By the time freshmen step through AU's doors in September 2005, they may find something unique not only to this campus, but to most of the world: a cell phone will be a student's primary phone. The University plans to have 100 percent of students who live in the residence halls use cell phones as their primary phone. Currently, approximately 90 percent of incoming freshman own cell phones.
It is a step that will deflect the cost of telephone service onto students, saving the University "hundreds of thousands of dollars in operating costs such as equipment, maintenance and other such costs," according to Carl Whitmann, executive director of e-operations.
This new plan is in accordance with a new Federal Communications Commission rule that allows cell phone users to have "number portability," which lets cell phone users switch providers without changing their numbers. Essentially, the cell phones would serve as replacements for landlines by acting as forwarding addresses. Just as many students forward their AU e-mail to a hotmail account, the proposed system would forward calls made to on-campus 885 numbers to a personal cell phone. Calling a friend across campus, you'll have to dial the standard seven-digit number, plus the same four-digit extension.
This phone new system will continue to keep AU ahead of the technology wave - something that AU has excelled at in the past, such as the popular wireless Internet system two years ago.
The popularity of a switch from landline phones to cell phones in the residence halls is shaky, however, as it basically a cost-cutting maneuver on the University's part that brings some benefits - like a better connected community - but more disadvantages.
The largest, it seems, is the cost. While the school is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars - and we ask, where will that money go? - the individual student will have to pay for their own cell phone and service.
AU is planning for 100 percent of residents to comply with this in 2005 - and while 90 percent of students currently own a cell phone, what about the other 10 percent? Some students don't have cell phones, don't want them or simply can't afford them.
The only way students will save on costs from the new system is if they buy phones from and use services by T-Mobile or Cingular, which the University already has established contracts with.
Additionally, students may have to pay more in the long run because their minutes will not last as long as before. And if they go over their allotted minutes, students who have phones from their home state numbers will be forced to pay for long distance calls even if they are only calling across campus. Students who use family plans will essentially be making a call from New Jersey to D.C., even if the call is as local as Anderson to Letts.
Furthermore, cell phones that are used in dorms have notoriously worse reception than landline phones. In the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack or line failure, students will only have a single line from which to call. Before the school goes through with this option it should consider that during 9-11 and last year's hurricane, students were still able to make calls home despite the failure of cell phones and occasionally, landlines. Like many things, it is better to have a choice than a single way.
All of these questions must be answered before the University signs on to what appears to only be a trendy fad.
