Residential Colleges Telephones

Telephone service provided to the residential colleges include these features:

• Voicemail
• Call Waiting
• Caller ID
• Calls can be put on hold or transferred to a campus extension
• 3 Party Conference calls
• Four-digit dialing for campus calls

Free Domestic Long-Distance Service

Domestic long-distance service is provided at no cost to students as long as they do not abuse this privilege (see Appropriate Use Policy below).



For international long-distance service, you have several choices. They can obtain an account with Resicom (Rice’s service provider) by going to http://www.resicom.com to sign up and to view country rates. You can also pick a carrier of their choice and use long-distance services through their assigned toll-free numbers or calling card. Purchasing prepaid calling cards from local retailers or utilizing your cell phone are other options.

Appropriate Use Policy

Use of the telephone service on campus must abide by all federal and state laws and rules of conduct of Rice University.  In addition, the telephone service is considered a shared resource of the University. As such, use of the telephone service is to be consistent with any other shared resources on campus and is not to be abused or monopolized.  The telephone service is only to be used for normal residential calling and not to be used for data connections or any other type of non-residential non-voice communications.  Suspected abuse will be investigated and should it persist after a probationary period, calling privileges will be terminated.  What is considered abusive or excessive usage will be determined at the sole discretion of the University.

New Students

College residents do not need to sign up for local or domestic long-distance and campus telephone service. Your phone will be working when you arrive on campus.

In the fall when you check in, your college coordinators will give you your phone number and reference cards for telephone features including voicemail.

Telephone Instructions

Dialing

Using your Phone

Voicemail for a Single Mailbox

Voicemail for Multiple Mailboxes

Student Guide to Telephone Service (.pdf format)

Bring Your Own Phone

College residents will need to supply the telephone instrument for their room/suite. In each of the college rooms/suites, there is only one telephone jack in which to connect your telephone. Telephone instruments should be analog. If you wish to use caller ID, select a telephone with this capability.

Your Phone Number

Each room/suite will have an assigned number that can receive direct-dial calls from outside Rice University using 10 digits: 713.348.xxxx. As part of the campus telephone system, rooms can receive or make calls within Rice only using the four-digit extension, such as 5555 for Telecommunications.

Cost

A required fee of $71 per semester will be billed via the Cashier's Office for each college resident. (All students who reside on campus will be charged equally for this fee, which is not optional regardless of usage.) This fee is for local and domestic long distance calling service only. For international service you will need to sign up with an outside telephone carrier (Resicom, AT&T, Sprint, etc.).

Off-Campus Students

Students who live off-campus will not have their telephone service provided by Rice Telecommunications. Off-campus students must contact outside telephone service providers for service in their residences. Local Service is usually provided in the Houston area by ATT. To set up new service or change existing service call AT&T at 1.800.464.7928. Long distance and international calling can be obtained from one of the national telephone service providers (such as AT&T, Sprint, etc.) or by purchasing a prepaid calling card at local retailers. All billing and service questions should be directed to these outside service providers. Off-campus students will not be charged the Telecommunications Fee.

Help

If you need help setting up your phone, dialing, or using any of the telephone services offered by Rice Telecommunications, or if you need to report a phone problem, contact us at extension 5555. More help information can be found on the Help page.