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Telecom
Survey Results
The Survey
For more than a year, the Telecommunications Office has been considering making major changes to student phone service. Nationwide statistics show a steady decline in student usage of school provided phone lines, due in large part to the abundance of cell phones. Our internal data shows many Drew students never even set up their voicemail boxes, and the vast majority never use their authorization code for long distance calling. It's clear that the current phone service is not what the students want. After considering numerous options, we came up with a plan that is both cost effective and hopefully more attractive to the student population. Last month, all resident students received an e-mail with a link to a survey put together by the Telecom Office to present the proposed plan and determine the level of student interest. The central question on the survey was Question 12, which is reproduced below (click here if you would like to view the original survey document)
| Question 12: |
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The usage of telephone services in residence halls at Drew has been steadily declining for several years. The increased use of cell phones has reduced the demand for traditional telephone service. In response to these changes, we are considering a significant restructuring of dorm phone service. The challenge is to come up with a package of services that is attractive to students without an increased cost to students. Achieving these dual goals requires tradeoffs.
There are two major costs to providing student phone services. The first is the quantity of phone lines. Second is moving these phone lines to the student's new housing assignment each year. Our proposed restructuring will allow for free domestic long distant calling for students, which is not currently available, by reducing the quantity of telephone lines and voice mailboxes down to one per bedroom. For example, students living in a suite with 3 bedrooms would have 3 phone lines, one in each bedroom, regardless if it is a single, double, or triple. The telephone numbers will be assigned to rooms and no longer moved from room to room as students change housing assignments.
The following chart provides a detailed comparison of the current and proposed service offering:
Service Type |
Current |
Proposed |
Telephone Line / Voice Mailbox |
one per student |
one per bedroom (second line available for additional fee)* |
Local Calling |
no charge |
no charge |
Regional Long Distance |
$.05/min. |
no charge (combined regional/interstate cap of 1,500 mins./mo./student) |
Interstate long Distance |
$.089/min. |
no charge (combined regional/interstate cap of 1,500 mins./mo./student) |
International Calls |
varies by country |
varies by country with a lowered rate structure |
*Wendel/Tipple units occupied by families currently have one phone line per family
and will continue to have one line per family under this proposal. |
Would you be in favor of restructuring student telephone services as proposed? |
The Results
Of the 1410 students who received the e-mail, 282 completed the survey; a 20% response rate. The most interesting and relevant results are summarized below:
- 62% of respondents were in favor of the proposed changes; 12% were opposed; 26% were unsure
- 96% of respondents own a cell phone
- 76% of respondents never use their authorization code for making outgoing phone calls
- 71% of respondents were female, 29% male
- 59% of respondents were from the freshman or sophomore classes.
The following charts illustrate the data in a little more detail:
Question 12: Would you be in favor of restructuring student telephone services as proposed?
(see above for more details on question 12)
Question 7: Do you own a cell phone?
Question 10: If you make long distance and international calls from your Drew phone line, approximately what percentage of your calls are placed using a calling card vs. your Drew Personal Authorization Code? Enter 0 if you don't make any long distance or international calls from your Drew phone line.
(The chart only shows results for auth codes. In general, students who entered 0% for auth code usage entered 100% for calling card usage)
Question 1: Gender
Question 3: What year do you expect to graduate?
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