At this level of technology, the danger is when you say that it'll last 15 years, you don't want to be stuck in five years with something expensive and stupid. Dual T1 lines to separate providers assure full-time Internet access, and more will be added as traffic loads increase. All IP telephones reside in one VLAN, with other VLANs for management, student data, administrative systems, faculty, and so forth. Billing records are stored in the Cisco CallManager. Menlo College charges students a fee to use their telephones for local calls.
Students can choose their own long-distance provider.
The fee is less than what students paid Pacific Bell for Centrex services, yet helps Menlo College recover its capital investment expense. It was an exciting moment when the President of Menlo College placed the college's first outbound IP telephone call to its sister college in Oxford, England, in a special ceremony. The summer had been short, but successful. All dormitory rooms had IP telephones by August 20, in time for the fall semester. When completed, the campus will have about 500 IP telephones.