The Homewood telephone system will be changing to five-digit extension dialing on Saturday, Jan. 27. The conversion is scheduled to occur at 2 a.m. The phone system will be temporarily shut down while the conversion is taking place.

The move to five-digit dialing was required due to the university's continued growth, specifically the creation of a campus at nearby Eastern High School.

The five-digit procedure will work just as it does at JHMI. Instead of dialing a four-digit extension for internal calls, the user will have to place an additional number before the extension--6 if the telephone number begins with Homewood's 516, 1 if the number begins with 261. The number 7 will be used as the lead digit for the 997 exchange at Eastern.

For example, dial 6-7660 to call Telecommunications Services at 516-7660. When calling an off-campus 516 or 261 extension, dial the access code, 113, and then the five-digit extension.

The new dialing procedure does not impact incoming calls from outside, off-campus locations or calls normally made using a 10-digit number.

Modems and fax machines that are user-programmed with four-digit extensions need to be reprogrammed with the appropriate five-digit number. However, telephone speed-dial buttons that are programmed with four-digit numbers do not need to be changed; the system upgrade will automatically reprogram the speed-dial buttons, adding the firth digit, according to Bob Geldmacher, project manager at Telecommunications Services.

For more information, go to http://www.jhu.edu/HITS/support.

and click on the telecom link or contact Geldmacher at 410-516-7560 or rgeldman@jhu.edu. For more background on the change, log on to www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2000/nov1300/13digit.html.