SMU provides cellular phones through Sprint and AT&T for departmental employees. The charges for these phones are covered by the department. Employees must obtain departmental approval prior to submitting an order. OIT provides support for these phones throughout their lifecycle including the initial order, activation, and configuration as well as warranty repair.
Faculty and Staff Only: Visit our Intranet site to view pricing, plan options, personal discount codes etc. Click Here
Cellular Phone Order Process
- Obtain approval from the department supervisor or Financial Officer.
- Visit sprint.com or att.com to select your phone, accessories and plan (A document with specific pricing and models is also available by request only. Contact the Help Desk to request this information)
- Determine which insurance plan you’d like to purchase.
- Submit the Cellular phone request form via the Online Support Center.
You will be notified as soon as your equipment arrives. At that time, you will need to visit the ITS Help Desk located in Fondren Library West. Your old cell phone (if purchased by SMU) must be returned in order to receive your new equipment. The Help Desk will assist you with the configuration of your new phone and the activation of service. Please plan on spending 15-30 minutes with the Help Desk to retrieve your new phone.
For warranty replacement or to report a lost cell phone, please contact help@smu.edu with the necessary information to process your request.
Recommended Cell Phones
OIT supports the configuration of all types of phones. However, we do not recommend purchasing a Blackberry device. SMU does not have the necessary infrastructure to offer full functionality to these devices. Blackberry phones can be configured to receive mail but will not have full functionality of calendaring and contacts. OIT strongly recommends purchasing a Windows Mobile device as it offers the most compatibility with our email servers.
Configuring SMU Email on your Phone
Instructions for
configuring your cell phone to use SMU Email can be found
here.
Cancellation Process
If an individual or department wishes to cancel cell phone service, the request must be opened via help.smu.edu at least 7 business days prior to the end of the month. Accounts are billed for the entire month regardless of the cancellation date.
Depending on the terms of the individual subscriber plan, a cancellation fee may be assessed. These fees typically range between $150-$200 and are charged to the department. In some cases, it is cheaper to put the phone on Standby Service until the contract period is up. Standby Service costs $9 per month. The phone, once placed on standby, is no longer able to receive or send calls, data etc and must be turned in. When you request a cancellation, IT will determine if there is significant cost benefit to exploring the Standby option rather than cancelling the phone line altogether. We will contact you with the available options once the request has been submitted.
Employees who move from an SMU phone to a personal phone may request that their phone number be ported to their personal phone. If the employee was on a Sprint contract and has purchased a Sprint personal phone, the number may be transferred without any fees. If the employee changes carriers, there is a fee associated with the porting of a number. This various depending on carrier but is typically between $100-$200. Porting will only occur if the supervisor grants approval. Fees are charged directly to the department and will not be charged to the individual. All SMU cell phones must be turned into the Help Desk once service is cancelled.
Viewing Individual Cell Phone Usage and Plans
Individuals may create a username and password on the Sprint website in order to review their individual usage and plan details.
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Go to www.sprint.com.
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Click on "Need to register for access" on the right side of the screen.
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VERY IMPORTANT-- click on the second picture that says " MANAGE MY DEVICE".
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Complete all fields on the screen.
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Retrieve the verification code from your cell phone and enter it when prompted.
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Once you have logged in, you'll see your current usage and plan details.
If you are in a department that shares voice minutes across the team, the plan should indicate that you are on shared minutes. Please discuss any specific plan details or questions with your supervisor.
You may also retrieve some information regarding your usage by dialing *4 on your Sprint phone. This will provide a total estimated number of minutes used on your phone and a few additional options.
Securing your Data
OIT strongly encourages all faculty, staff and students to configure a pin number on your phones if your device is configured to retrieve your SMU email. Without a pin number, anyone could access your email account and all items contained within. This functionality is offered on all phones although the configuration instructions vary. OIT is currently testing a policy that will enforce this pin number for all faculty and staff phones. This feature is designed to protect University information.
Windows Mobile Devices and Webmail
One of the features of Webmail, is the ability to control your mobile device from the email server. If your device was lost or stolen, you can simply login to webmail.smu.edu -- click Options--- click Mobile Devices. All devices configured to work with your SMU Email account will be listed. You can then choose to erase the device completely from within webmail. Once the phone checks back into the server to retrieve messages, the erase command will be sent and all items will be completely removed from the phone.
In addition to the remote wipe command, you can also reset your PIN number if configured. If you hard reset your phone, you will need to delete the device from within Webmail before you will be able to successfully connect to retrieve your email.