Radford's Telephone Services

Yeah, Right!!

by TYLER RORABAUGH

Once a month, the famous Radford Telephone bill comes to your mailbox. You open the bill and notice that its almost twice as much as what you would pay anywhere it the United States-- even if you were stranded in a state like Minnesota.

Radford Charges up to 29 cents a minute at peak times and 17 cents a minute on off-peak times, that’s outrageous. My last bill came to $12.49. Yeah, to some of you at Radford, that may not seem like much, but I would be able to go to six more parties, or maybe eat at Taco bell instead of eating the daily Dalton slop if I didn’t have to pay twice as much for a phone bill.

Realizing that Radford’s unnecessary phone bill pricing is ripping me off, I decided to call AT&T and Sprint. They said that there was nothing that they could do and that Radford ran its own telephone services. Can we say “Monopoly??"

Radford University will not even allow its customers to use the 10-10-321 numbers because they are cheaper. Isn’t there some sort of law against this? Most companies don’t charge for the first minute, or it is so low that it sometimes doesn’t even come up on your bill. RU charges the full amount for anything under a minute, however.

What about Radford’s Telephone Services? What services!? Radford gives customers only two services including call-waiting and tone block. What about *69 or any other features like Caller ID? There are none.

At Radford’s wonderful Telephone Services, they even charge you a $5 fee if you lose your authorization code. Now that’s service!

Name:   

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Major:  

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Name: Sad Student
Comments:
Too bad they screw all of us and we have NO WAY of turning it around. I hate the closed-minded administration here at RU!

Name: John Grimes
Major: Education
Comments:
Telephone Services is also an EXTREMELY sore subject with me. I think it is not only absurd, but also unethical for a university to offer its own long distance at sky-rocketing rates to students trying to get by on strict budgets. Many universities offer the local free phone service as RU does, but allows its students to choose their own long distance carrier. Is RU that hard up for money that they most DEMAND students to use university-controlled services?

Name: K
Comments:
Ghost-I'm sorry, although I dont' like the phone services oncampus, I have to live oncampus as part of my scholarship. Additionally, the convenience of living oncampus combined with the lower cost (vs a single apt) makes it much more economical. To combat phone bills (which are extremely high) I get phone cards. Another peeve I have with RUTS is the fact that if (by some chance) you DID NOT receive your phone bill, you are still liable for paying the late charge in addition to the bill. Maybe one should check up on one's bills (which I do) but I think if you dont' receive the bill, you shouldn't have the late charge.

Name: WiT
Major: art
Comments:
Peer, you are a geek. Don't worry I still love ya.

Name: nps
Major: media studies
Comments:
For me I thik it helps to have a limit on my phone bill. The only people I think that are worth calling are businesses that have to do with my major or my parents. My real friends are at school..if my friends at home want to talk to me they just have to write or e-mail me..that's all. Most of my friends are college students too so they understand that I can't always call them now whenever I like.

Name: Ghost
Comments:
This one's an easy answer: DON'T LIVE IN THE DORMS. Radford DOES have a monopoly. I lived on campus for 1 year, and off campus for 6 (3 degrees). Take my word for it; telephones, food, everything is MUCH CHEAPER when you don't live in the dorms. THEY ARE A RIPOFF AS A WHOLE. If you do allow yourself to be suckered into living in the dorms, though, and you don't like your phone bill, well, tough. You asked for it.

Name: PeeR
Comments:
It has been a year now, and I have yet to pay more than $2 for my phone bill. Email is the way to go, everyone! Try it!!!