Cell Phone FAQ

Immediately contact your provider and suspend your cell number to prevent it from being used fraudulently. You then have a few options:

• Wait to see if the lost phone turns up.
• Order a new phone to replace the lost one.
• Permanently disconnect your cellular number if it's not on a contract.

Note: If your phone is recharged through Administrative Computing and Telecommunications (ACT), contact ACT to suspend the phone.

• Determine if the problem is with the phone or the battery by replacing the battery.
• Make sure the volume is turned up, the ringer turned on, or the battery is charged.

If these strategies don't work, take your cell phone to a service center for replacement or repair. Sometimes it's best to purchase a new phone, because repair costs can be as high as the cost of a new phone.

Note: If your phone is recharged through Administrative Computing and Telecommunications (ACT), contact ACT to order a replacement phone. Retail stores will generally not assist you with devices that are billed on a business or corporate account.

The providers are responsible for repairs of defective phones that are still under warranty, so take your phone to a local service center.

Note: If your phone is recharged through Administrative Computing and Telecommunications (ACT), contact ACT to order a replacement phone. Retail stores will generally not assist you with devices that are billed on a business or corporate account.

Contact your service provider to disconnect your cell number. If the phone is recharged through ACT, submit a Cell Phone and Service Request Form. If your cell number is still in a contract agreement, there may be an early disconnect fee.

The phone itself belongs to your department or index that purchased it. It can be kept and reused at a later date, or sent to Surplus Sales. If the phone is damaged or outdated, it can be thrown away, but the battery must be sent to EH&S (Environment, Health and Safety) for disposal.

To recycle your cell phone:

• Drop it in one of the bins located at the Bookstore and at college Residential Life offices.
• Send it through campus mail. Address the package to "Cell Phone" at Mail Code 0958.

Yes, there are generally no penalties for upgrading or downgrading rate plans with most providers. Check with your service provider. If the phone is recharged through Administrative Computing and Telecommunications (ACT), contact ACT for assistance.

Yes, you can by porting your number over to the new service provider.

A plan must reflect the number of minutes needed by employees for business purposes. Once a plan has been acquired, departments (supervisors) must review the monthly cell phone statements to confirm that the business use of the phone is appropriate for the number of minutes included under the plan and that any incremental costs incurred by personal use are reimbursed by the employee.

Most of UCSD’s cell phone carriers provide plans with pooled minutes and/or rollover minutes to absorb excess minutes due to temporary spikes in phone usage. If your plan does not include pooled and/or rollover minutes, your department will ask you to review the cell phone statement and note the business purpose for each call exceeding your plan minutes. Personal calls that result in noticeable incremental charges must be reimbursed at the excess minute rate.

If there will be an ongoing increase in your business usage, ask your department to consider increasing the number of minutes under your plan. Excess data charges would be handled in the same manner if your plan does not provide for unlimited data usage and depending on the individual carrier and billing details, you might be requested to substantiate usage so that your plan can be reassessed.

You are eligible for reimbursement of your business calls if you incur additional charges by exceeding your monthly plan minutes. You will need to provide your department with:

• A copy of your cell phone statement
• The name/position/title (as applicable) for each person called
• The business purpose for each call being reimbursed

You cannot be reimbursed either for business calls made within your plan minutes or for a percentage of total calls made for the month.

Your reimbursement will be calculated at your plan’s excess minute rate, up to the number of minutes for business calls exceeding your plan limit for the month. For example, assume you have 50 minutes of business calls in total for the month but you exceed your plan minutes by 30 minutes in business calls and incurred overage charges of 40 cents per minute or $12.00 (30 x 40 cents). Your reimbursement would be limited to $12.00 since you incurred only 30 excess minutes for business calls. You cannot be reimbursed for any personal calls billed at the excess minute rate.

If you regularly exceed your plan minutes because of business-related calls, you should ask your department to consider purchasing a cell phone and service plan for your business use.

If you need to purchase additional coverage for a business trip, you can claim this expense when you submit your MyTravel expense report.

Employees cannot be reimbursed for the purchase of personally owned cell phones as UCSD policy requires that an employee use phones purchased by an approved UCSD purchasing method with UCSD funds.

Only cell phone services and accessories required for official business purpose can be used with UCSD-provided cell phones and must be acquired by an approved UCSD purchasing method with UCSD funds.

Employees might be reimbursed for Internet, fax, text messaging, data, or similar services when it would be impractical or not cost-effective for UCSD to purchase the resource. However, the service must be installed at the request of the university and used primarily for UCSD business. If a service is already in use for personal purposes and no incremental expenses are incurred by the employee, reimbursement is not allowed.