‘Can someone answer the phone?’ — or not
September 19, 2009 by Carin FordPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Student Life, Tech News
If you remember running down the hall in your dorm to answer the phone, you may want to include that in your memoirs. Telephone landlines are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
The University of Florida, the University of Nebraska, Penn State University and now Iowa State University are just a few of the colleges that have gotten rid of telephone landlines in dormitories.
And who can blame them?
A recent Iowa State survey showed 90% of students living on campus have cell phones – and more than 50% don’t use their dorm landline.
Compare these numbers to a national survey from 10 years ago, when 25% of students used cell phones.
Many dorms still have public telephones available on each floor for emergencies, but taking landlines out of dorm rooms can add up to six-digit savings.
Is getting rid of landlines in dorm rooms a good idea? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Tags: Iowa State University, Penn State University, University of Florida, University of Nebraska
Loading ...
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Reminiscence of days gone by
I lived in a sorority during 1963-1965. Early in my first semester, my maternal grandmother died. My parents could not reach me via the one house phone that served 100 women. After they had left the state for the funeral, I found out from my house mother who had received their call on her private phone. I was devasted to hear this shattering news from a mere stranger and not from my Mom. How much better it would have been had they been able to reach me by my own cell phone.
There was a pay phone in the house which I used to converse with my long distance boyfriend. One night as we were talking I pushed the coin return lever and out rolled hundreds of coins. It was like winning at a slot machine. My boyfriend was shocked at the gambler’s glee I expressed as the coins landed in my lap. Much to his chagrin, I kept the coins since my allowence was only $10 a month, affording me only personal hygiene products. This was a much appreciated windfall. Who knows what I spent it on. I probably frittered it away, as my mother would say, but Ma Bell was not the wiser. I did not feel that I had stollen the money but that I had won it. And at that time, it was considered cool to be anti-Ma Bell with it’s monopoly. In retrospect, phones were much cheaper before deregulation.
September 25th, 2009 at 8:40 am
I think that there SHOULD be phones in every dorm room…or at least in every hall. It is NOT true that there are pay phones in every dorm, I know that from experience. In the last 5 years or so, many payphones have been removed because they ‘don’t bring in enough income.” However, the phones in the rooms (or one per floor) could be ‘in-house’ phones; available for emergencies and for on-campus calls (dorm to dorm, to leave a message for a professor, etc.) I come from an area that is still not served by cell reception, and having both a landline and cell (for when away from home – i.e. work) is just too expensive for me. The thought of having a year-round cell bill when not really needed is less than inviting. And pay as you go phones (tracfone, etc) burns up time since the cards you buy have not only a minute limit, but a time limit as well, forcing you to buy additional cards to keep the phone activated. This is just not an option for me, struggling to make ends meet.