Communicating within London and to the United States

Telephone

For those students who are interested, the Ithaca College London Center will provide you with a mobile (i.e. cellular) phone while you are a student in London. It is highly recommended that each student has a mobile phone for ease of contact. The benefits of renting phones from the London Center (as opposed to through an outside agency) is that it is probably the cheapest deal - approximately £30 for the whole semester (£2 per week). Also, as the majority of students tend to rent from the London Center, it is cheaper to call other students when everyone is on the same network as the cross network costs are always the most expensive. To rent a phone from the London Center you will need to pay a £30 deposit for the whole semester (which covers the cost of the phone if it gets lost, stolen or broken).

Calling the United States is incredibly expensive using a UK mobile whether it is calling another mobile phone or a landline. Most students use special international calling cards as the cheapest option to make international calls to the US or abroad or get their parents to call them on their phones. Text messages are a really good cheap alternative to making a call and at the moment it is a national obsession here in the UK! Also, don't forget the time difference between London and the US-EST is 5 hours forward, i.e. if it is noon in Boston, it will be 5 pm in London.

Computers and the Internet

The London Centre is equipped with 2 PC/Internet labs which each house 12 PCs (running Windows XP) and a laptop room where students can plug in. The entire building is hooked into a wireless network called Orbit 8, which is the leading wireless provider to all London Universities. Students who wish to bring laptops will be able to use this wireless service, with a bit of advanced preparation. Please read the Orbit 8 document to find out what equipment and software you will need. 

The Center also owns an LCD projector which students may borrow to aid in their presentations and assignments.

In addition to the Center's own facilities, London is one of the world's most on-line cities, and cybercafes can be found throughout for very reasonable prices. The London Center will be able to help students find the cafe nearest to their flat. In the meantime, if you're curious to know the location of some internet cafes, check out: EasyEverything or AllinLondon

Postal Mail

Post is delivered to the office each day and distributed to student mailboxes. For those packages that are too large to fit in the mailbox, a notice will be left that there is a package to collect in the front office. For people sending mail from the United States, be sure to fill out a customs form in the U.S. that states that the contents of the package are either a gift or used goods, so that students at the London Center won't have to pay customs fees.