Telephone & Fax Costs
Schools, departments and other organizational units at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) are provided a set of baseline telecommunication services that are paid for by a monthly communications fee. When additional equipment or optional services are required, they are charged on a cost-recovery basis, in addition to the monthly communications fee. Examples of this include long-distance calling, phone set moves, voicemail or fax services.
A breakdown of costs for additional equipment and services can be found in the cost of phone services and cost of fax services sections.
Monthly communications fees
Communications fees are determined based on a school or department’s student course enrollment count and full-time-equivalent (FTE) employee count. This is because:
- usage for the phone system is driven by the number of employees in an area; and
- network costs scale with the number of students enrolled in a school.
If your area requires additional phone and network connections beyond the FTE count, they can be purchased on top of the communications fee at a purely cost-recovery rate.
In order to determine an area’s communications fee:
- Human Resources provides an “average staff FTE” count for each department.
- The Registrar’s Office provides a “total student course enrollment” count for each school or department.
The FTE and student enrollment numbers provide a basis to calculate fees according to:
- A department’s average daily FTE count over the billing month; and
- A school or department’s total student course enrollment over the last three academic terms. The term cutoff dates are March 1, July 1 and November 1.
Eighty per cent of the communications fee is based on employee FTE while 20 per cent is based on student course enrolment. When the communications fee was introduced, each department’s overall fee was adjusted so that departments did not pay more or less than in the previous year. The department adjustment currently remains in place.
If the total number of phone extensions exceeds the average staff FTE count for your area, the additional extensions are counted and charged a monthly fee on top of the communications fee at a cost-recovery rate.
A breakdown of additional fees can be found in the cost of phone services and cost of fax services sections.
Please note that monthly communications fee bills do not itemize individual phone extensions. If you’d like to request a list of all the phone numbers and extensions for your area, please contact the CCS Help Desk.
To add or remove phone lines from your area, please visit the phone extension requests section of the Telephones & Faxing page and select the form related to your request.
Existing network ports are maintained without additional cost, even if you have more ports than FTEs.
Wireless access is also provided without additional cost, however there are no guarantees regarding the number of connections that the service can handle. For special high-density or high-capacity requirements, CCS will work with your school or department to find a cost-recovery-based solution.
At the beginning of each month, a bill outlining costs for the communications fee is shared with a department liaison for payment.
If you’d like to update the designated liaison for your area or add an additional recipient, please contact Vivian Wong, IT Financial Analyst & Strategic Planner, at vivian.wong@torontomu.ca.
| Description | Cost of device | One-time activation fee | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone extension within departmental FTE | N/A | $86.57 | Included in monthly communications fee |
| Phone extension beyond departmental FTE | N/A | $86.57 | $15.52 |
| Cisco 8841 phone set (optional if Jabber is available for individual extensions) | $131.96 | N/A | N/A |
Important notes:
- Phone set installation charges may be incurred for additional cabling and/or network requirements.
- Costs for capital projects may differ depending on equipment available at the time of request.
Costs for optional phone services are not included in the monthly communications fee.
| System description | Setup fee | One-time license fee | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail: Unity Connect (with free, optional voicemail synchronization with TMU Gmail) | N/A | $28.51 | $2 |
| Long distance calling (North America and international) | N/A | N/A | Billed per use based on Bell Canada long distance rates |
| 10-digit direct-inward-dialing (DID) numbers (available in limited quantities) | $20.45 | N/A | $4.65 |
| Temporary phone installation for conferences | $75 + $0.78 daily | N/A | N/A |
| Description | Cost of device or service | One-time license fee | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone extension name change | No charge | N/A | N/A |
| Phone set relocation | $75 per phone (additional cabling and/or networking charges may apply) | N/A | N/A |
Important notes:
- A one-time Bell Canada service charge of $55 applies to all fax line activation requests.
- Long-distance calling is billed per use based on Bell Canada’s long-distance rates.
- A 10-digit direct-inward-dialing (DID) number is required to operate both analog and digital fax services.
| Description | Setup fee | Monthly fee | Monthly DID fee |
|---|---|---|---|
Analog fax line within departmental FTE (Cost of fax machine is additional) |
$512.31 | Included in monthly communications fee | $4.65 |
| Analog fax line beyond departmental FTE | $512.31 | $15.52 | $4.65 |
| Digital fax line | $20.45 | $7 | $4.65 |
Note there is no setup fee associated with upgrading from a physical/analog fax to a digital fax line.