This FAQ contains information for new users of UniBears during the cutover period, January 28 - February 13, 2006.

1. When and what is the voicemail cutover?
2. I cannot setup my UniBears voicemail via the telephone. What should I do?
3. Why do callers hear a computer spoken telephone number instead of a name for my UniBears prompt?
4. Why is my mailbox full?
5. What is happening with the message waiting indicator on my phone set?
6. When I press the Message Waiting button or dial 79 I hear a fast busy signal.
7. Where is the message?
8. What can I use instead of an alternate greeting?
9. Is there a scan message feature in UniBears?

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

1. When and what is the cutover?
   
   Information about the cutover to the new UniBears system may be found in the http://unibears.berkeley.edu/implementation/cutover.html web page.
   
   
2. I cannot setup my UniBears voicemail via the telephone. What should I do?
   
   If you have caller-ID blocking, or do not know if you have caller-ID blocking, be sure to dial *82 3-5530 to connect to the UniBears telephone user interface from the campus phone you are trying to setup. (The *82 is only required when first setting up UniBears.)
   
   If you are unable to initialize your mailbox, please send a message to UniBears Support and we will initialize your mailbox for you. You may not be able to initialize your mailbox for the following reasons:
   
   
   • Your phone number does not have a phone set or telephone line.
   • You are unable to gain physical access to your office where the phone set exists. (For example, you may be out of the country).
   • Your office is at the Richmond Field Station (RFS). CNS is working on getting the RFS PBX system to play nice with UniBears and pass the caller ID. Until this is resolved, CNS will need to initialize your mailbox for you.
   
   
   
3. Why do callers hear a computer spoken telephone number instead of a name for my UniBears prompt?
   
   It most likely means your telephone line has been cutover to forward callers to UniBears voicemail and you have not setup your UniBears mailbox yet. It may also mean that an individual is not associated with the mailbox.
   
   Of about 10,000 voice mailboxes, we were able to match about 4,000 UniBears mailboxes to individuals. The remaining UniBears mailboxes were associated with generic departmental accounts and have a telephone number in the name prompt for the mailbox.
   
   You can check if a voice mailbox is linked to an individual by attempting to log into the web interface for the mailbox at https://unibears-webaccess.berkeley.edu/. If you find that you can successfully authenticate with your CalNet ID and you receive a message saying you did not successfully log in to UniBears, this means that when CNS built the mailbox, we were not able to assign this mailbox to an individual and assigned the mailbox to a generic departmental account. If you need web access to UniBears (for example for controlling Announcement, Voicemail Enhanced or Unified Messaging web-accessible-only settings and custom greetings) please send a message to UniBears Support asking us to reassign the mailbox to your individual CalNet ID. This change will require coordination with you, as we will need to tear down your mailbox and rebuild it to associate it with your CalNet ID. You will need to listen to all your messages right before we do this since they will be deleted when we rebuild your mailbox.
   
   As of January 2006, a CalNet ID can only be associated with one UniBears mailbox. We are working on finding a solution that will allow individuals to control more than one UniBears mailbox.
   
   
4. Why is my mailbox full?
   
   Even if your telephone line has not been cutover yet to forward callers to your UniBears mailbox, early adopters can send and forward messages to your UniBears mailbox from within UniBears. If callers are hearing "I am sorry. This mailbox is currently full. Please try your call again later.":
   
   
   1. if your UniBears mailbox is setup, listen to your voicemail and save or delete messages until the new messages are below your message quota. If you need a higher message quota, upgrade to a higher level of service.
      
      
   2. if your UniBears mailbox is not setup, you need to initialize it by completing the setup tutorial via the telephone. Then save or delete messages in your UniBears mailbox until the new messages are below your message quota.
   
   
   
5. What is happening with the message waiting indicator (MWI) on my phone set?
   
   Q: The MWI (lamp, triangle, stutter dial-tone) on my phone set does not come on. What's wrong?
   
   A: There is more than one MWI signalling method. Contact CNS Customer Service to check if the MWI feature on your telephone line matches the type of MWI on your phone set. If it does match, the MWI on your phone set may not be working or there may be a problem with the telephone company equipment.
   
   
6. When I press the Message Waiting button or dial 79 I hear a fast busy signal.
   
   Q: When I press the Message Waiting button or dial 79 I hear a fast busy signal. How can I get my messages? How do I turn-off the MWI?
   
   A: The old system no longer turns off the message waiting indicator (MWI) lamp, triangle, or stutter dial-tone. (This is to prevent the old system from turning off the MWI when you still have new messages on Unibears.) We suggest dialing 3-2525 to connect to the old system, saving or deleting any new messages; dialing UniBears at 3-5530 and doing the same. Campus exchange users can also dial 71 at the dial-tone to turn off the MWI.
   
   
7. Where is the message?
   
   Q: I do not see new voicemail in my UniBears inbox on the web interface when my Message Waiting Indicator (MWI) on my phone set comes on.
   
   A: You need to click inbox to refresh the inbox folder listing.
   
   Q: The MWI on my phone set comes on but there is no message in UniBears voicemail. Where is the message?
   
   A: Try checking your old voicemail box. During early-adoption and cutover, if you are using the new UniBears system you also need to check your old voicemail box until it is disestablished. When someone still on the old system leaves you or forwards a message to you from the old voicemail system, they are sending the message to your voicemail box on the old system. People who dial your number when your line is not answered or busy will be leaving the message on the new UniBears system.
   
   Q: My line has been cutover to UniBears but I am not receiving any messages on UniBears. Where are the messages?
   
   A: Check via the UniBears web interface to see if you have an Forward Inbound Call Rule, Drop Incoming Call Rule or Drop Voicemail Rule defined and remove it.
   
   
8. What can I use instead of an alternate greeting?
   
   Q: We have a regular series of meetings that are open to the general public. On the day of the meeting, I have been setting up a special alternate message that tells callers whether registration is closed, whether the meeting is sold out, etc. This message is always different and is time sensitive. If the alternate message is no longer available, what can I use?
   
   A: We have submitted an enhancement request with our software vendor for alternate greetings. We hope to have it with the next major release of the software, tentatively scheduled for late 2006. In the meantime, you have two options: (1) Re-record your primary greeting each time or (2) use a custom greeting. Here is more information about custom greetings:
   
   
   • available only to Voicemail Enhanced and Unified Messaging subscribers
   • set through the web by setting a Custom Greeting Rule
   • the text is spoken by the text-to-speech engine, not in your personally recorded voice
   • Custom Greetings are read first and the caller cannot press # to bypass (callers can press # to bypass when they listen to your personally-recorded greeting). Then the system plays the name of the mailbox, then the personally-recorded greeting (if established). Then the caller can leave a voicemail message.
   • you can pre-establish these rules for different dates/times
   • you can see the online guide for custom greeting rules at http://unibears.berkeley.edu/cs/guide/rules-ic-cg-wg.html.
   
   You can also use a status greeting.
   
   
9. Is there a scan message feature in UniBears?
   
   Q: On the old voicemail system, it was possible to press 1-1 after logging in to "scan"" messages. This was particularly useful for checking messages on the go and being able to quickly determine whether there was a message from an internal caller. It would be nice to have this feature available on UniBears. Web access doesn't really obviate the need for this feature because the feature is most useful in situations where internet access isn't a convenient option.
   
   A: There are two features which might of interest to you. One is skip and the other is hands-free listening.
   
   In the UniBears system, you can press # while listening to a message to skip to the end of the message, and then # again to skip to the next message. This does not mark the message as "read". It acts in a similar way to 1-1 to scan messages, but requires your key presses. http://unibears.berkeley.edu/cs/guide/voice-manage-pg.html#skip
   
   The other option is automatic or hands-free listening. If you are often in a place where you hands are otherwise occupied, you can configure your mailbox to automatically play (and save) your messages for you. When you log into the mailbox, it will automatically start playing your new messages. It will save each message when it reaches the end and then play your next new message. When it does playing all new messages, you will be returned to the main menu. http://unibears.berkeley.edu/cs/guide/playback-options-pg.html#handsfree