The discontinuation of phone service to students who have not paid their bills caused an uproar across campus this week, as frustrated students were unable to reach people via phone numbers listed in the directory and angry that room-to-room phone service is no longer free.
On-campus dialing, students say, is necessary so they can all 911 or the Tufts police in case of an emergency.
When students' dial tones were dropped on Monday, many thought it was because of a policy change because they were able to make room-to-room calls last year without subscribing to the service. But in reality, Campuslink _ a subsidiary of PaeTec Communications that provides Tufts' phone, cable, and Ethernet _ never intended to offer room-to-room service for free to begin with.
"Last year, for an unknown reason, PaeTec made a mistake and left room-to-room service on," said Marj Minnigh, the manager of networks and special projects for Computer Services. "This is not part of their contract with Tufts."
Most students, however, were unaware that Campuslink had made a mistake and assumed that they would have free room-to-room calling this year. "They never told me," sophomore Jeffrey Martin said. "I thought I was still going to be able to make on-campus calls."
Many on-campus residents were outraged that they were suddenly disconnected. "It's ridiculous that we have to pay for intra-campus calls," Freshman Joseph Alexiou said. "We get the Internet free of charge. Room phones are just as necessary, if not more so."
Since the dial tone drop, some students have been unable to order food because restaurants will not deliver food without an extension that can be dialed from the blue light phones outside residence halls.
Other students have also found it difficult to contact their friends. "I can't call any of my friends because they don't have phone service," student Ilan Behm said. When he visits friends in other dorms, he has to "piggyback," or enter behind an entering resident, because he cannot call his friends from a blue light phone to let him in. Piggybacking is forbidden by the University police.
Many students expressed concern about being unable to call the Police from their rooms, but Minnigh, of Computer Services, said there are other safety precautions in place to make up for this. Resident assistants and proctors have regular phones, and are on call for emergencies. Every residence also has at least one payphone and at least one blue light emergency phone that is directly connected to the Tufts Police.
The number of students who sign up for landline phone services through Campuslink has declined significantly over the last few years as the cost of owning a cellular phone has dropped. But unlike room phone numbers, most students' cell phone numbers are not available in the directory, and many did not inform people of their numbers because they assumed their room phones would continue to work.
"Due to the emerging 'bucket plans' provided by various cell phone providers... the number of sign ups for phone services have gradually declined over the past few years, even though our rates have actually decreased," PaeTec Finance Department Head Keith Wolfson said. The term "bucket plan" refers to cellular packages which include a fixed number of minutes for different times of day, and sometimes allow for unlimited calling at night or on weekends.
Student opinions of campus telecommunications service are varied. The majority of students who own mobile phones say that the service plans offer more minutes for less than it would cost to subscribe to a landline.
Sophomore Matthew Magpayo opted not to sign up for Campuslink phone service. "I didn't sign up because I'm not in my room most of the time," he said. "There isn't a purpose for me to sign up if no one's able to reach me."
Most students who signed up for the landline service do not own a cell phone. Elizabeth Chen, a freshman from Singapore, uses the landline service to call home. "I signed up for the phone service because it's much cheaper to dial home using a calling card rather a cell phone," she said.
Other students, like Zoe Lee, resist the pressure to buy a mobile phone by signing up for Campuslink service. "I signed up because I'm too busy with school to use the cell phone," Lee said. "My family is 20 minutes away so I only make local calls."
PaeTec has an exclusive contract with Tufts provide Ethernet data connections, telephone and voice mail, and cable television to residence hall rooms. The decade-old contract expires next August.
PaeTec's service includes voice mail, call waiting, unlimited on-campus calling and unlimited calls to eastern Massachusetts area codes. For a single room, telephone service costs $31.50, and increases $6 for each additional roommate. Students that paid for the entire year before Monday received a $16 discount
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