Telephone Services In Student Rooms

At the Queens' flats in Newnham village and at the Boathouse, the Centrex CU2 service is provided. The telephone account is held by the College (not by the residents), and the socket is permanently active. Telephone rental charges are included in the rent of the flat, and call charges are passed on to the residents by the College. It might or might not be necessary for the resident to provide a telephone instrument to plug into the telephone socket, depending on the generosity of former residents.

The telephone service available from VirginMedia is the Centrex CU2 service, which is available only to post-graduate students and staff of the University or College. This involves payment of a higher monthly rental than the basic VirginMedia domestic service. Calls between CU2 telephones and extensions on the University telephone network (or any other Centrex CU1 or CU2 telephone) arefree of charge (just dial *1 and then the 5-digit university extension number, for instance *1-35511 for Queens' Porters' Lodge). The tariff for charged calls enjoys a discount over the normal public NTL rates.

The Centrex CU2 service is available at any address in the VirginMedia Cambridge service area - not just in college properties. Changing between Centrex CU2 and any other telephone service, or vice-versa, will involve a change of telephone number. Applications for Centrex CU2 service require counter-signature by the College as proof of entitlement. As a matter of college policy, Queens' will not agree to the conversion of a ConnectEd socket to the CU2 service, because of the difficulties of tracking changes of number and student room swaps.

At College shared houses, in addition to the bedroom socket at which the student can use the ConnectEd service described above, the College provides one communal Centrex CU1 telephone, providing free calling between that house and any extension on the University network (or other CU1 or CU2 telephones), and permitting incoming calls from the public network.