Global University Phone System
Enabling Universities to make free calls worldwide
Welcome to the Global University Phone System.
What is the Global University Phone System ?
The Global University Phone System (GUPS) has been developed to allow Universities to place calls between each other for free. Using emerging voice over ip technologies Universities can make calls and receive calls to as many schools as are in our network absolutely free.
GUPS provides universities with a VOIP (voice over IP) system they can easily install and configure to connect their phone networks with other academic institutions around the globe. Calls then travel over the internet using VOIP thus bypassing traditional telecommunication charges for phone calls and connecting universities to the rapidly expanding VOIP community (see graphic below).
All calls through GUPS adhere to the SIP standard. The SIP protocol is an open standard which allows for Univerisites to be interconnected with any SIP based hardware / software devices around the world. Calls can be made not just between participating campuses, but also between any software or hardware telephony device that supports SIP. A great example of this software is the Gizmo Project (see: gizmoproject.com) other examples can be seen in SIP based digital phone devices such as wifi phones (see: siphardware.com) all of which can make free calls to campus numbers.
The goal of this initiative is to ensure the free flow of information between academic institutions worldwide. REEF anticipates about 300 universities signing up in the first year. For further information on GUPS, please contact Tina M. Donaldson at 858-784-0165 or tina@aboutreef.org.
