NIU recently announced the school is hoping to sign a contract in the next 30 days with Verizon Wireless in order to sell cell phones to students on campus at regular or reduced rates, said Walter Czerniak, associate vice president of Information Technology Services.

If the contract with Verizon is signed, students may be offered cheaper, shorter service contracts.

Surveys will be conducted to see what features students would want on their phones. Czerniak said students have suggested music and games. He said NIU-related features, such as class schedules and directions to campus buildings, may be feasible if students want them.

Peter Koveleski, a senior computer science major, said he would not buy a cell phone from NIU unless the price was at least $10 cheaper than his current plan.

Koveleski said if he did buy a phone, he would like to see the Huskie Bus schedule as a feature.

Kristi Frey, a senior liberal arts major, said she would consider buying a phone if the price was cheap enough. She liked the idea of campus directions, and said she would like to see upcoming campus attractions featured on the phones.

She said she liked the idea of NIU selling cell phones, as long as student costs were not raised.

For the past five or six years, Czerniak and Information Technology Services have been trying to strike a deal with cell phone companies.

Information Technology Services has been looking for a way to raise money without making students pay extra. Czerniak said funding from the state has been decreasing, and the profits from selling cell phones to students could provide money to build new servers without raising costs to students.

Some cell phone companies have approached NIU with the idea of selling cell phones to students at an increased rate, but Czerniak said the goal was to give students affordable coverage.

“Nobody’s been really excited about doing this in a way that makes sense,” Czerniak said.

Verizon already has a contract with Illinois state government and provides coverage in DeKalb and other areas students use cell phones.

If NIU does sign a contract with Verizon, it probably will be as an addendum to the state contract, Czerniak said.

This may also help other state schools join in the plan to sell cell phones to students, although no other schools have been as active as NIU at trying to make it happen, Czerniak said.

Verizon has plans to construct a cell tower on top of Zulauf Hall in December. This is one of three that might be built if a contract with Verizon is signed.

Czerniak said the Zulauf tower would cover the central campus. The other two towers would be built on the east and west sides of campus, at locations which are not yet known.

This will not only give 100 percent coverage on campus, but will allow 97 to 99 percent coverage should one of the towers malfunction, Czerniak said.