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Friday, May 14, 2010
Ind. Courts - "Porter Co. courthouse left without phone service Friday "
Bob Kasarda reports this afternoon in the NWI Times:
VALPARAISO | The failure of a month-old piece of equipment on Friday left the Porter County courthouse unable to place or receive telephone calls on what is typically a busy morning for the courts, probation officers and other departments.
The failure involved a router, which was installed as part of the building's transition to digital telephones, said Sharon Lippens, director of the county's Information Technologies and Service Department.
"It just up and died," she said.
The transition, which has been completed at the county's nearby administration center and is in the works at the juvenile and Portage buildings, is expected to slash the county's annual telephone bill by more than half. The savings comes by being able to reduce the number of telephone lines used and by operating an in-house voice mail system.
Lippens, who expected the router to be replaced Friday, said she is looking into having a spare on hand if the cost is not too great.
This is not the first problem to develop since the transition began, she said. Verizon mistakenly placed fax machines on the digital lines, which does not work, she said. There has also been some confusion in house as county workers get used to the new system.
One benefit of the new system is ability to use an instant messaging system, even when the telephone operations are down, Lippens said. She said her office received many reports of the phone problems via this system on Friday.
Her office, which is based at the nearby county administration center, was also able to use the instant messaging system to help out an individual, who was desperately trying Friday morning to confirm an appointment with his probation officer at the courthouse.
The man began randomly calling other county numbers when his call to the probation department did not go through, she said. Lippens said her office was able to use the instant messaging system to convey the man's message.
"That to me was really great," she said.
As of 11:30 a.m. the phones were still not working, although Lippens expected the problem to be corrected Friday afternoon.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 14, 2010 02:22 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts