Communication Lines: The Net and Phones

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Communication Lines: The 'Net and Phones

Talking on the Go

Not everyone starting a business from home has the resources to immediately buy such higher-end business equipment as computers, faxes, copying machines, and so forth. However, we will let you in on a secret: The most valuable single piece of office equipment you can buy ” especially if you're a parent with kids underfoot ”is a portable phone or a headset.

That's right. For under $100 you can buy a portable phone that will enable you to roam through your home. This, we assure you, is the only way work and kids can be under the same roof. It allows you to duck your head into the family room to make sure your children aren't hanging from the rafters while you've been quietly working on a grant proposal on PowerPoint , which you are now discussing with your client.

A portable phone also allows you to find a quiet nook if need be. If you are not fortunate enough to be able to have a dedicated office, and you need to talk to a client or customer and want to sound totally professional without background chatter, the bathroom or even a closet can become your own personal corporate kingdom. We both have made many a phone call from the privacy and quiet (and locked door!) of the bathroom, walk-in closet, or whatever hideout was available.

No kids at home? A portable phone still lets you roam the house. Maybe for you, one of the reasons working from home is so attractive is you gain the ability to do a few household chores during the day and cut down on all the stuff you have to do at night. A portable phone, and most especially a hands-free headset, is a treasure ”and one most home office workers can't live without.

E-mail

Most businesses today cannot survive without e-mail. When you work in an on-site office, e-mail is taken for granted. You log in, plug in your password, and there are your messages. When setting up a business at home, the e-mail question becomes more involved. You need to decide how you're going to access the Internet and what provider you are going to use.

For telecommuters, some of these questions regarding the Internet may be predefined by the company for which you work. If not, you still need to answer the same questions of reliability, speed, and access.

When most people started logging onto the Internet in the 1990s (although the Internet has been around much longer, most people didn't begin using it as a primary form of communication until much more recently), the choice of what method to get your connection was pretty much through the telephone line. Though some people who worked for the government may have had access to DSL lines or more sophisticated technology, most of us "regular folk" logged on with painfully slow modems connected through our phone line.

The origins of the Internet were a joint venture by the Department of Defense and research universities to share scientific and technological information.

The technological landscape has changed, and now you can log onto the Internet in a variety of ways. When logging on from home, you need to pick the one that best suits your needs.

Cable Modem: This modem allows you to access the Internet through your cable line. It also requires an alteration in your computer that your cable company will install (usually called a "surfboard"). Like DSL, it is very fast. It is, in practice, fairly reliable, but when cable is "out" and looking like snow on your TV screen, your Internet connection may be out, too. The great thing about a cable modem is that it doesn't tie up a phone line. A minus? It is more expensive per month than a dial-up server through your phone line. The cable company will also, if you "network" more than one computer in your house to the cable hook-up, want to charge you per computer. It can get pricey.

DSL : Digital subscriber lines (DSL) transmit over copper lines and require that you be a certain distance from a DSLAM (a type of master equipment). What this translates to is about a third of all people cannot get DSL service (Navas, TechTV.com., 2/6/01). What DSL does offer is lightning-fast connections and better reliability. As far as start-up costs, like a cable modem, your computer will need a type of "card" to connect to DSL and this requires an initial outlay of a couple hundred dollars, but for many, fast reliable service is more than worth it.

Phone Lines: Phone lines remain the most common way to get Internet access. If you only have a single line for your business, you have to think about how much of your business day you're on-line. If you spend more than a set amount of time on-line (say, a half hour ), what happens to callers of your business? Will they get a busy signal? This, then, ties into your answering machine. If you have one through your phone company that will go on when the line is busy, this concern isn't so worrisome, and you can retrieve your voicemail when you log off-line. The plus side to a phone-line dial-up server is that it is inexpensive. A minus, besides blocking your phone line use if you have only one line, is that during peak "traffic" hours, you may find you reach a "busy" signal when you try to log on, or, alternatively, you may literally be knocked off-line by the heavy traffic.

ISDN : Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a service provided by local telephone companies. By modifying regular telephone lines, ISDN allows you to transmit data significantly faster than even the fastest regular or analog modems. If you regularly handle large files, ISDN or other broadband-type services like it become something most of us impatient people can't live without. For techno-junkies, ISDN lets you transmit data, voice, and video simultaneously on one line. All this sounds fast and technologically advanced. Those are the pluses. The minuses include it not being available everywhere and high start-up costs because you need your telephone company or other provider to make the adjustments to your phone line to allow it. Some truly technically proficient gurus can handle some of that themselves and reduce some of those costs. But if you're like Erica or Kathy you need someone to do it for you.

Wireless : Are we reaching the wireless age? Someday, as we said in our discussion of cell phones, we may abandon "land lines" entirely. We'll all be wireless and utilizing satellites to transmit our information, talk on the phone, and download data from anywhere in the world. We'll be truly portable in our technology, able to take our technology with us as we travel, and will not worry about "connections." Wireless technology for Internet hook-up is still a smaller segment of the business pie right now. It is more expensive ”a minus. However, you can be connected almost anywhere (great for travelers) and it is fast ”the pluses.

Internet Provider: Who shall you choose as your Internet provider? All of the aforementioned methods will provide access to the Internet, but then you still need to pay for a provider who, in a sense, "organizes" that access and allows you to "surf the 'Net." Some people, particularly the technically proficient, will access free providers. Some services will let you get e-mail for free but again, how will you surf the 'Net? America Online (AOL) remains the most popular provider. However, some people have access problems with a busy signal preventing them from logging on at peak times. A plus is that AOL really does have graphics and services aligned in such a way that you could be virtually computer illiterate and still understand what to do to get your mail, surf the 'Net, add a "bookmark" (noting where some of your favorite sites are) and so on. We could fill a book with all the alternatives to AOL. Erica uses Netscape, for instance, and a cable modem hookup. The main questions are ease of access, how technically proficient (or not) you are, and finally, what sort of files and data you deal with. Some providers do not allow file transfers beyond a certain size . So, consider what you use your access for. E-mail only? Data transfer? Internet research and search engines? Answer these questions and you will be able to narrow your choice of provider.

How Many Lines? How many lines do you need? It depends on who's vying for the phone line, how much time you spend on-line, whether you're going to have a dedicated fax line, and whether or not callers will get a busy signal if they call your house and someone (you or a family member) is already using the line.

Confused about what configuration to choose?: Don't be. While it can be a pain to switch, there's always the option of starting out with something you feel comfortable with, and then switching to more high-tech methods as you become more computer-literate and savvy as a home-based office worker. On the flip side, if you can envision the needs of your business and buy ahead for different eventualities, save yourself the headaches and do so.

If you've been used to a computer at a job and are now seeking to buy one on your own, here are some common computer terminology definitions to get you started as you comparison shop.

CPU : Stands for central processing unit. It's the "guts" of your computer.

Monitor: Aim for the biggest one you can afford, especially if you are going to spend a large portion of your day on the computer. Prices have come down considerably.

RAM : Random access memory. How much do you store on your hard drive? The more you store, and the more programs you run ”particularly memory- intensive ones, for instance, like HTML or Flash (web design) programs ”the more RAM memory you need.

Hard Drive Memory : Different from RAM. These are the physical hard disks that actually hold the programs and the data. You can have more than one of them, and now that the prices have trickled down, you can buy many gigabytes of hard disk memory for a fraction of what such internal storage capacity once cost.

Zip drive: A Zip can hold about 100 megabytes of information. A Zip drive is used, most often, for backing up critical files and for transferring files from one computer to another. (An alternative to the ZIP drive is a JAZZ drive, for which the disks hold almost a gigabyte of memory.)

Instant Messaging

Instant messaging (IM) software allows workers (and friends ) to communicate in real time. For teams of telecommuters or combined teams of on-site and off-site workers, they can communicate with the convenience of e-mail, in real time, but with less hassle than playing phone tag.

One of the negatives of the IM world, however, is its abuse. You know the person who uses IM as a personal "chatroom" and can't seem to get off of it and get to work. Just as we have e-mail "rules of the road," heed these for using IM:

  • IM does have an "Audit Trail" feature that will let you track conversations. However, IM should never be used for very important requests . It's too easy for the message to get ignored or lost.

  • IM is best for short answers to quick queries.

  • IM is not an e-mail replacement.

  • Use IM icons such as "Busy" or "Do not disturb" to let other workers know whether you're available or not.

  • Don't abuse IM as a personal chit-chat tool. It's too distracting for others.

Laptop or Desktop?

We are often asked about our computer equipment. While having both a laptop and a desktop would be ideal, not everyone has the money for both. Here are some pros and cons of laptop versus desktop as your primary computer:

  • A laptop is portable, allowing you to experience the "great outdoors" or any external situation while still working. This may have been one of the "perks" you thought of when deciding to work at home. One client of Erica's commented that he hears birds in the background whenever they speak. Imagine the pleasure of working on your patio in spring, or in any setting you find enjoyable. Even in bed on a day you just don't feel like making the 60-second commute! You can take it on a plane, to the waiting room at a child's doctor's appointment, or virtually anywhere. (However, Erica recently read about a computer repair company that found small hermit crabs in a laptop from a beachgoing technophile. Not healthy for the laptop!)

  • A laptop, given the aforementioned, is decidedly more vulnerable to being dropped, a catastrophe with water, or a coffee mug spilled on it, and so forth.

  • A laptop, being less durable, always needs (trust us) an extended warranty plan covering breakage .

  • If your laptop is your primary computer, keyboard size and screen size can be skimpy compared to a big 17-inch or greater monitor (though larger keys and monitors are available ”sometimes making them heavier). If you primarily write or do a lot of keying, you may feel "clumsy" on the smaller- sized laptop keyboard. Erica, as primarily an author and novelist, abandoned her first laptop for precisely this reason. Laptop sizes do allow more freedom of choice now, and you can pay for a larger screen and so on. If budget is a concern though, you may not get the features you want as compared to a desktop.

    One of the best tech sites on the Internet that can answer all your questions ”and usually in straightforward enough language that non-techies can understand ”is www.techtv.com

  • Desktops allow you to have every bell and whistle , including flat screens and very large monitors that are easy on the eye.

  • Desktops can be ergonomically altered so you don't strain your wrists or eyes if you spend a lot of time on the computer.

60-Second Technology: Bumps in the Road

Technology can make some people feel very excited. You know those techno-lovers. They've got every gadget, every piece of software, and so on. For others, technology decisions can be a cringe-inducing experience. When considering technology in the home office, try to reduce it to questions about usage and then equip yourself with those answers as you begin shopping or setting up your office. For instance:

  • How much will I use this piece of equipment?

  • Am I comfortable downloading my own programs and software?

  • Will I need a class to learn how to use this piece of technology or am I comfortable with my knowledge level?

  • Will this gadget really be utilized to its fullest capabilities?

How much RAM? How much memory? When purchasing a computer, the tendency is to go for as much "power" as you possibly can. The thinking is that you don't want to "outgrow" your computer too quickly. In the fast-paced world of technology, computers get "dated" pretty quickly. One way to help you figure out the answer to these questions is to calculate how much RAM/memory your main programs take up and then go from there. But another important rule to follow when working from home is not to store everything on your hard drive. Crashes happen and you need to remember to back up and store files elsewhere. True "disaster planning," just like in a large company, entails storing your backup off-site in case of fire, flood, or catastrophe.

Gauging these answers and keeping in mind usage and your kind of business will help you from making costly mistakes. For example, Erica knows one man who has the most elaborate computer known to man. He brags about its RAM, its hard drive, and its flat screen. And what does he use it for? To play solitaire mostly. Consider your needs before you buy, and once you do settle on choices, try to familiarize yourself with those components you truly need to function to your fullest in the home office.

I l @ ve RuBoard


The 60-Second Commute. A Guide to Your 24.7 Home Office Life
The 60-Second Commute: A Guide to Your 24/7 Home Office Life
ISBN: 013130321X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 155

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