Lower long-distance rates, new billing system introduced

Since July 1, Cornell faculty, staff and students have benefited from lower long-distance rates and a new phone billing system.

The long-distance rates result from a new contract with AT&T, negotiated after a bidding process overseen by Cornell Purchasing. Per-minute fees are now lower overall for New York state calls and slightly lower for weekend calls within the United States. Also, all long-distance calls to the United States and Canada are now billed in 6-second increments, instead of being rounded up to the next minute.

Together, these changes will bring significant savings to the university. Last year Cornell paid nearly $3 million in long-distance fees; under the new rates, those calls would cost $300,000 less. About 40 percent of long-distance fees are incurred by departments; students account for the rest.

The 6-second billing, along with several less-obvious improvements, is made possible by a new billing system for voice and data communications. The old system could not manage contemporary billing or be used for services other than voice and data. The new system offers more flexibility and positions Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) to handle billing for future services.

The only change that campus phone users should notice is that their phone bills will look different beginning in August.

For telecommunications and billing coordinators, the benefits will be more apparent. Codes for monthly charges and installation charge explanations are now more descriptive, and the bills and reports are simpler to understand and reconcile. Ten departments helped CIT review and refine how the new system prepares these reports.

Expanded uses for the system also are being explored. One possibility is being able to use the web to view and manage bills, as well as place and track service requests. Another is EZ-Backup and Net-Print billing.

Telecommunications and billing coordinators and other interested staff are invited to a meeting at which the new bills and reports will be explained and compared with the previous ones. The meeting will be Aug. 16, 9-11 a.m., in 401 Warren Hall. For more information, contact Diane Sempler at 255-5570 or dms4@cornell.edu.

CIT currently is examining the rates for all of its telephone and data network services. Part of this analysis involves gauging the impact of several improvements to the phone and computing infrastructures, including a new telephone switch, upgraded network electronics and upgraded network wiring for the campus. Proposed rate structures will be discussed in selected campus forums over the next several months.