Collegiate Times

Many universities are ditching dormitory landline phones in an effort to cut costs and remove an unnecessary part of telecommunications infrastructure. Virginia Tech, however, will not follow suit -- at least not any time soon.

Virginia Tech's Communications Network Services released a statement Thursday regarding landlines.

"Communications Network Services will continue to provide telephone service to residence hall students via the university telephone system until a suitable replacement is identified," the statement read. CNS "wants to do as much as we can to help ensure the safety of all of our students on campus, and continuing to provide a phone in the residence hall rooms is one method of accomplishing this."

Efforts will be made to improve cell phone service and expand wireless Internet in rooms before phone removal is investigated. Safety concerns are also involved in the delayed removal.

"Landline phones have proven to be very dependable over the years and continue to provide an additional means to enhance safety and security," the statement said.

"The goal is to remove landline phones, but we can't do that before we have an emergency system in place," said Vice President of Student Affairs Ed Spencer at an open forum on Wednesday evening at D2. "We're trying to make sure we deal with that first before we go yanking out the landlines."

An emergency system would consist of a phone per floor connected directly to the Virginia Tech Police Department.

The CNS statement may serve as a response to a proposal made by Director of Housing and Dining Services Rick Johnson to remove landline phones from residence halls.

Since the widespread use of cell phones, fewer students find themselves using the landline in their rooms. Initiatives to remove such phones are sweeping the nation both as a cost-saving measure and simply due to underutilization.

A trend prompting the removal of phones is their rare use as primary communication systems. Many institutions see phones as an unnecessary service to provide to students and believe cellular telephones enable easier and more convenient communication.

Other services are replacing landlines around the country.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology plans to remove phones from its oldest buildings. Students living in affected dorms without landline phones are still issued a number, but it does not connect to an actual phone on campus. It instead allows for voicemail to be received and/or calls to be forwarded to a cell phone.

Some schools with newer dormitories opted to not install analog phone lines at all. Christopher Newport University, for example, provides a special type of phone to students. Since 2002, residence halls at CNU have been equipped with a phone that uses the Internet to make calls, called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP.

The phones simply plug into the same Ethernet wall jack as a computer.

Even though the VoIP handsets cost more than a normal telephone handset, the service remains a cost savings to the university. An added bonus to the use of VoIP is the ability to broadcast messages -- part of the university's emergency alert system, said George Webb, CNU spokesman.

William & Mary will not provide landline phones for students this fall, except by request.

"Most students prefer to use their cell phones," said Deb Boykin, assistant vice president for Student Affairs and director of Residence Life for the College of William & Mary. "RAs will still have them, and any student who wants a phone can still contract for one."

A portion of William & Mary's savings will go toward a "distributed antenna system" which will enhance cell phone coverage in the dorms. The antenna system acts like a focused-area cell tower. Boykin estimates savings of over $100,000.

Other schools that plan to remove or have already removed phones from their dormitories include the University of Florida, the University of Kentucky and the University of Missouri.