Lavish luxury
Caller ID not worth the money

Sixty-six students and counting.

Campus Link’s brilliant idea to offer on-campus students caller ID might not be so brilliant after all.

They paired up with Southwestern Bell and decided to charge students $7.95 a month and a $15 installation fee for the service.
But remember, we’re college students. We’re cheap. Each semester we spend at TCU, we learn a little bit more in class and a lot more about how to spot a rip-off when we see one.

Why should we pay for caller ID when we could stick with what works: one ring for on-campus calls and two rings for calls made from an off-campus location.

We won’t deny caller ID is a great idea. The system would allow any student to screen incoming calls — answering when that hottie from biology calls and refusing annoying telemarketers or nagging parents.

But the service just isn’t worth the hassle.

Travis Cook, director of business services, set up the system. He said students are accustomed to having caller ID on their cell phones and at home. That’s true. We also aren’t used to paying so much for it.

Southwestern Bell offers caller ID for the same monthly rate, but only charges $5.40 for system installation. And once you pay for the service, it follows you.

But at TCU there is no such thing as a one-time fee. Residential Services officials said between 500 and 600 students switch rooms each semester. According to this new policy, if those students bought caller ID they would be required to pay $15 for it to be re-installed each time they move.

What a waste.

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