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Grex > Coop11 > #10: Grex Granted Tax-Exempt Status |  |
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| 12 new of 127 responses total. |
keesan
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response 116 of 127:
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May 13 18:48 UTC 1999 |
I called and got someone intelligent this time. $20/line plus 8.53 cents per
outgoing call plus 3 percent federal and 6 percent state tax. She defined
a business as any place without both kitchen and sleeping area. (The previous
unhelpful person said it is a business if it makes money). She offered to
mail the tax-exempt form to the mailing address for the Kiwanis numbers and
never once asked our names, just the phone numbers. Tax would be on the base
rate plus all calls and we may be exempt from all tax on all three lines.
We may ask for help with the forms when they come. Make that about $19-20,
she said it depended on our phone number and other things. All business lines
require that you pay per call, unfortunately. What we really need now is some
sort of null-modem type arrangement (an internal phone connection) to test
out fax machines and answering machines on, with no per-call fee. JIm has
schematics for building something like that, he says it is not simple. Does
anyone know a simple way of doing this?
We would then only need the phone lines for grex/Netscape and could
use our little box to test equipment on, even modems.
WOuld anyone like to build one of these for us from the schematics?
It would be a good high school science project, says Jim. We could issue
credit for it maybe.
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dang
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response 117 of 127:
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May 13 21:04 UTC 1999 |
I would certainly like to see the schematics, although I can't promise
anything.
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scg
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response 118 of 127:
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May 13 21:59 UTC 1999 |
Business lines tend to get much better repair response than residential lines
do, which I'm sure is one reason why lots of people with businesses in their
homes still get business lines.
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mdw
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response 119 of 127:
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May 13 23:35 UTC 1999 |
Actually, you can install a "business" line at home, even if you have
both a kitchen and a sleeping area at your home. On the other hand, you
can't necessarily install a "personal" line at work, even if your work
happens to have both a kitchen and a sleeping area (as do many hotels.)
You can get a centrex system to avoid the per-call phone charges
(station to station calls don't get charged). Centrex may or may not be
cheaper on an overall basis; you have to add everything up to see which
one comes out ahead.
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aruba
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response 120 of 127:
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May 14 00:25 UTC 1999 |
But there's at least a $20 overhead charge for having a centrex account, so
for 3 lines I doubt it's worth it, unless you make a lot of calls between the
numbers.
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rcurl
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response 121 of 127:
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May 14 04:52 UTC 1999 |
Re 116/117: it shouldn't be too difficult. Between two modems on
computers it would be simple - just have to command the modems to
go off hook and then connect. But I don't think you can command a
FAX machine to go off hook except by hitting it with a ring. I'd
be interested in that schematic too.
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keesan
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response 122 of 127:
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May 14 15:13 UTC 1999 |
Jim will look for the schematic and mail or fax copies to you both. If we
can get this thing built it should only be 10-20 real calls on our new line.
Per month. Jim could not find it, but it was from an old issue of Electronics
Now magazine which the library may still have.
$20 centrex charge divided by 8.53 cents = 234 calls. We don't test quite
that many phones, answering machines, faxes and modems per month.
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drew
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response 123 of 127:
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May 14 21:40 UTC 1999 |
Re somewhere back there: You did NOT have to cancel the call waiting! Dialing
*70 on tone service, or 1170 on pulse service, disables it for the next phone
call. Of course, if you need the regular traffic to get through, this may not
be an option.
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keesan
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response 124 of 127:
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May 14 23:57 UTC 1999 |
We were doing this but it was a nuisance, and since nobody had ordered call
waiting or was using it or wanted it we cancelled it.
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ryan
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response 125 of 127:
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May 16 13:17 UTC 1999 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 126 of 127:
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May 16 15:46 UTC 1999 |
I have not heard of this. Usually they charge per month for the call-waiting
service.
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lilmo
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response 127 of 127:
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Jun 4 00:53 UTC 1999 |
What should happen with call waiting is that you get billed by the month to
ahve it. With other services, you get billed by the month, or per use.
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