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Telecommunications
By Len Segal, Segal Computer Consulting

Telecommunications decisions cover a wide area. We will focus on those items usually used by small businesses.

Telephone: Answering Machine vs. Telephone Answering Service vs. Telephone Company Answering Device

Answering machines: Buy it once and no additional expenses. Some sound very professional and the cheaper ones usually don't sound as good or last as long. Use a professional sounding announcement and answer the phone accordingly. It's wise to put it on an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) so that you won't miss incoming calls in case of a power outage.
Telephone Answering Service: Depends on the nature of the business. If customers may need to reach you urgently 24x7 (ex. Heating, plumbing, doctors, etc.), this may be the way to go. Check to make sure that whoever provides the service acts professionally when they answer your phone and that you get the messages timely and accurately.
Telephone companies usually provide a computerized voicemail system and it may even store Faxes for you, for a monthly fee. If you are always on the road, this may be a wise choice as you can stop anywhere and get the exact messages, it picks up calls when your line is busy and they back up their systems to prevent any messages from getting lost.

Service:

800 numbers: Depends on the nature of the business. May be cost-effective for merchandise sales, especially if clients are national.
Business lines vs. Residential: If you work out of your home and you don't cater to a retail clientele, you may not need a yellow pages listing and a Residential line may be practical. If you need a business listing presence, then you need to pay the commercial rates and obtain a business line and listing.
Don't use your home phone number for your business, get a number dedicated for the business and instruct any children or other residents Not to answer the business number, unless they do so in a professional manner. Likewise, it is important for the caller not to hear crying children, the television, or other unrelated activity in the background when they call your business number.
Check out alternative Telco providers, such as RCN and AT&T Broadband, if they are available in your area. In many cases they may be significantly cheaper than Verizon.
Have a dedicated Fax number installed. It can be a Distinctive Ring setup, but it always should be a separate number from your voice numbers. Note: There are devices available which will divert calls to a Fax number so that your phone doesn't ring at 1AM when a company may be sending you a Fax (many suppliers do this as a major cost savings for them).
Long Distance: Check the many plans available, anywhere from ~$0.035/minute to >$0.10/minute are readily available. For multiple lines, ask about the monthly fees as some charge per account while others charge per phone number!
NOTE: Verizon is obligated to provide phone directories and listings, even for those people who use competitors for their local telephone service. This information was provided to me by a manager for one of the alternate telephone service providers.
Decide if you want to put advertising or music "on hold" for your phone lines. Some answering machines make this a trivial matter for a cheap solution. More sophisticated systems are also readily available.

Wireless:

If your office is in a strong signal area, you might consider using your cell phone for your business calls. This can be very cost effective with some of the rate plans that give you free long distance and/or roaming. Usually the best deals are available just before major gift-giving holidays, so watch the advertising. Be careful to go over the fine print and to make sure that it will work in the areas that you either travel through or work in.
Check out signal quality where you are anticipating use of cellular phones. Weather conditions, seasons (leaves on trees reduces signal penetration), walls in your building and terrain conditions between the cell tower and you all have a tremendous effect on signal quality.
Voicemail is usually available and call forwarding may be as well.
Make sure to evaluate any cell phones for the features that you need or could use. Oftentimes there are major capability differences between phones.
Use a hands-free setup while driving, if you must make/receive calls. Some phones also have voice recognition built-in (some providers offer this as an option with a monthly charge, but some phones have it as a free feature of the phone itself).
If you use a cell phone extensively, pick up a spare battery, a car charger, and a quick release belt holster as essential accessories.
NOTE: If you charge your clients for cell phone calls, be aware that most (if not all) providers do not show the incoming phone number on your bill, even if CallerID comes up on your cell phone. Thus, you will need to keep detailed records for billing purposes.

Cordless Phones: very useful around the office, allowing you to talk and walk which can be very important when you are a one-person operation.

Realize that there is a practical range to these phones, depending on your building structure and distance from the transmitter (fixed part of the unit). Test them out so that you understand what the range limitations are for your phones.
Consider using a headset and installing a few cordless phones in strategic places around your office/house so that you can always pickup an incoming call and move around back to your office if need be.
Multiple line phones are very useful, especially when you have a home-based office. Having a number of multiple line phones in strategic places throughout your home (if home-based) allows you to pick up an incoming call virtually anywhere.

Corded phones: You should have a couple of these available in/around your office, just in case the power goes out or the batteries die in the cordless phone.

NOTE: If your phones are plugged into the electrical outlet, consider plugging your office phone into a UPS to ensure that at least one phone will work when there is a power outage.

FAX: You need a good quality Fax machine. It is best to use a multi-function Fax/Copy/Scanner/Printer laser machine for this job. It is initially more costly than the ink-jet Fax machines, but provides a much higher quality output, cleaner to operate, and cheaper in the long run (ink jet cartridges are much more expensive per page than laser toner).

If it has a flatbed scanner/copier on it, you won't need to buy an additional scanner and/or copier to run your business.
In evaluating machines, make sure that you factor in the cost of consumable supplies in your decision-making process. The operating cost/page is always much lower for laser devices, although the up-front cost of the machine is higher.
Laser cartridges usually will print many thousands of pages, whereas inkjet cartridges only print 100s of pages. When you are out of the office on travel or vacation, if the inkjet cartridge runs dry, you may lose some incoming Faxes. It is a lot easier to predict that a laser cartridge won't run out prior to your return.

Pager: A pager is usually a good investment, since it will make you accessible to clients virtually anywhere you go.

Cell phones still run into many "dead areas" where you won't know someone is trying to reach you, perhaps until hours later. Some providers don't indicate if you have voicemail when you are out of the local calling area - check with your provider.
Since you will get billed for every incoming call, you may choose to give out your pager number and not your cellular number. That way you can choose who and when to call from your cellular phone.

Author: Len Segal, Segal Computer Consulting
lens@ieee.org, http://lsegal.hypermart.net, 781-784-2599

190 Vanderbilt Ave.
Suite 1
Norwood, MA 02062
(781) 769-1126
Fax: (781) 769-0808
Doug@nvcc.com