Communication Changes for Back to School: What Students Need to Know

By: Shawn Nichols-Boyle
08/16/2006

This fall, more than the leaves are changing on the Notre Dame campus. All students living in undergraduate residence halls now receive standard Comcast cable TV and NOMAD wireless access in their dorm rooms, in addition to improved cell phone coverage with select providers throughout campus.

As part of these communication upgrades, Notre Dame also has assigned a new voice mail box number to every registered student. Students are responsible for activating their mail box and regularly checking their voice mail in order to receive important messages from faculty and administration. To learn more about finding a mail box number, setting up a mail box, and accessing or leaving messages, students should visit http://oit.nd.edu/telecommunications/studentvm.shtml.

Most students will be accessing their voice mail box from a mobile phone this year as telephones are no longer automatically available in individual residence hall rooms. However, students may choose to subscribe to a local phone service for $161 per semester through September 15, 2006. Students who are considering “opt-in” service must remember to supply their own 900 MHz or 5.8 GHz telephone (2.4 GHz phones will disrupt wireless service). For more details on the opt-in service see http://oit.nd.edu/telecommunications/optin.shtml. To purchase this service, students should go to “Home Under the Dome” using “InsideND” http://inside.nd.edu .

Those students who choose to use a mobile phone for their main campus communication should know that Verizon and Cingular cell phone service providers have boosted their coverage throughout the campus. Currently, these are the only providers at Notre Dame with a guaranteed strong signal almost anywhere on University grounds. More information on carriers and services can be found at http://oit.nd.edu/cellular.

Wireless access (NOMAD) in the residence halls is another extended service for students this year. Students can now easily access both the wired and the wireless shared network from their dorm room. But before students can get to the Internet using either method, they must register both their wired and wireless network cards separately. To learn more about wired and wireless communications, click http://oit.nd.edu/nomad.

Finally, students can also enjoy their new expanded basic cable TV service (included in the price of room and board) from the comfort of their residential hall room. Find more information on cable TV including channel line-up and premium channel availability (for an additional charge, directly from Comcast) at http://oit.nd.edu/cabletv.

Any problems students encounter with their standard cable service should be directed to the OIT ICS Help Desk (631-9000). Students should contact Comcast directly (1-800-COMCAST) with questions concerning premium cable service. In addition, satellite dishes are no longer allowed at the University with the introduction of the residence hall cable TV program.

If students have any further questions regarding these upgraded communication services, they should refer to http://oit.nd.edu/telecommunications.

Please note: the cable TV, opt-in telephone service, and wireless network changes do NOT apply to married student housing, Fischer & O'Hara-Grace graduate residences, and University Village.