In wake of Miami University's attempts to preserve funds, the university has approved upgrades of Miami's telephones throughout campus departments. Regardless of the initial investment, university officials say this new system will ultimately be more cost-effective and provide a more technically advanced system.
Cathy McVey, director of IT customer relations and communication, said the transition to the new phones was initially scheduled to be a gradual process, but was expedited by the proposed construction of the Bicentennial Student Center.
"The phone service we had was a standard traditional switch phone service," McVey said. "Half of which go to switches located in Robertson Hall. We knew that at some point Robertson Hall was going to be demolished to become the new Bicentennial Student Center. When the center got slated, we needed to move more quickly."
According to McVey, the university has transitioned to a voiceover IP (Internet Protocol) system, which enables the delivery of voice communication over Internet systems.
"The new phones have all new functionalities," McVey said. "Some of the features include a small display screen and caller ID. They also show the duration of calls and allow for conference calls to be placed more quickly and easily."
McVey also said IT services received the phones the first week after winter break in January to ensure they were functioning normally before the distribution to the various departments received them.
"Each department names a person who is designated to work with the project," McVey said. "Every week we identify a university office to receive the phones, and we schedule a meeting with their designated representative."
According to McVey, these meetings are designed to discuss how many phones are necessary for each department. During this process many departments have claimed that many of the old phones they had were unused and unnecessary.
The reduction of phones in each department is just one way in which the new phone service is minimizing Miami's spending, according to McVey. McVey said although the initial investment is significant, costing several million dollars, the system will save the university money.
"The overall price per year for phone services will go down," McVey said "Because the service is hooked up to the Internet, if someone moves offices they can do so without having to end the service, which included a charge. Also, system maintenance is no longer needed, which required expensive fees."
Another aspect in the decision to upgrade the university's telephone system was lessened interest from students to have telephones in their rooms.
Miami sophomore Kayla Reeg has lived on campus for two years and said she never found it necessary to have a phone in her room.
"Last year, I unplugged the phone within the first week of school," Reeg said. "Cell phones are the predominant form of communication for students. There's no need for anything else."
Student schedules were another factor why Reeg said residence hall telephones are unnecessary.
"It would be unrealistic to expect that students would be in their rooms enough to actually utilize a landline like that," Reeg said. "If a student was dependent on their room phone for communication, they would be impossible to reach for the majority of the day."
McVey said her office is aware of the limited use of residence hall phones.
"Last summer, all the phones were removed from the residence halls to prepare for this transition," McVey said. "When the students were surveyed as to whether they wanted phones in their rooms, about 30 students chose to keep them."
According to McVey, resident assistants, resident directors and students have the option of receiving the new telephones.
As for feedback regarding the new telephone system, professors believe it is too soon to tell.
William Jackson, professor of political science, said he had one incident with the new telephone system, involving a telemarketing call during his political science class last week, but noted it was insignificant and amusing.
According to McVey, the new system has received primarily good feedback and will continue to expand as the year progresses.
