from the paper trays.
• If possible, remove all stored numbers.
• Tape all cords and parts/pieces to the machine.
• Write the serial number/tape tag numbers on a slip of paper and attach that piece of paper to the top of the fax machine

If you have any questions regarding fax machine disposal, please contact Norma (nwhite@doc.state.ne.us) at (402) 471-3562. Thanks for your help.

CELLULAR MOBILE-TO-MOBILE CALLS SAVE ON COST

Many agencies now have the ability to place cellular calls at no cost. Agencies with Alltel cellular service can place calls to other Alltel cellular users without using their minutes or incurring costs. Employees on the state flat rate receive 500 minutes of mobile-to-mobile calls per month and rate plan users receive unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls. This feature can help reduce your agency’s monthly cellular costs. For roaming calls your regular minutes are charged.

YELLOW PAGE AD CHECKS

There are yellow page checks being distributed. In the small print it states, “If you cash this check, you are signing up for yellow page advertising on the internet.” Please do not cash these checks! Setting up this service can be expensive and once set up, the Division of Communications has no way to get the yellow page ad removed or updated. If you have any questions, please contact Zale (zconnell@doc.state.ne.us) at (402) 471-4703.

VIDEO CONFERENCING

Video conferencing services provides opportunities for Nebraskans to participate in training initiatives, educational seminars/classes, meetings, and in some cases, participatory government in the form of public meetings and hearings. January through December 2003 indicates approximately 14,500 hours of video conferencing usage. Additionally, these video conferences also represent an effort by agencies to use technology as a method of avoiding additional travel expenses for employees. For questions about video conferencing, contact Jayne (jaynes@doc.state.ne.us) at (402) 471-3454 or visit our website at http://its.ne.gov/network_serv/video/video.html.

SOME TIPS TO PREVENT SPAM

COMMUNICATION COORDINATORS

The Division of Communications has a very large client base. This includes State government, Local government, Political subdivisions and Federal government agencies. With such a diverse and expanded client range, the Division of Communications has worked with agency heads to establish a Communications Coordinator in each agency. A Communications Coordinator is authorized to expend funds for telecommunications equipment and services for your agency. A communications coordinator must be designated by your agency head. The Division of Communications will ONLY process orders that are received from an authorized/designated Communications Coordinator. Please feel free to contact Norma (nwhite@doc.state.ne.us) at 471-3562 if you would like to know the individual(s) we have on file as your agency Communications Coordinator. We will be happy to work with you to make any changes or additions. And as always, we will work with you to make sure that your orders are processed in a timely manner.

All Communications Coordinators need to be established in NIS as authorized employees to procure telecommunications equipment in addition to being on file with the Division of Communications. Please remember any changes or additions of communications coordinators made with our office also need to be done in NIS.

Procurement of goods in NIS will be going live by groups of agencies on a weekly basis for the next three months. On May 12, 2004, DAS went live. The Division of Communications will now be processing all telecommunications equipment orders through NIS for all DAS agencies. The NIS webpage at http://www.das.state.ne.us/nis/breakingnews/proc_golive.htm has a schedule of when your agency will be going live for procurement of goods on NIS. At that time, equipment orders must be completed within NIS to receive the goods requested.

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