Cell Popularity Concerns Phone Office

This fall, Eliot House resident Christine M. Lin ’03 found herself excluded from her roommates.

“I am the only person out of four in my room who uses the PAC number on my room phone,” she said.

As more and more students purchase cellular phones, use of Harvard land lines may be on the decline. Though University Information Services (UIS) officials say it is still too early to tell whether student phone use has decreased this year, the numbers from last year showed that use of UIS phone lines was down by eight percent.

“We won’t really see a trend until December,” said Nancy M. Kinchla, director of telecommunications at UIS.

Kinchla said she is concerned about the decrease in room phone use.

“It’s certainly a big concern. We are worried,” Kinchla said.

And cell phone use seems to be growing on campus every day.

“I use my room phone very rarely. Ninety percent of the time I use my cell phone,” said Von M. Lam ’02.

Eliot House resident Krishnan Unnikrishnan ’02 said, “At night, there’s no need to use my room phone because I have free nighttime and weekends on my cell phone. I make most calls at night anyway. We really don’t need the outside line.”

Many students say cost is the main factor in their decision not to use their room phone.

Even before Unnikrishnan purchased his cell phone, he used a calling card instead of the PAC code.

“It really was the cost, ultimately. I thought it was a ripoff. If Harvard doesn’t get more competitive, they could lose a majority of their users,” he said.

For Rachel A. Stein ’04, it is significantly cheaper to call long-distance on her cell phone.

“I use my room phone maybe every other day and only to call within the Harvard system,” she said.

UIS officials recognize the appeal of cellular phones. “There’s nothing we’re going to be able to do about cell phone use. It’s not just a price issue, it’s a mobility issue,” Kinchla said. “We’re looking very seriously at what this will look like for the next few years. We want to come up with alternatives,” she said.

As to what those alternatives could be, Kinchla said she was not ready to comment. “We are halfway into our analysis, talking to other schools inside Harvard to see what services they want, and talking to students,” she said.