Free as a bird: Students flock to cell phone plans

The surge of cell phone use around the world over the past few years has not bypassed the University community. The multitude of rings, beeps and message alerts that greet the ear when walking across campus indicate the phenomenon has pierced the orange bubble.

"I don't know how to work my room phone," Bradford Stevens '08 said. "At the moment it's flashing — I don't know if that's a good sign."

Many students agree. Due to the increasing availability and convenience of cell phones, they rarely find an occasion to use their room phones.

Frank Ferrara, telecommunications department manager, said anecdotal evidence confirms the trend.

"Room phone bills have been going down over the last couple of years," he said. "There are no hard estimates because we have no surveys out there, but [the decrease] is significant."

Connor Cobean '08 said he did not have a cell phone when he arrived on campus in the fall. However, his parents purchased one for him a few days later in order to cut down on long distance calling expenses.

"To stay in contact with people on campus you really need to have one," Cobean said. "The people I know that don't have one are hard to get together with."

"I haven't used my room phone once," he added.

Erica Hsu '05 said she also got a cell phone recently. Her parents decided to buy a family plan in order to stay in touch more easily.

Hsu admitted she has found using a cell phone much more convenient than her room phone.

"Sometimes I forget to check my voicemail and messages will stay on [my room phone] for days," she said. "But with a cell phone, it goes around with you everywhere and it usually has a little light or beep to let you know when there's a voicemail."

Cell phone connect

Ferrara said the Telecommunications Office recognizes the convenience of cell phones and has tried to accommodate their increasing use on campus.

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The office recently implemented a new system called Cell Phone Connect that allows room phone voicemail to be forwarded to a student's mobile phone for $4 per month.

"We believe that if the students would rather use a cell phone for mobility, that's fine," Ferrara said. "[Cell Phone Connect] is a feature that we offer because we recognize the fact that many students come to campus with a cell phone."

Many students still complain about poor cell phone service on campus, especially in their rooms and in Frist Campus Center.

"I live in the basement. I get zero phone calls," Will Byrd '08 said. "It's probably because no one's calling me, but I like to think they're trying."

Ferrara said several cell phone companies have not yet established good cell phone service in Princeton.

"Depending on which cell phone vendor students use, coverage may not be good on campus," he said. "We're working on making [service] better, but the vendors themselves need to partake in that."

Resisting the trend

Despite the vast increase in cell phone use over the past few years, a small group of students refuses to follow the crowd. They give a variety of reasons for resisting the cell phone trend.

For some students, it is a matter of finance.

"If I were to get one I'd have to pay for it and I choose not to spend my money on that," said Jerry Moxley '08, a 'Prince' Street writer.

And while Victor Amin '08 jokes that his reason for not having a cell phone is "partly laziness," he said using the University's long distance phone service was cheaper for him.

Others have more philosophical reasons behind their choice.

"It's antisocial. You can see six people walking across campus together, but not really together because they're on cell phones," Stephan McDaniel '08 said. "There's something so urgent and rude about that form of communication."

But whatever their reasoning, most mobile-less students argue that although cell phones may be convenient, they are not essential.

They simply find other ways of communicating, such as AOL Instant Messenger.

"It's very rare that I need one," McDaniel said. "If you don't have one, you have a different barometer of importance. My idea of an emergency is very different than other people's."