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Schools looking for money to fill budget holes-TDS can help
(ENP Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ENP Newswire - 10 February 2012
Release date- 09022012 - There's more than $2 billion available to schools and public libraries through the federal government's E-Rate program.
The program offers reimbursement on communications services-primarily phone and Internet. To participate, schools and libraries must act by Feb. 21.
'E-Rate might just be the best kept secret,' says Kay Midthun, E-Rate program manager at TDS Telecommunications Corp. 'It enables schools and libraries to get services and upgrades that positively impact their budget as well as teachers, administrators, parents, and students. With VoIP technology, for example, staff members can change the way they work. They can do more in less time, and become even more responsive to parents. But, schools must act quickly to qualify.'
Midthun is referring to the fact that schools must post a Form 470 seeking bids for communications services by February 21. All contracts must be in place by March 20 to qualify for reimbursement during the 2012-2013 school year.
For participating schools, the E-Rate program's reimbursement rates can be as high as 90 percent of the cost of eligible services. Rate of reimbursement varies based on the number of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program. There are two priority levels for reimbursement:
Priority one services: telecommunications and Internet are reimbursed first.
Priority two services: Internal connections, such as PBX phone systems, and basic maintenance on Internal Connections are funded after priority one requests-if funds are still available.
'Our managedIP Hosted solution-a VoIP technology-is reimbursed at both levels,' says Midthun. 'Not only can schools get funding for the service, they can also take advantage of the power of VoIP technology.'
Administrators and teachers say that getting voice mail and email in the same inbox, a function of TDS managedIP, saves a lot of time and leads to better prioritization. They can select which voice mail message to read first and send voice mails via .wav file to others for follow-up.
Karen Ballin, District Administrator at Monticello Schools (Wis.), says that TDS managedIP is putting common sense to work for them. 'It just makes sense that the phone should be integrated with the computer,' says Ballin. 'Parents already appreciate that we're more responsive to their needs.'
According to TDS, school administrators say they like how easy it is for users to route incoming calls remotely, especially when the weather's bad.
Switching to a VoIP hosted technology, such as TDS managedIP Hosted, qualifies schools for the priority one category for reimbursement. With TDS managedIP, the monthly management fees are considered priority one services. Some of the equipment is considered priority two and can be reimbursed, as well, if the school has a high enough discount percentage.
Some schools purchase a traditional PBX phone system, and the one-time costs qualify for priority two E-Rate funding. Therefore, they are reimbursed for eligible costs if they have a high enough discount percentage, and if any money remains after priority one requests are funded. During the tenure of the E-Rate program, the majority of priority one requests for eligible services have generally been reimbursed and many of the priority two requests, too.
For more information about the E-Rate program, visit www.usac.org/sl; for details about TDS managedIP, visit www.tdsvoip.com.
TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS) is the seventh largest telecom provider in the U.S. For more than 40 years, the company has been connecting people with high-speed Internet, phone, and TV entertainment services in hundreds of rural, suburban, and metropolitan communities across 30 states. Today, TDS has more than 1.1 million equivalent access lines in service and 2,700 employees. Business customers select from the latest technologies, including: VoIP (managedIP) phone service, dedicated Internet, data networking, and hosted-managed services. Visit www.tdstelecom.com or www.tdsbusiness.com for more information.
TDS Telecommunications Corp. also manages the operations of VISI Incorporated, TEAM Technologies, and OneNeck IT Services Corp. through TDS Hosted & Managed Services, LLC. These companies employ more than 350 people who specialize in providing hosted application management, managed hosting, cloud services, and next generation data centers. Visit www.visi.com, www.team-companies.com, and www.oneneck.com for details.
TDS Telecommunications Corp. headquartered in Madison, Wis. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. [NYSE: TDS]. A Fortune 500 company, Telephone and Data Systems provides wireless, local and long-distance telephone and broadband services to approximately 7 million customers in 36 states through TDS Telecommunications Corp. and U.S. Cellular [NYSE: USM], its 84-percent owned wireless subsidiary. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, Telephone and Data Systems employed 12,300 employees as of Dec. 31, 2011. Visit www.teldta.com for investor information.
For more information contact: Cindy Tomlinson, Associate Manager - Public Relations / TDS Telecommunications Corp. / 608-664-4471 / cindy.tomlinson@tdstelecom.com
[Editorial queries for this story should be sent to newswire@enpublishing.co.uk]
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