The cell phone is a versatile tool. It can take pictures, check e-mail, list news headlines, serve as a portable IM unit and, of course, make phone calls. With all the new mobile technology, some students are finding traditional landline phones an unnecessary expense.

The most recent data from the Yankee Group, a research and consulting firm, show that about 14 percent of cell phone users between the ages of 18 and 24 have dropped their landlines and rely on cell phones as their source of communication.

The nationwide trend among students and young adults to drop landlines is also being witnessed on the Stanford campus.

Information Technology Systems and Services, the University’s not-for-profit network and telecommunications provider, is trying to reverse decreasing landline use and cover growing infrastructure costs. Among ITSS’s efforts is a partnership with AT&T wireless and a proposal for a telecommunication fee that would be charged to everyone in on-campus housing.

Use of room phones slowly declining

ITSS Technical Manager Bert Stubbs estimates that out of the approximately 6,200 rooms on campus, 2,000 rooms did not have a landline last year.

“There is a decided shift to cell phones,” Stubbs said, adding that the trend has been gradual.

Nancy Ansaldo with ITSS marketing services notes that the number of people who have subscribed for a landline as of late last week was similar to the number during the same time period last year.

“From the beginning of the subscription period to present we’ve processed 738 voice orders,” Ansaldo said earlier this week. “Presently, we have a total of 1,918 active student voice lines. These numbers are very close to last year’s subscriptions for the same time frame.”

However, many students who are transitioning to cell phone use alone argue that landlines are not worth the cost.

“Cell phone reception is better now than when I was a freshman,” said senior Matt Henick. “It’s the future. Live for tomorrow.”

Senior Chris Gaines, who had a landline freshman year but now only uses his cell phone, pointed to value and portability as the main reasons to go wireless.

“I have free long-distance and nights and weekends,” Gaines said. “I can take it with me, I am always accessible and a cell phone is less bulky and I can put it in my pocket.”

“It makes me feel like a man,” he added.

Traditionally fees coming from landline use cover the costs of providing telephone service and some of the costs associated with the network infrastructure, said Ethan Rikleen, Residential Computing Network and Systems Administrator. As fewer students sign up for landlines, ITSS loses revenue, but infrastructure costs are never-ending because cables continually need to be upgraded and expanded.

New fees cover costs of landline service

“As fewer and fewer people get phone service (land lines) from ITSS, they collect less and less money to cover the network infrastructure costs,” Rikleen wrote in an e-mail. “The costs are the same, so they’ve started collecting some of it via the ‘in-room network connection fee.’ That’s the big part of why the in-room fee went up this year. “

Rikleen said that 60 percent of the in-room fee goes to Networking Systems at ITSS, which manages the residential network in partnership with residential computing.

ITSS is making an effort to preserve landline use on campus. Nancy Ware, director of business planning and communication at ITSS, said landlines are the most reliable way to dial 911 in an emergency. The location of a caller on a cell phone cannot be tracked, whereas a landline caller can be traced.

“Folks still believe landlines will be here,” Ware said. “They have higher reliability and landline prices are decreasing. Cell phones are a reality, but there are needs that will continue for some time related to landlines.”

Rikleen also said that, with landlines, students can buzz friends into their dorm from their room via the DoorKing system. Many students also bring their cell phones from home, carrying long-distance area codes, creating an additional cost for students and the University to absorb.

ITSS and Residential Computing are proposing a telecommunication fee to help recover from losses that may further result from a landline subscription decrease. The fee would be applied to all students living in campus residences and cover in-room internet and telephone connections.

Rikleen says that if the proposal is accepted, then the fee could be covered by financial aid, because it appears on the University bill. He hopes the fee will be enacted next year.

Discounts attract students to cell phones

While ITSS and Residential Computing are working towards strengthening landline services, ITSS cannot avoid the fact that more and more students are getting cell phones. The AT&T Wireless providers in front of the Stanford Bookstore said last week that for the previous two weeks they have been signing up between 30 and 90 students per day.

The Yankee Group reported that one of the steps many universities are taking to counter the cell phone trend is to team up with wireless providers, which is what ITSS is doing. Stanford students, through a special Stanford-AT&T Wireless Sponsorship Program negotiated by the University, which went into effect September 1, 2004, receive discounted cell phone plans.

In the past, ITSS was the middleman working with AT&T and student cell phone plans on campus, according to Nancy Ware, director of business planning and communication at ITSS.

“[Cell phone plans] are more efficient handled in the open market,” Ware said in an interview. “Students see better rates. We have partnered with AT&T for a number of years. Getting ITSS out of the middle, students get better service in the open market.”

Students who already subscribe to the Stanford-AT&T Wireless service managed by ITSS can opt to switch to the new Sponsorship Program, but aren’t required to do so and will still be covered by ITSS.

Many incoming freshmen come in with their cell phones, such as Maura Burk, and choose not to get a landline.

“I have always had a cell phone,” Burk, an athlete, said. “I’m not in my room, I’m always out and about. I already have three e-mail accounts to check - it is more convenient to have one phone line.”

Others, such as freshman Liz Renman, are taking advantage of the new Stanford-AT&T partnership and switching to wireless for the first time.

“I looked at prices,” Renman said. “[Landlines] charge an arm and a leg. It is worth getting a cell phone [even though] I would rather have a landline. I think cell phones are annoying.”