University administrators will soon consider a proposal to include land-line telephone and in-room network connections as a charge on each quarterly University bill. Those proposing the change — Information Technology Systems and Services, Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources and Residential Computing — are correct that billing should be simplified, but combining a service everyone uses with one that is rapidly declining is the wrong tactic.

Under the proposed system, students would pay $47 per quarter to receive both phone and network service. ITSS officials estimate that next year, the cost of in-room connections alone will rise from $36 to $42 per quarter, so the proposal essentially charges students $5 for a land line — a definite bargain.

However, the cost still outweighs the benefits for most students.

Cell-phone use on campus has greatly reduced reliance on land-lines among students. According to ITSS, this year only 49 percent of rooms throughout campus have land-line phones, and the percentage is just 38 percent among undergraduates.

Understandably, ITSS wants everyone to use the telephone lines that are already installed in rooms. Fixed costs are high, and the phone lines have to be maintained even if few students order service.

And there other good reasons to support the proposal. ITSS promotes land-line phones over cell phones as a better way to call 911, since the call will be directly connected to local dispatchers instead of the California Highway Patrol. ITSS also suggests that universal phone service will make the DoorKing entrance systems effective again, increasing safety by only allowing authorized visitors to enter.

Last weekend's break-ins have reminded us of the importance of dorm safety, but these concerns can be addressed through other measures. Encourage students to program local dispatch numbers into their cell phones or use nearby land-line phones (outside doors and in common rooms) to call 911. To increase entrance security, speed up implementation of an ID-card based system — already in place in Branner, Toyon and other dorms — that allows Stanford students and not strangers into dorms.

How do the costs add up? Now, students pay $42 for phone connections and $36 for network connections. Under the new plan, the services will cost $47 in all. That's an $11 per quarter increase for students who only pay for network connections.

The plan would force all students to pay for a service that less than half of the population wants.

ITSS says that with or without this change in billing, it will have to increase network connection costs another 17 percent ($2 per month) on top of this year’s 20 percent increase. With the change, ITSS can save the cost of billing all students and add cheap phone service. The group also points out that phone and network connections will be automatically included in financial aid, but we doubt that this will go unnoticed in the financial aid office, where cost-of-living estimates will probably drop by the exact same amount.

The cost savings are ITSS’s best argument. But the organization could get the same cost benefits by including network connections on the housing bill and excluding telephone service. The Daily has favored including network fees on University bills for some time, and since 97 percent of students pay for in-room connections, the fee is already distributed fairly.

What ITSS is really trying to do is make telephone service mandatory. By combining the network connection and telephone bills, they are distorting the issue. Most students should not be charged for land lines — ITSS should add only the cost for network connections to our quarterly bills.

Clearly, land-line phones are not disappearing any time soon, but they are not going to become more popular. As fewer students use land-line phones, ITSS will have to raise rates further to maintain its telephone system — which will drive more students to choose cell phones. It will be difficult, but the organization needs to look at other ways to keep land-lines affordalbe, and may have to look into whether it makes sense to maintain land-line phone systems in the long term.