Universities Push Convergence

I came across a very interesting article online in the MIT student paper, “The Tech”, about the university’s plan to utilize strictly VoIP for a new grad dormitory. You can see the article here: http://www-tech.mit.edu/V128/N16/nw35phones.html The “Ashdown House” will do away with analog telephony, and require residents to purchase a VoIP phone (or ATA) as well as IP-based service. Interestingly enough, service will not originate from MIT’s in-house telecom system, yet from a third-party vendor such as Vonage or AT&T. The cost of running the additional cabling to support analog service is coming into question as universities construct new buildings. As a current undergrad college student myself at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, I too have seen our campus recently complete building projects that contain little or no analog voice circuits. Even TDM is out of the picture – administrative and academic areas are being switched rapidly to IP. However, no plans exist to convert the existing residence halls to IP. However, in my mind, the power of choice becomes the important factor. Should these institutions require students to utilize third-party providers for dialtone? Or, are universities such as MIT simply passing the responsibility on to the student? Do the students prefer choices, or would they rather be served by the university’s switch?