Let's discuss how to set up small offices, or home offices.  What equipment,
and services, and software, is useful?  Are potted plants a good idea?

15 responses total.

I'm wondering what sort of communication facilities I need.  My home office
consists of an old kitchen table with a computer on it.  I've got a single
phone line and a modem.  The only computer communications I feel I really need
is email, and Grex is sufficient for that (although if there are major
disruptions in the future I may be shopping for a regular ISP).  I sort of
feel I might want fax capabilites, though.  I wonder if I should get a machine
and a second phone line, or if I can use my computer, and leave it on all the
time--is there software that allows you to use a single line for both voice
and fax?  Hmmm...I need a better printer, too.

I set up a small business and I bought a digital answering system with fax.
I also got a 2nd phone line.  The fax was probably the most important single
piece of equipment.  I was communicating with people who did not always have
e-mail.  

To my surprise, to send a fax in the US, it cost about $0.12 on the average
and I had much faster service than US mail.  To send a letter to Japan, China,
or Korea takes about 1 month turn-around.  A fax here costs more than a
letter, but you get a response the next day.  (I believe the average fax was
about $2.90).  

The fax also serves as a copying machine.  I don't think it would work very
well with a single phone line.  I use a 24 pin impact printer and it is ok
for a dot matrix printer, but appears substandard to even the cheapest of the
ink-jets.  I also use a cheap tape recorder to record all of the answering
machine messages for permanent records.  I use only floppy disks to back up
the document files.  

The only other large expense was the Visa card processor.  If I recall, it
was a $95 application fee and $425 to buy the machine.  If you want details
on this, I have some tips.  It is very difficult to get a visa merchant's
account for some home businesses.  (Impossible for some, in fact).

Was that a card reader that automatically dialed Visa, or was it one of those
mechanical things that just makes an impression on the carbon paper?

It was a card reader.  Be careful - don't buy an older used one.  The systems
are not permitting old ones to be used if they don't have address
verification. The model I bought was the lowest cost up-to-date one you could
get.  It looked just like the cheapies you used to see all over, but it has
some upgraded chip inside.  After I bought it, the company had a software
upgrade they gave me over the line directly to the card reader.  The model
I had was called a Trans 380.  If anyone wants info on where to get this,
or services I had success with, drop me a note.

I have two phone lines, too, but one serves as my voice and fax line, while
the other serves as my internet connection.  Perhaps it's the nature of my
business, but I rarely have a conflict between voice and fax service.  Since
I do web pages, and work with people all over the country, I like being
connected to the Net all the time during the business day.  I'm always
receiving email or getting calls about a web site or another.  I'd hate to
have to make the caller wait while I dial in, fire up the web browser, etc.

What I really need, I guess is an ISDN line, but I haven't decided to make
that move yet.

As far as using your computer to fax, I'd say don't bother.  It does OK
sending faxes, except when you want to fax over something that's already
printed on some odd sheet of paper.  And to receive faxes, you've got to
always have the fax software loaded and ready.  That doesn't really appeal
to me.

I forgot to mention that my faxmachine has a built-in answering machine. 
That's nice because if it's a voice call and I'm not there to answer, it
automatically switches to the answering machine.

And one more note:  get a headset.  It's nice to have your hands free to
shuffle papers or pound a keyboard while talking on the phone.  In fact, the
next headset I buy is going to be a wireless headset, so I can wander around
the house while I speak on the phone.

This response has been erased.

That's the cost of doing business. :)

There's an article about setting up in-home offices in today's Ann Arbor News.
One point they made is to decide what equipment you will be using, and design
a workable floor plan before you start buying furniture and other equipment.

I saw that article.  Full of typical newspaper insights, like, be sure to buy
high-quality items, but avoid paying very much.

Well, I've got one other very useful accessory: a small electric heater,
tucked way back under the desk.  Keeps my toes toasty, and the warm air
filters up and makes the desk a very pleasant place to sit, in my drafty
house.  Also I have blossoming forsythia twigs in a vase--that should go in
the spring item.

I plan on using my computer for recieing and sending most faxes.  It looks
like I will be able to get a cheap used Fax thanks to Keesan and Kiwanis. 
I feel this is very important beacuse while working for one of my clients who
only uses his PC, I have seen many times when you need a regular fax machine.
A good example of this is when you are faxed an application that you need to
complete and fax back.  I know I could use a scanner, but for $50, I think
a fax machine is well worth it for the amount I will be using it.

I agree.  I have a fax modem, but the only thing it is really good for 
sending faxes.  I don't even bother to try to receive them any more.

There was another discussion item about computers as fax machines, and you
need very high resolution monitors and in order to be able to read bad copy
you still can only look at part of a page at one time.  And leaving a computer
on al the time generates heat (wastes electricity) more than does a fax
machine (I think).  I suppose you can print out the computer fax, but why use
a computer to receive faxes when a fax machine does it better?
We have not yet tested out a fax machine for Lori but got her a nice answering
machine with a time stamp, remote control (you can dial in and listen to just
new messages or turn it on or off), and an LCD for number of messages.  I had
no idea answering machines varied so much.  Some are really basic.

Responding a few years late, after technology has changed some more...

I've now got a device that's a combined inkjet printer, fax, copier, and
scanner.  It's not the nicest printer available, and it has some deficiencies
as a copier in that anything it copies has to be able to be fed through it
(so, no books, for example).  I've currently got it plugged into my office
phone line (separate from the phone line I use for personal calls), which
doesn't do a lot of volume either as a phone line or a fax line at the moment.
The fax picks up and listens in on the beginings of incoming phone calls (or
on the answering machine picking up if I don't), so if I answer the phone and
hear the incoming fax beeps I can just hang up and the fax machine will
receive the fax.  I'm not sure why the answering machine doesn't end up
interfering with it when I don't answer the phone, but it seems not to.  If
I got more faxes, I'd probably want it on a different line.

I also have one of these gadgets, but have discovered that thermal fax paper
produces clearer (less smudgy) copy than inkjet.  They do the same
resolutions.  People have started sending me files scanned at 300x300 dpi (BW
gifs), which is better quality than the 200x400 dpi superfine fax setting,
and which I can view on a 17" screen if I scroll around some.  More time
consuming but better quality than a fax.  (I could also print it out).

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