HSTO: Revelling In Its Monopoly

Like any other school rich in tradition, Harvard has certain rites of passage that students must make it through before they can say they've had the quintessential "Harvard experience." Before we graduate, all of us must put up with the less-than-stunning fare of the Union, suffer through eight Core classes and endure several Cambridge winters (replete with nasty grey slush).

And almost all of us will also have to deal with a problem involving phone service during our time here. Indeed, when it comes to the Harvard Student Telephone Office (HSTO), practically everyone has a horror story to tell. If you think you've been lucky so far, having never had any difficulty with your phone service, just you wait. It's only a matter of time before HSTO throws some aggravation into your life.

The situation this fall was especially bad. The activation of student phone lines fell behind schedule, with glib promises of speedy activation simply going unmet. All of this was on top of the normal problems that plague HSTO at the beginning of each school year, including egregious billing errors and extremely slow line repairs. We may only be students, but as consumers we deserve better than this.

The problems with our phone service communicate the evils of monopoly to us much more effectively than any "Ec 10" lecture ever could. Because students need access to the campus phone system, we are essentially forced to engage the services of HSTO for our telephone needs. And because it enjoys a de facto monopoly over student telephone services, HSTO has absolutely no incentive to make sure that it delivers good service at reasonable prices. Even its long-distance rates are not competitive, despite a group rate discount. What can a disgruntled student customer do? Signing up with another carrier is simply not a viable option.

We admit that the problems with our phone service are not entirely the fault of HSTO. Many of these problems are the fault of the New York New England Exchange (NYNEX), the company to which Harvard has contracted its phone service. Many of the delays in the activation of additional extensions can be attributed to NYNEX's inadequate staffing in the wake of corporate restructuring. But because NYNEX controls the local telephone market, Harvard does not have the option of seeking out a better carrier to whom to contract service. The problem of monopoly makes itself felt at another level as well.

Perhaps HSTO should try to be tougher on NYNEX, by demanding better and more efficient service. But we recognize that this is easier said than done. In its negotiations with NYNEX, greater Boston's only major local carrier, HSTO is bargaining from a powerless position. As a result, HSTO has no leverage to control the service provided by NYNEX.

What HSTO does have some control over, however, is the quality of its own service. HSTO may not be able to force NYNEX to clean up its act, but it can at least make some changes in its own operations that would greatly improve student telephone service at Harvard.

We would like to offer three suggestions to HSTO and to its parent, the Office of Information Technology (OIT). The first is that HSTO should train its employees better. Many of the errors in billing and line activation were simply results of employee error. When a student called and asked to deactivate an unneeded line, an HSTO employee instead deactivated the student's PAC code. Another HSTO employee activated lines by telephone number instead of phone jack number. Unfortunately, the two numbers are not always the same.

Second, Harvard should institute 24-hour directory assistance. One could argue that such a service would be prohibitively expensive. We disagree, especially since very few operators would be needed during non-peak hours. Our friends at Yale enjoy 24-hour directory assistance. Why don't we?

The final suggestion we would make is that HSTO should offer students access to a permanent 24-hour message center where students could report any telephone service problems. Under the status quo, students who have telephone troubles after business hours or on weekends have nowhere to turn.

When the Harvard "Student" Telephone Office is not open, a recorded message tells callers that "officers of the University" may leave messages regarding "requests that require attention before the next business day." Mere students, however, are not allowed such a privilege. Why the double standard? As paying customers of HSTO, we have legitimate expectations regarding the service to which we're entitled. We deserve to have those expectations met.