Correction AppendedStudents were required to return their Cisco IP phones to Library and Technology Services at the end of the semester after it discontinued its room phone services, due to a "dramatic decline" in interest and usage of the room phones, according to the LTS website and May 4 e-mails from Community Development Coordinators to the Brandeis community.

The Board of Trustees originally passed a budget for fiscal 2011 during a March 23, 2010 meeting that included the initiative to stop distribution of room phones, according to an April 20, 2010 Justice article.

The LTS website stated that students have been using their cell phones more often to make calls. The discontinuation is also a part of the removal of wired network services in campus dorms with upgrades to the wireless service, according to the website.

According to Director of Network and Systems John Turner in an April 5 Justice article, these upgrades to the network, part of a $6 million capital project, are scheduled to strengthen the signal of the existing network and are scheduled to be completed by the end of summer 2012.

A smaller version of these type of wireless upgrades has already been implemented. According to the LTS website, during renovations to the Charles River Apartments in 2010, the wired network was removed and replaced with upgrades to the wireless network and there have been few complaints of service in that area.

According to the LTS website, during the fall 2010 semester, room phones were not distributed to incoming first-years but were available for students who specifically requested a room phone.

Additionally, the website stated that mounted wall phones will be installed in every residence hall, suites and apartment for safety and precautionary reasons and, as before, students can also contact Public Safety with their cell phones.

In an e-mail to the Justice, Turner wrote that the phone return process has gone "very smoothly."

Editor's note: This article has been edited to reflect the following correction: The article originally stated that Turner did not respond to further request. The article has been updated to include Turner's response which was received by press time.