I think it is absolutely vital that we keep the room phones. Mostly because there are quite a few people out there in the real world who have deals with their line rental where they get free calls to landlines. I know this is the case for my parents, and it is so so useful for them to be able to call me for free. They don't have mobile signal in the house, and calls to mobiles are extortionate. But having the phone in my room means they can get in touch easily and cheaply. It's great!
Yes, very much so. My mobile doesn't have the best reception, so if someone from back home wants to call for a chat the line quality is significantly better on the landline. Even if the phones don't see a lot of use, having them available is very useful.
Definitely yes! My relatives use my room phone to ring me and I've given out my room phone number in internship applications, so will be using it for phone interviews.
Personally, I don't use the room phones any more, since the 'free calls to Cambridge University numbers' deal was withdrawn. If I'm going to phone anyone now, I just use my mobile, as I have plenty of free minutes.
However, a lot of the rooms (Cripps, anyone?) have pathetic reception, and I think it's important for anyone who's phoning internationally. Keep them.
Don't use the phones my self at all, but could see why they might be useful to others.
Although I have unplugged mine since all that it's ever used for is cold calls.
On that though, is there anything we could do about that? I know houses can be registered so that it's illegal to could call them (we have that at home, but could something like that be done to cover collge?
Same as often mentioned above: if you've got relatives abroad who don't use skype it's basically the only way they can get in touch. Calling a UK mobile from abroad is just ridiculously expensive..
In order to keep the phones we would have to accept a £5 a term increase in room rent. Unfortunately this is an all or none decision, we couldn't opt out on an individual basis.
"Incoming calls from outside world would be managed in a similar way to the previous scheme, where calls to a single central number are answered and forwarded by an automated attendant."
I am certain that this is not the same as the previous scheme. Both my past rooms definitely had unique external numbers. Could you clarify?
It surprises me that conference guests aren't a driving force to keep these phones. Would their rates go up too if the phones were kept? Are colleges with whom we compete for business also throwing out their phones?
Personally, I'm not all that interested in paying for a phone I scarcely use. If it's that important to other people then that's my problem - but is it? Either way I must also note that it's apparently not possible to rescind my "yes" vote in the poll above in light of the more detailed proposal.
Yes - keep them. Just wanted to reiterate Ed's point about the cold calls though, if it's possible to stop them or at least most of them that'd be good.
Definitely keep them! For international students they make a big difference as it is a lot cheaper for my parents to call me on a land line. Is there any way that the phones can be called directly and not have to be put through an attendant? It was like that two years ago I think.
Actually I use skype a lot of the time. However skyping with my parents involves calling them or them calling me to organize a skype session. My room is also a black hole when it comes to signal so a landline would be the only way for them to contact me quickly. Some peoples parents (or in my case grandparents) might also not have skype or have access to it all the time.
Yes - agree with most of what is being said. Essentially, it's good to have a cheap landline for people to call. And what if you lose your phone or it stops working?
Although I am in favour of keeping the room phones, people should be aware that the automated service used for incoming calls last year worked on an 0845 number and therefore calls were WAY more expensive (although still less than calling mobiles), than the average landline call.
It is actually possible to find a corresponding regular landline number for most 0845 numbers (http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php). For example, the central number to call for university phone lines (0845 0454884) can also be reached at 01223 472687.
I think the phones should go- personally I have not had mine plugged in at all and use my mobile for everything. For people calling internationally there are lots of ways to get these included in your minutes by routing it through a UK geographical number (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/free-international-mobile-call).
Also, why is it not possible to have an opt-in system? I'm pretty sure that's what most Unis do.
I've never used the phone and I don't expect that I ever will, so I can't say that I'm thrilled at the prospect of having to pay for something that just sits there taking up room on my desk.
I have never used my phone to call out; the only time it ever rings is with people trying to sell me a kitchen. I would be very happy to see it go.
BUT with international students - if College does decide that keeping the phones is too expensive, and that they are all going to be thrown out, then the JCR **MUST** provide good, reliable, readily available advice on other cheap ways of calling to and being called from abroad - and not just 'use skype' - that needs a good internet connection at both ends to work, which isn't always possible. The last thing we need at Cambridge is any more stress because people feel lost from their families.
I voted no because Skype is a really good alternative for overseas students, and I think that most people in college have minutes on their phones anyway. It would probably be cheaper to work out a different option for overseas students without laptops to use skype from, like having phone booths or getting a skype phone that people can borrow, than charge the whole college an extra £5 per term.
If the College is going to get rid of the landlines, they need to offer an alternative. How about making Skype and other VoIP systems exempt from the network charging scheme they have at the moment? In this way students would only pay very little to make their calls (even free from computer to computer) and they wouldn't be hit with a massive internet bill at the end of Term. Simple.
According to this, at a very conservative estimate Skype uses a megabyte per minute. So your first free 5GB of network usage gives you about 80 hours of talk time, and excess charges are 0.01p per minute thereafter, less than 1% on top of Skype's standard 1.4p/min to most national landlines.
Besides the obvious meagreness of the costs involved, it's actually technically quite demanding to analyse network traffic to work out what is and isn't Skype.
Ultimately, providing comprehensive support for those want to use Skype, which is not as technically demanding as it used to be, even if this means providing headsets or a wall-connected handset for people without laptops (do they really exist?) is going to cost far less than the roughly £6,500 a year the College suggests collecting from undergraduates alone to keep the phones.
As far as cold callers go, you can register your phone number at http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/, it should have your number on the phone socket in the room. I've had no problem calls except one which was a wrong number and thought I was a dentist! Turns out it was 1 number different. But the phones are useful in general, a lot more reliable than skype and mobiles here, though for friends and family that have a good enough internet connection skype works fine. And since I'm not on contract even calling local friends on a mobile costs a lot.
For me an external line is a necessity. However it does seem unfair to charge everyone in college for a service a lot of them might not use. Alternatives such as phone booths or skype phones to borrow wouldn't work as I need a way to be contacted by the outside world reliably to my room.
I don't like to come across as banging on and on about Skype, but the principal advantage of it is that there's no additional infrastructure needed where this can be used, and this is what seems to have driven up the cost from our landline providers. An external number on Skype is £35 per year. And bear in mind that this is a number local to the country and sometimes even area code of your choice, not an 0845 number with an automated attendant. Now if I wasn't perfectly happy with my mobile, I'd think I'd be happy with paying just over £10 a term for something I heavily rely on rather than everyone in college pay £5. But even regardless of that, I really think that if whatever the College already spent on the phone service was redistributed to alternative provisions to those who need them, it really ought to be ample to cover anyone who doesn't have a laptop, doesn't want to use it or needs an external number.
Keep the phones! I use mine every week to talk to my parents, and I suspect many other people use them as well to keep in touch with their families. It's not always helpful to say they can just use Skype- my parents found an iPod a difficult technical challenge... (They're doctors. They're not totally thick. Honest.) That and the fact that the internet connection at their end is notoriously unreliable. And don't assume everyone has a laptop! It would be particularly unfair on them to have to conduct their private conversations with family and friends in a communal place just because they don't want/can't afford a laptop.
You can use skype to call landline and mobiles though, not just computer to computer (although that is free), very cheaply. Bought £10 skype credit when I was on holiday, to call England with, used about 3 hours of it and still have £9 left. As for network coverage in college, that really depends on what network you're using; on Orange I've never had any problem with it.
Almost all students here have mobiles and every room has atleast some area where you can get signal, even bottom floor cripps. Its not fair to ask the majority to pay for a service that only the minority use.
The devil's advocate in me tells me that's not true; I want vegetarians to have better food in the buttery and wouldn't dream of objecting to the works in Cripps at the expense of disabled students. But in this case there's a genuine alternative that works out better not only for the majority that don't use the phones but also in many cases for the rest that do.
Obviously the College wants an all-or-nothing policy, which to us obviously seems stupid, but an idea occurrs - would it not be easy to have just one building in College with phones and slightly higher rent, such as dokett, for those who really cannot do without? That way people could choose where they want to be based on their anticipated phone usage, and the rest of us could have the lower rent and less cold-calls. I choose Dokett because it's already distinguished from other areas in College by the ability to stay over the holidays easily, so the most vulnerable group in this issue - overseas students - are most likely to want to stay there anyway. Speak up, overseas students!
Why not just use Skype? You can buy credit to call landlines / mobiles abroad, and I bet you it's a better deal than using a calling card. You could even get a monthly subscription, which means you have unlimited calls to a chosen country for £3 a month.
In the end whatever happens my room phone is going to remain unplugged. Why should I pay for that?
It may be cheaper in theory, but it's not quite as simple - add in the cost of two headsets (since not everyone's laptop or computer at home has a mic built in), plus the fact that internet connections (although ours are pretty good) are less reliable than the phone lines...
Your last argument is a little weak. Even if you kept your radiators off all year and never used hot water, you'd be expected to pay for the central heating charges. ;)
I think telling people to 'Use Skype and get on with it' is a little harsh, whatever the economics of the situation. Perhaps if college were to provide information, sign-up forms and rental headsets, for example, then it might be workable.
I am strongly against any telephones being plugged in in my room because they are tapped by the government who want to listen in to see what we're up to and crush any opposition. The £5 is just a stealth tax to fund their whole secret bugging network. If you have your wits about you, you'll speak only in code and occasionally make high pitched screeching sounds in order to distract GCHQ.
Definitely yes. What on earth is the advantage in taking them out? Will our bills be very slightly less? When I wish to call home my family use the college landline to call me back more cheaply than making lengthy calls to my mobile. Come on guys, don't be cheapskate students just because you personally don't use them. Some people have friends and relations who like to call them.
Furthermore, and this brings out the rarely-seen communitarian socialist in me, there are many aspects of College life that people don't use, yet the college ultimately funds, partly from its own resources and partly from fees and bills. For example the Chapel, formal hall and buttery subsidies, the bar, the tutorial welfare system and the punts. There may be a few Scrooge-like students out there who would rather cook pasta in their kettle than have to pay a little extra towards buttery and the Hall, never have need of their tutors, don't use the punts and wouldn't be seen dead in the Chapel, but if these mean spirits had their way then College would be a utilitarian degree-getting factory running at minimum cost and maximum misery. Is having phones really that much of an extravagance? Your bills are stupidly low compared to those of other students living in privately rented flats in London and other big cities. Stop being cheap.
'Your bills are stupidly low compared to those of other students living in privately rented flats in London and other big cities. Stop being cheap.'
I'd just like to point out that my sister pays 3/4 of what I pay in rent to live in zone 1 London, and that my parent's heating bill for the entire house is less than my room in college for 2 terms. Bills are already too high. If you can have such a throwaway attitude to money, that's very nice for you, but for some people in college £15 is quite a lot in addition to what we already pay. Shouldn't people who are genuinely hard up, 'scrooge-like students' in your words, be included in your utopian communitarian vision of college?
This isn't about the Chapel, formal hall, welfare or punting, so stop being such a ridiculous sensationalist; it's about keeping a system that very few people use, and that could be replaced in a cheaper and far more efficient way than making everyone pay for it. Nobody's disagreeing that if the phones are scrapped an alternative system must exist for overseas students, but charging everyone for something that very few people need is not necessarily a great idea.
Gavin - another thing you might want to add to said "communitarian socialist" outlook is that less well-off students probably feel the monetary pressures of college life enough without being belittled as pasta-cooking cheap-skates.
I think that the college may have to consider trying to find another option, because at the moment, whatever happens half of college is going to be annoyed! I really think that the phones are worth keeping- even if they're only used rarely, they can still be invaluable. Even if you don't use them to keep in contact with your friends and family, which I know many people do, they can still be useful in job applications. Having to put down your mobile number may not be such a good thing as the signal can be very unreliable. A conversation that goes, 'Hello? Hello?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!' *Crackles at other end, random words* won't be very professional. That and the fact that I am still on pay as you go.
In fact, that's a good point! Everyone's kicking off over how much £15 is, but then that's how much a mobile phone contract costs a month! There's no point everyone ranting about how much the landline costs if that's how much they'd have to pay a month instead.
My parents and my friends call me on mine all the time, more than anything its cheaper for them and it means neither side loses signal, which my mobile does with regularity.
It's £5 a term - that's hardly a cavalier attitude towards money. Bearing in mind some students don't have laptops, I feel that assuming that everyone has access to Skype or can make expensive mobile calls shows greater disregard than the college having phones. Wanting to remove them is just churlish.
They've cut the phones lines off on the quiet. Wonderful, isn't it, how college do things in such a well publiscised manner, taking the time to listen to its students...
The phone service was actually discontinued by our current provider, rather than "cut off by college". That is why the current phones no longer work and hence why we were discussing alternatives last term.
We were hoping to get this issue sorted via our open meeting in week 1, before our current service was discontinued. Unfortunately, as you all know, our dealings with Dr Dixon consumed much of the committee's time earlier this term (and continue to do so - albeit to a lesser extent). We are now currently trying to address the issue and will hopefully be able to clarify matters at our open meeting on wednesday.
Comments
I think it is absolutely vital that we keep the room phones. Mostly because there are quite a few people out there in the real world who have deals with their line rental where they get free calls to landlines. I know this is the case for my parents, and it is so so useful for them to be able to call me for free. They don't have mobile signal in the house, and calls to mobiles are extortionate. But having the phone in my room means they can get in touch easily and cheaply. It's great!
Are the phones working again??
Yes, very much so. My mobile doesn't have the best reception, so if someone from back home wants to call for a chat the line quality is significantly better on the landline. Even if the phones don't see a lot of use, having them available is very useful.
My sentiments exactly...getting calls in is much easier with a landline rather than a mobile.
Useful for students to receive international calls at cheaper rates.
Yes, definitely, they are very useful, and cheaper than having to use mobile phones.
Definitely yes! My relatives use my room phone to ring me and I've given out my room phone number in internship applications, so will be using it for phone interviews.
Personally, I don't use the room phones any more, since the 'free calls to Cambridge University numbers' deal was withdrawn. If I'm going to phone anyone now, I just use my mobile, as I have plenty of free minutes.
However, a lot of the rooms (Cripps, anyone?) have pathetic reception, and I think it's important for anyone who's phoning internationally. Keep them.
Don't use the phones my self at all, but could see why they might be useful to others.
Although I have unplugged mine since all that it's ever used for is cold calls.
On that though, is there anything we could do about that? I know houses can be registered so that it's illegal to could call them (we have that at home, but could something like that be done to cover collge?
Same as often mentioned above: if you've got relatives abroad who don't use skype it's basically the only way they can get in touch. Calling a UK mobile from abroad is just ridiculously expensive..
In order to keep the phones we would have to accept a £5 a term increase in room rent. Unfortunately this is an all or none decision, we couldn't opt out on an individual basis.
What do people think with this in mind?
"Incoming calls from outside world would be managed in a similar way to the previous scheme, where calls to a single central number are answered and forwarded by an automated attendant."
I am certain that this is not the same as the previous scheme. Both my past rooms definitely had unique external numbers. Could you clarify?
It surprises me that conference guests aren't a driving force to keep these phones. Would their rates go up too if the phones were kept? Are colleges with whom we compete for business also throwing out their phones?
Personally, I'm not all that interested in paying for a phone I scarcely use. If it's that important to other people then that's my problem - but is it? Either way I must also note that it's apparently not possible to rescind my "yes" vote in the poll above in light of the more detailed proposal.
Yes - keep them. Just wanted to reiterate Ed's point about the cold calls though, if it's possible to stop them or at least most of them that'd be good.
Definitely keep them! For international students they make a big difference as it is a lot cheaper for my parents to call me on a land line. Is there any way that the phones can be called directly and not have to be put through an attendant? It was like that two years ago I think.
Daisy, did you ever try using Skype? £5 is worth over 4 and a half hours of calls to a Czech landline...
Actually I use skype a lot of the time. However skyping with my parents involves calling them or them calling me to organize a skype session. My room is also a black hole when it comes to signal so a landline would be the only way for them to contact me quickly. Some peoples parents (or in my case grandparents) might also not have skype or have access to it all the time.
Yes - agree with most of what is being said. Essentially, it's good to have a cheap landline for people to call. And what if you lose your phone or it stops working?
Although I am in favour of keeping the room phones, people should be aware that the automated service used for incoming calls last year worked on an 0845 number and therefore calls were WAY more expensive (although still less than calling mobiles), than the average landline call.
It is actually possible to find a corresponding regular landline number for most 0845 numbers (http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php). For example, the central number to call for university phone lines (0845 0454884) can also be reached at 01223 472687.
I think the phones should go- personally I have not had mine plugged in at all and use my mobile for everything. For people calling internationally there are lots of ways to get these included in your minutes by routing it through a UK geographical number (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/free-international-mobile-call).
Also, why is it not possible to have an opt-in system? I'm pretty sure that's what most Unis do.
why will we have to pay extra for a service we were already getting?
I would presume this is a question the college has already asked of the company providing us the service!
I've never used the phone and I don't expect that I ever will, so I can't say that I'm thrilled at the prospect of having to pay for something that just sits there taking up room on my desk.
I have never used my phone to call out; the only time it ever rings is with people trying to sell me a kitchen. I would be very happy to see it go.
BUT with international students - if College does decide that keeping the phones is too expensive, and that they are all going to be thrown out, then the JCR **MUST** provide good, reliable, readily available advice on other cheap ways of calling to and being called from abroad - and not just 'use skype' - that needs a good internet connection at both ends to work, which isn't always possible. The last thing we need at Cambridge is any more stress because people feel lost from their families.
I voted no because Skype is a really good alternative for overseas students, and I think that most people in college have minutes on their phones anyway. It would probably be cheaper to work out a different option for overseas students without laptops to use skype from, like having phone booths or getting a skype phone that people can borrow, than charge the whole college an extra £5 per term.
If the College is going to get rid of the landlines, they need to offer an alternative. How about making Skype and other VoIP systems exempt from the network charging scheme they have at the moment? In this way students would only pay very little to make their calls (even free from computer to computer) and they wouldn't be hit with a massive internet bill at the end of Term. Simple.
https://support.skype.com/en-gb/faq/FA151/How-much-bandwidth-does-Skype-...
According to this, at a very conservative estimate Skype uses a megabyte per minute. So your first free 5GB of network usage gives you about 80 hours of talk time, and excess charges are 0.01p per minute thereafter, less than 1% on top of Skype's standard 1.4p/min to most national landlines.
Besides the obvious meagreness of the costs involved, it's actually technically quite demanding to analyse network traffic to work out what is and isn't Skype.
Ultimately, providing comprehensive support for those want to use Skype, which is not as technically demanding as it used to be, even if this means providing headsets or a wall-connected handset for people without laptops (do they really exist?) is going to cost far less than the roughly £6,500 a year the College suggests collecting from undergraduates alone to keep the phones.
As far as cold callers go, you can register your phone number at http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/, it should have your number on the phone socket in the room. I've had no problem calls except one which was a wrong number and thought I was a dentist! Turns out it was 1 number different. But the phones are useful in general, a lot more reliable than skype and mobiles here, though for friends and family that have a good enough internet connection skype works fine. And since I'm not on contract even calling local friends on a mobile costs a lot.
For me an external line is a necessity. However it does seem unfair to charge everyone in college for a service a lot of them might not use. Alternatives such as phone booths or skype phones to borrow wouldn't work as I need a way to be contacted by the outside world reliably to my room.
I don't like to come across as banging on and on about Skype, but the principal advantage of it is that there's no additional infrastructure needed where this can be used, and this is what seems to have driven up the cost from our landline providers. An external number on Skype is £35 per year. And bear in mind that this is a number local to the country and sometimes even area code of your choice, not an 0845 number with an automated attendant. Now if I wasn't perfectly happy with my mobile, I'd think I'd be happy with paying just over £10 a term for something I heavily rely on rather than everyone in college pay £5. But even regardless of that, I really think that if whatever the College already spent on the phone service was redistributed to alternative provisions to those who need them, it really ought to be ample to cover anyone who doesn't have a laptop, doesn't want to use it or needs an external number.
Keep the phones! I use mine every week to talk to my parents, and I suspect many other people use them as well to keep in touch with their families. It's not always helpful to say they can just use Skype- my parents found an iPod a difficult technical challenge... (They're doctors. They're not totally thick. Honest.) That and the fact that the internet connection at their end is notoriously unreliable. And don't assume everyone has a laptop! It would be particularly unfair on them to have to conduct their private conversations with family and friends in a communal place just because they don't want/can't afford a laptop.
You can use skype to call landline and mobiles though, not just computer to computer (although that is free), very cheaply. Bought £10 skype credit when I was on holiday, to call England with, used about 3 hours of it and still have £9 left. As for network coverage in college, that really depends on what network you're using; on Orange I've never had any problem with it.
Almost all students here have mobiles and every room has atleast some area where you can get signal, even bottom floor cripps. Its not fair to ask the majority to pay for a service that only the minority use.
The devil's advocate in me tells me that's not true; I want vegetarians to have better food in the buttery and wouldn't dream of objecting to the works in Cripps at the expense of disabled students. But in this case there's a genuine alternative that works out better not only for the majority that don't use the phones but also in many cases for the rest that do.
Obviously the College wants an all-or-nothing policy, which to us obviously seems stupid, but an idea occurrs - would it not be easy to have just one building in College with phones and slightly higher rent, such as dokett, for those who really cannot do without? That way people could choose where they want to be based on their anticipated phone usage, and the rest of us could have the lower rent and less cold-calls. I choose Dokett because it's already distinguished from other areas in College by the ability to stay over the holidays easily, so the most vulnerable group in this issue - overseas students - are most likely to want to stay there anyway. Speak up, overseas students!
Why not just use Skype? You can buy credit to call landlines / mobiles abroad, and I bet you it's a better deal than using a calling card. You could even get a monthly subscription, which means you have unlimited calls to a chosen country for £3 a month.
In the end whatever happens my room phone is going to remain unplugged. Why should I pay for that?
It may be cheaper in theory, but it's not quite as simple - add in the cost of two headsets (since not everyone's laptop or computer at home has a mic built in), plus the fact that internet connections (although ours are pretty good) are less reliable than the phone lines...
Your last argument is a little weak. Even if you kept your radiators off all year and never used hot water, you'd be expected to pay for the central heating charges. ;)
I think telling people to 'Use Skype and get on with it' is a little harsh, whatever the economics of the situation. Perhaps if college were to provide information, sign-up forms and rental headsets, for example, then it might be workable.
I am strongly against any telephones being plugged in in my room because they are tapped by the government who want to listen in to see what we're up to and crush any opposition. The £5 is just a stealth tax to fund their whole secret bugging network. If you have your wits about you, you'll speak only in code and occasionally make high pitched screeching sounds in order to distract GCHQ.
Definitely yes. What on earth is the advantage in taking them out? Will our bills be very slightly less? When I wish to call home my family use the college landline to call me back more cheaply than making lengthy calls to my mobile. Come on guys, don't be cheapskate students just because you personally don't use them. Some people have friends and relations who like to call them.
Furthermore, and this brings out the rarely-seen communitarian socialist in me, there are many aspects of College life that people don't use, yet the college ultimately funds, partly from its own resources and partly from fees and bills. For example the Chapel, formal hall and buttery subsidies, the bar, the tutorial welfare system and the punts. There may be a few Scrooge-like students out there who would rather cook pasta in their kettle than have to pay a little extra towards buttery and the Hall, never have need of their tutors, don't use the punts and wouldn't be seen dead in the Chapel, but if these mean spirits had their way then College would be a utilitarian degree-getting factory running at minimum cost and maximum misery. Is having phones really that much of an extravagance? Your bills are stupidly low compared to those of other students living in privately rented flats in London and other big cities. Stop being cheap.
'Your bills are stupidly low compared to those of other students living in privately rented flats in London and other big cities. Stop being cheap.'
I'd just like to point out that my sister pays 3/4 of what I pay in rent to live in zone 1 London, and that my parent's heating bill for the entire house is less than my room in college for 2 terms. Bills are already too high. If you can have such a throwaway attitude to money, that's very nice for you, but for some people in college £15 is quite a lot in addition to what we already pay. Shouldn't people who are genuinely hard up, 'scrooge-like students' in your words, be included in your utopian communitarian vision of college?
This isn't about the Chapel, formal hall, welfare or punting, so stop being such a ridiculous sensationalist; it's about keeping a system that very few people use, and that could be replaced in a cheaper and far more efficient way than making everyone pay for it. Nobody's disagreeing that if the phones are scrapped an alternative system must exist for overseas students, but charging everyone for something that very few people need is not necessarily a great idea.
Now, back to my kettle...
Gavin - another thing you might want to add to said "communitarian socialist" outlook is that less well-off students probably feel the monetary pressures of college life enough without being belittled as pasta-cooking cheap-skates.
who the fuck is Gavin Rice?
I think that the college may have to consider trying to find another option, because at the moment, whatever happens half of college is going to be annoyed! I really think that the phones are worth keeping- even if they're only used rarely, they can still be invaluable. Even if you don't use them to keep in contact with your friends and family, which I know many people do, they can still be useful in job applications. Having to put down your mobile number may not be such a good thing as the signal can be very unreliable. A conversation that goes, 'Hello? Hello?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!' *Crackles at other end, random words* won't be very professional. That and the fact that I am still on pay as you go.
In fact, that's a good point! Everyone's kicking off over how much £15 is, but then that's how much a mobile phone contract costs a month! There's no point everyone ranting about how much the landline costs if that's how much they'd have to pay a month instead.
My parents and my friends call me on mine all the time, more than anything its cheaper for them and it means neither side loses signal, which my mobile does with regularity.
Does anybody know what other colleges have this problem and what they do?
It's £5 a term - that's hardly a cavalier attitude towards money. Bearing in mind some students don't have laptops, I feel that assuming that everyone has access to Skype or can make expensive mobile calls shows greater disregard than the college having phones. Wanting to remove them is just churlish.
They've cut the phones lines off on the quiet. Wonderful, isn't it, how college do things in such a well publiscised manner, taking the time to listen to its students...
Just an update....
The phone service was actually discontinued by our current provider, rather than "cut off by college". That is why the current phones no longer work and hence why we were discussing alternatives last term.
We were hoping to get this issue sorted via our open meeting in week 1, before our current service was discontinued. Unfortunately, as you all know, our dealings with Dr Dixon consumed much of the committee's time earlier this term (and continue to do so - albeit to a lesser extent). We are now currently trying to address the issue and will hopefully be able to clarify matters at our open meeting on wednesday.
Emil