Bell Aliant takes over from Point of Presence
Kassandra Mattice wasn’t impressed with the wake-up call she received after returning to St. Thomas University this September.
Up until this year, she could c all home from her residence phone. However, since the university changed service providers, from Point of Presence to Bell Aliant, that perk has vanished.
Bell Aliant service only offers free province-wide long distance.
Mattice thinks the change is unfair for out-of-province students.
“There’s lots of influx from outside of New Brunswick,” she said.“Personally I’d like to see it come back.”
Every year, hundreds of people from all over the country move into the residences at STU. Some are from Moncton, N.B., others are from Edson, Alta. But no matter what corner of the Earth they come from, they will all be calling home at one point during the year.
This year, instead of offering free nationwide long distance, students are given a $30 calling card. This adds up to roughly 500 minutes.
Residence manager Kelly Hogg says the new system has its own perks.
“Although we no longer have free long distance within Canada, there is free long distance within New Brunswick,” she said. “[The calling cards] can also be used for international calls, which is a feature that was unavailable with our previous service provider.” She added that the recent increase in residence fees has nothing to do with the switch in service providers.
IT Services director Dan Hurley said Bell Aliant was the university’s best choice.
“We traditionally contract [phone, Internet and cable] out and we had a three-year contract with the last provider. That was coming to an end [so] we went through a competitive process…and I think there were three…bids… So…we had to say, ‘OK, of these three deals, what’s the best deal for the students at St. Thomas?’”
“Last year, one of the things that we had was free long distance in…Canada. And this year [even after negotiating with Bell-Aliant] we couldn’t get to that” because they simply don’t offer it.
