Listen hear: Students still neglect to set up voice-mailboxes

Yesterday's deadline for more than 700 undergraduates to set up their voice-mailboxes came and went, but according to University telecommunication officials, more than half those students have yet to initialize the electronic answering service.

The University sent an e-mail Thursday to all undergraduates reminding them to set up their voice-mail systems, but according to voice-mail system manager Thomas Heller, 406 voice-mailboxes remain uninitialized.

At the time the e-mail was sent, the number of voice-mailboxes that had not yet been set up totaled 775 — 175 group and 600 individual voice-messaging mailboxes. Heller deemed the number unusually high and in a word, "unexplainable."

"I've been the systems manager since 1990 and this is the worst ever," Heller said, adding that last year more than 99 percent of the undergraduate population used the voice-mailbox system.

"I don't understand," Heller said, noting that undergraduates typically set up the voice-mail system more frequently than any other demographic group on campus.

Heller — whose voice is the one students hear when they dial the voice-mail system at 8-6423 — said that while some of the uninitialized mailboxes belong to freshmen and students who have withdrawn, he believes the problem may be that many students do not consider setting up their voice-mail a priority.

"If it's something we haven't done properly, we want to know about it," he said, adding that he believes the voice-mail department has done a better job of informing students about the system this year than it has in the past.

In addition, about 100 graduate student mailboxes remain uninitialized, but that number is consistent with the previous year. The University's system has close to 13,000 voice-mailboxes in operation.

Heller said he has started to convert uninitialized voice-mailboxes to "silent, U-Call mailboxes."

This allows students to continue receiving voice-mail messages sent through U-Call — the University's automated voice directory. But the voice-mail system will not work if someone calls directly to the student's room. Students who own separate answering machines sometimes choose to use this option.

"It's to the student's advantage to set up their voice-mail," Heller noted. He said that students who are on phone lists of preceptors and organizations and class lists will not be able to take advantage of these services if they do not set up their mailboxes.

Students who live in singles and have not initiated their mailboxes face additional problems. These students — whose voice-mailbox numbers begin with a 6 — are unable to receive any voice-mail messages.

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To avoid this, Heller said he has been converting these mailboxes to "transfer mailboxes" that automatically ring a student's number when someone attempts to send them a voice-mail.

Nevertheless, even after these conversions are made, those students who wish to set up their voice-mail may go to the voice-mail department and set up a new voice-mailbox at no charge.

"We're service-oriented people," Heller said. "We're willing to do whatever it takes to get people going."