Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Morrisville State College- Switches To Nextel, But It's No Bargain-

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 06:34:44 -0400

Morrisville State College- Switches To Nextel, But It's No Bargain-

<SNIP>
Yi thought her own plan was the better bargain. "It's $30 a month and I get 400
free long distance minutes," she said. "You only get 200 minutes for the same
price with the Nextel plan."

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Morrisville State College- Switches To Nextel, But It's No Bargain-

By:WAYNE MYERS , Dispatch Features Editor
08/26/2003

MORRISVILLE -- On appearance alone, Morrisville State College is a postage stamp
of a school squeezed among the rolling hills of Madison County.

In reality, it's one of America's most tech-savvy college campuses. The
technological titan, with an enrollment size of just 3,400 students, has taken a
new tone by severing the cord on the land lines at its 10 residence halls in favor
of more flexible wireless cell phones.

"It's really cool how digital the campus is, especially for an agricultural
school," enthused Felicia Bongiorno, a first-year student from Clinton.

Wireless phone service is the third stage of the college's four-fold technology
plan that will culminate in the creation of a totally digital campus.

Morrisville issued IBM T-40 ThinkPad laptop computers to students in 1998. In
1999, the college entered the "nomadic" phase of its master plan with the
introduction of wireless Internet access to the campus, allowing students to
access the campus network and Internet from any location at any time.

Ray Cross, college president, officially launched Morrisville's wireless phone
foray with Nextel Partners, a Washington State-based digital wireless
communication services provider, at a "cord cutting" ceremony yesterday morning.
"You don't miss calls. And you don't have to deal with roommates tying up the
line." Quendolynn Jenkins, a freshman from Syracuse, said about the plan.

Morrisville began distributing 1,700 Motorola i30 cellular phones to residential
students on Friday. "Anything free is good," said Dan Lacitignola, a first-year
student from Cairo, N.Y. Lacitignola signed up for a Nextel long distance plan, as
had some of his friends.

Other students, like Michele Yi, a first-year student from Queens, declined to
purchase a Nextel plan, choosing to keep their current providers, provided that
their service works in the Morrisville area, and use the Motorola phone only for
local calls, free as part of the campus plan.

Yi thought her own plan was the better bargain. "It's $30 a month and I get 400
free long distance minutes," she said. "You only get 200 minutes for the same
price with the Nextel plan."

Not all Morrisville State students are happy to see the land lines cut. Lisa
Fuller, a second-year student, said: "With the land lines I paid only for the
calls I made.  Now I'll have to pay the monthly cost for the plan regardless of
how few calls I make."
Other schools have replaced land lines in their residence halls on a limited
basis, but Morrisville State was the first college in the nation to
comprehensively replace its land line system in residence halls with cellular
phones, school and Nextel officials said.
"We want to be leaders in applications of technology," Cross said following the
ceremony. "That's one of our strategic goals."
Students chattering away on their new phones quickly became a familiar sight on
campus, using 50,000 minutes already on Saturday, according to Cross.

Some parents, however, were suspect of the college's motives. One parent, who
asked that her name not be used, said the transition to wireless phones probably
benefited Morrisville more than the students. "The kids never gain," she said.
Telephone systems have been cash cows for universities, with student charges
resulting in incremental revenue for them. In recent years, students with personal
cell phones have cut into those revenues, forcing schools to make up the cash
shortfall in other ways.

According to Glenn Gaslin, general manager of the Morrisville Auxiliary
Corporation, the flight of students from land lines to wireless phones didn't
affect Morrisville as it had other schools, since the college never relied on that
revenue in its budget.
"We only made enough to cover the costs of operating the land line system. With
our enrollment size, we never saw it as something to make money from," said
Gaslin. "Land lines are a money-maker for the larger universities."
Revenue from Morrisville students using land lines slowed to a trickle anyway
after the college went to laptops in 1998 and students started using e-mail
instead, he added.

And, Gaslin said, the college is not making any money from the wireless phone
endeavor.
Susan Johnston, a Nextel spokesperson, confirmed the college received no financial
benefit from the partnership.
Morrisville State initiated talks with several wireless companies three years
ago.  Nextel's push-to-talk walkie-talkie feature, which allows users to connect
with other Nextel users in any market from any market, was an important factor in
the company's eventual selection as the college's wireless provider.

Nextel, with a large base of corporate customers, is looking to roll out similar
programs to other schools. "We're having conversations with other universities
about this," Johnston said.

The Oneida Daily Dispatch 2003
http://www.oneidadispatch.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10069625&BRD=1709&PAG=461&dept_id=68844&rfi=6

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