The new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, introduced in certain administrative offices in November, have now been installed throughout the entire campus. Replacing phones that have been used since the 1970s, the VoIP phones convert telephone signals for transmission over Bowdoin's existing internet network.
The switch to VoIP occurred after a year of internal testing at the College. According to Chief Information Officer Mitch Davis, the new telephone network is now the nation's fastest campus-wide network.
Manager of Data Systems William Kunitz wrote in an e-mail to the Orient that the most important feature on the phones is the ability to "use the same network for voice and data; we can converge our voice mail with our Outlook e-mail system." Private voice mail, individualized ring tones, and conference call capabilities are also features of the new phones. Furthermore, students will retain the same personal phone number for all their years at Bowdoin.
Unlike its hardware-based predecessor, the VoIP phone operates through software, which enables it to be updated often. For instance, Davis said that the new system will eventually forward calls from students' residence phones to their cell phones. Although the feature is still being tested by Information Technology (IT), Davis said it should be available "fairly soon."
Despite the new features, responses to the phones have been mixed. Some residents of Coles Tower are disappointed that personal phones in each bedroom have been replaced by one phone in the common area, which all four suitemates share.
"We really like the new technology that's been added to our rooms, but we're frustrated that there are not phones in our [bedrooms], and therefore there is a lack of privacy," Coles Tower resident Samantha Stewart '09 said.
Kunitz said that the original plan was to install a phone in every bedroom in Coles Tower. However, after installing about sixty phones, it became apparent that there would not be enough power to support all 207 phones that were to be installed.
"As we replaced phones, we found phones unplugged, stuck under beds, buried on bookshelves and in some cases, missing entirely?so we didn't feel it would be too great a hardship to share a phone in the common area," Kunitz said.
Davis said that the consensus among a student advisory group that tested the system concurred that personal phones were of little importance.
"If every student said 'I need a phone in my room,' I would reconsider that option," Davis said, also noting that cost was a factor in the decision.
Regardless, some students are very pleased with the new system.
"I like that we each have our own extensions," said Kevin O'Connor '11.
In the future, Davis said he would like to recruit students interested in the phones to design new features.
"They could develop an interface or something cool for the students," Davis said.