University officials announced modifications to the campus caller ID system. Effective April 22, phone lines receiving calls from within the Georgetown network will display the caller’s direct phone number on caller ID devices. It will be accompanied by the words “Georgetown University.” Currently, only the university’s main number, 202-687-0100, is transmitted.
When a call is placed from a residence hall room to any location on campus, the word “Hoyanet” will appear beside the room telephone number.
The change allows 911 employees to immediately pinpoint the location of anyone calling from campus, decreasing the time it will take to effectively respond in the event of an emergency.
To protect the privacy of a caller, his or her name will not appear on the caller ID screen. Also, dialing “195” before placing a call will block the transmission of information to off-campus sites. The recipient of such a call will see “anonymous call,” “private,” or “blocked call” on their caller ID screen.
Regarding to the improvement, many students expressed apathy.
Lee Howard (COL ‘06) remarked, “No one uses their room phones anyway. It’s too difficult to dial out. Half the people I know, including myself, don’t even know how to dial out from the room. We all use our cell phones.”
