<p>the housing letter suggests that we bring our own telephones to Dartmouth...however, i've heard from an 09er that Dartmouth comes with pre-installed phones. anyone know what the real deal is?</p>
<p>Hmm I haven't heard of any dorm with pre-installed phones. I brought my own phone and it worked fine. Dartmouth provides free long distance which was awesome, and I was also able to set up the answering machine easily. I used my cell phone a lot just for convenience, but I would recommend bringing a phone so you don't rack up your minutes. Also, some people said they didn't get complete cell phone reception in their rooms, especially in East Wheelock.</p>
<p>I don't think there are any pre-installed phones either however, some students were able to use voip and talk through their computers. </p>
<p>Bring the phone as Jen stated there is free long distance and sometimes while overall cell phone reception is good, you can get dead spots especially living down in the river or reception can be fuzzy. It can also be a big benefit if you need to talk during your off-peak (free) minutes:) My biggest pet peeve is D has a phone, packed it up when she moved and never took it out of the box again.</p>
<p>the choates comes with free phones</p>
<p>sangel -</p>
<p>Free phones? Really? Is this an exception for the Choates cluster? I know the long-distance <em>service</em> is free at Dartmouth, but all of the housing information S has received indicates he has to bring his own phone instrument, if he wants to take advantage of it.</p>
<p>S brought a phone last year, and I expect he will bring it again this year, assuming we can find it in the debris that made its way home! Not that it did us much good, though -- the best tactic for us to get in touch with him was to blitz him and ask him to call. So, to the the Class of '10 -- call your parents once in a while!!</p>
<p>sjmom --</p>
<p>lol. Yes, well. I'm not expecting tremendous unsolicited communication :) But your message brings up a question in my mind: What's the difference between "blitz" and regular email? I understood Weblitz was an on-campus type of email that required a password used only by students, faculty, staff, etc. IOW, it's not accessible to folks off-campus, e.g. parents.</p>
<p>blitz and e-mail are the same thing. Instead of saying e-mail, they refer to them as blitzes. </p>
<p>The funny thing is you will sometimes forget and start using the term blitz and other dartmouth vernacular to people outside of the dartmouth community and they will give you strange looks and you won't realize why ;)</p>
<p>Sybbie's right. I only use the term "blitz" when it pertains to my son. Normal people call it e-mail.</p>
<p>The Choates use VOIP, and the handset comes with the room.</p>
<p>If you have any hesitation you should email the housing office. They will email you back right away. Tell them where your child is living. </p>
<p>But I would bring a phone. And my recollection is that it had to be within certain guidelines so as not to interfere with other stuff on campus. they provide the jack and the service but not the phone.</p>
<p>Anybody who is bringing a tv also needs to bring cable wire to connect it. The school provide the basic cable service, which is not great, but not the cable wire.</p>
<p>just so everyone knows, the new residential clusters all have pre-installed phones!</p>
<p>son, who will be living in choates, received a letter from the IT gurus which said that the room came with a phone, or at least his did. Also mentioned that they've completed the wiring for TV to run thru PC connections, so suggested kids save dorm space by watching TV on thier PCs.</p>