Despite reduced long-distance rates, more students are turning to cellular phones and prepaid calling cards rather than the Office of Information Technology's Student Authorization Code card.
SAC card usage has fallen 29 percent since August, despite a rate cut by OIT from 10 to seven cents per minute.
"The downward trend over the last several years is because traffic has gone three other ways: cell phones, instant messenger and e-mail," said Angel Dronsfield, OIT's senior director of finance.
Students said the SAC card is too expensive and a pain to use because of its nine-digit authorization code.
"I would much rather use my cell phone--it's just so much easier and cheaper," junior Logan Allin explained. "I remember how freshman year, some of my friends would type like a 20-digit ID number to use the card. I didn't bother to use it then, and I'm certainly not going to use it now."
With falling cell phone rates and great deals for prepaid calling cards at Kroger, Walmart and other large chain stores, most students said they avoid the SAC card.
"Everyone I know uses a cell phone or prepaid card. With free night and weekend minutes a typical perk, who would use the SAC card?" freshman Matthew Johnson said.
Although most students use cell phones, some said they do use the SAC card. "I've been using the card since day one. It seems easy enough when you don't have a cell phone, and seven cents is a pretty darn good rate," freshman Paul Novick said.
Although the rate cut in August did not attract more students, Dronsfield said it was intended just to balance the long-distance division's budget. "Volume is not an issue. We are not trying to make money. Duke--unlike other schools--does not use long-distance as an income stream," Dronsfield said.
The rate cut came after Executive Vice President Tallman Trask's decision last spring to no longer operate OIT on a lump-sum budget and prevent some divisions of OIT from subsidizing others. It turned out that long-distance phone revenues were covering the cost of cable television, which was operating at a loss.
"When we discovered that long-distance was subsidizing television, we cut the phone rate," Dronsfield said. "As a result of this decision to balance each department's budget, the long-distance rate was cut three cents while the popular Duke Television Service channel was cut."
Many students said they still want the DTV channel and cheaper television service. "I wish they would have kept DTV and not changed the 10-cent phone rate. No one uses the SAC card, but a lot of people want $30 cable that has all the good channels," said Jonathan Godshall, a junior.
Dronsfield said that currently no discussion has occurred about changing the long-distance phone service.
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