Please use this page to get oriented on GCC's new Avaya phone system. Here you will find basic information about how to use your phone, how to set up your voicemail, how to forward your phone to an outside phone and how to use some of your phone's features.

First Time Use

When you first use your new phone, the phone screen will likely be dark since it hasn't been used recently. You can 'wake up' your phone by pressing any button on the phone. In a few seconds, your screen will light up and you will see the phone's 'Home Screen' which should have your name or in the case of shared phones, your location in the upper left corner, along with the extension number.

To make calls on your phone, you can simply lift the receiver and listen for a dial tone, then dial the number you want to reach. If you'd prefer to use your speakerphone, keep your receiver on the hook and instead press the button that looks like a speaker in the lower right section of your phone and you will hear a dial tone through the speaker.

For outside calls, please DIAL 8 for an outside line. If you dial 9 you will not reach an outside line. Then dial the area code and number. Even if you are dialing a local number you must first dial the area code. Please wait a few seconds after dialing for the call to go through. It will go through after you finishing dialing automatically - you don't need to press any additional buttons to make that happen.

Setting Up Your Voicemail

You can set up your voicemail by pressing the white voicemail (or 'message') button, which looks like an envelope on the right side of your phone. If you are off campus you can dial the main campus number - 413-775-1000 and when it picks up and you hear the recorded greeting, press *7 on your phone. Both methods will bring you into the voicemail system, which will ask you to enter your extension and press the # pound key.

After you enter your extension and press the # pound key, you will be asked to enter your password. Everybody's default password to start is 142536. Enter 142536 and press the # key again.

Since your voicemail is not set up yet, you will be prompted to press 1 and speak your name. Please speak your name slowly and clearly so that it will be understandable in the phone directory. When you are done speaking your name press 1 again.

You will then be prompted to administer a personal greeting by pressing 3. If you would like to record a personal greeting, press 3.

You will be prompted to enter a greeting number since the phone system can store multiple greetings for you to use for different types of calls or situations. For now we assume you will just want to record one main greeting. Press 1 to indicate you want to record greeting number 1. You will be prompted to press 1 again to record your greeting. Speak to record your greeting and press the # pound key when you are finished recording. You will be prompted to press 1 to use this greeting for all calls. Press 1 and you will be told the greeting is recorded and active. At that point you can press the # pound key again to exit or hang up.

We have recorded an instructional video on how to set up your voicemail. Please note that the video does not include the default voicemail password of 142536 which you will need to enter the first time you set up your voicemail. We recommend you play the video full screen in order to be able to view the text on the phone screen during the demo.

Be sure to continue on and change your voicemail password right away (see next section) after you have completed your voicemail set up so that your voicemail remains secure.

Changing Your Voicemail Password

Since your initial password is a default password, you will want to change it right away after setting up your voicemail. To change your password, enter the voicemail system again by either pressing the white voicemail button on your phone with the envelope icon on it, or from off campus dial the main GCC number at 413-775-1000 and when you hear the recorded greeting press *7 to enter the voicemail system.

Once you are in the voicemail system, you will be prompted to enter your extension number and press the # pound key. Then you will be prompted to enter your password. Use the default password of 142536 to get in and then press the # pound key again. You will hear a message stating whether you have any voicemail messages, and then the main voicemail menu. You do not need to listen to the voicemail menu options just press 5 on your phone to get to more options then press 4 to change your password.

You will be prompted to enter your new password twice and press # after each entry. Follow the prompts and your password will be changed. Remember to use your new password when accessing your voicemail from that point onward.

Retrieving Your Voicemail

Your office phone will show if you have any voicemail waiting for you with a red light in the upper right corner of the phone. You can retrieve voice mail from your office phone by pressing the white voicemail (also called your message button) on the right side of your phone, which has an envelope icon on it. If you are off campus, you can dial the main campus number at 413-775-1000 and once you hear the recorded greeting, press *7 to access the voicemail system.

Once you are in the voicemail system, you will be prompted to enter your extension and press the # pound key and then to enter your password and press the # pound key. From this point forward you may notice the prompts are very similar to our previous phone system. Press 2 to retrieve messages and then 0 to hear individual messages. You can follow the prompts to save, forward or delete messages from there.

Forwarding Your Phone to an Outside Number

One extremely useful feature of this phone system is the ability to forward your office phone to an outside number. This will send ALL incoming calls to the forwarded number and not to your office phone. You must be physically present in your office and use your office phone to forward calls to an outside number - this can not be set up remotely. If you need to forward your phone and you cannot come into the office to do so, please submit a Help Desk ticket by emailing and we will take care of forwarding your phone for you.

To forward your phone, look for the Forward option on your phone's Home Screen, which is the second button up from the bottom on the right side of your screen, just above the Public Safety button. Press that button just to the right of the word Forward to start the process.

You will be prompted to enter the number you would like to forward your phone to. Please remember you have to dial 8 to access an outside line so you should enter the number as 8 plus area code and number. Check the number to be sure it is correct, then press the button under the Save option in the lower left corner of the screen to save the forward number.

Your Forward button will light up green to show that forwarding is in effect and you will see a small icon at the top of the screen that looks like a phone and a forward pointing arrow to indicate you are forwarding as well. If you want to cancel your phone forwarding, simply press the Forward button again and the light will go out, the forward indicator will disappear from your screen and forwarding will be canceled.

We have created a short instructional video on how to forward your phone. We recommend you play the video full screen in order to be able to view the text on the phone screen during the demo.

More Phone Features

If you are interested in exploring more features of your Avaya phone, such as transferring calls, conference calls, call logs, how to use the scroll wheel, etc., we have created yet another instructional video demonstrating some of these features. We recommend you play the video full screen in order to be able to view the text on the phone screen during the demo.

You can also access the previously distributed Avaya Quick Reference and Avaya User Guide documents.

As always if you have questions, please feel free to email the GCC IT Help Desk at