Sorry for the delay, I had important things like getting my 2yo nephew’s birthday party arranged and other momentous issues … but I haven’t forgotten you, faithful readers. (and while we’re on that subject, have you clicked on the big orange RSS button in the top right corner?  Subscribe to my "feed" and get all the articles as they come off the keyboard, no matter what happens to my schedule.) OK, on with the show.

Voice Connectivity:

One thing for sure if you’re thinking about telecommuting that must be addresses id voice.  there’s no doubt that a whole lotta talkin’ goes on in almost all traditional offices and if you can’t make or receive calls from clients then you aren’t going to be doing much online entrepreneurial business, either.

POTS: (Plain Old telephone System) You can of course just sue the traditional phone system to keep in touch.  There are plenty plans "from" the US to call the Philippines for 14 cents per hour (sometimes less) … an dif your daily need for calls from this office is a half-hour or hour staff meeting then that’s only $8 or $9 a day … which sounds like a lot, but is likely much less than you spend commuting to your traditional US office per day … you’ll still make a profit.  But you didn’t think I was going to leave yo there, did you?

Third-Party VOIP: (Voice Over Internet Protocol) There are a number of commercial service providers in the US and other countries who will sell or give you a router that plugs into any Internet connection and gives you a ‘real" phone number in the US.  Anyone who wants to dials that number and talks to you … or you dial out to anyone in the world.  Vonage, Packet8,  and others offer unlimited service in the $25 a month range, and even cheaper "metered" plans.  You use a stabndard phone with these type routers.  If you want to go with no "box" you can get plans in the same price range with Skype, Yahoo Voice and others you can have a"virtual" number in the US with free inbound calls and nearly free outbound calls to US, Japan, China, UK, etc.  And don’t forget, if your main voice work usage is talking continuously to a colleague, assistant, etc., remember that Yahoo Messenger is always available for 100% free computer to computer calls … even on dail-up.  Suprisng to me how many people ignore the free solutions because they are so conditioned to pay for services.  Always start by asking yourself how you can get it for nothing

Telecommuting Software:

Application Software: Strange as it may seem some of the most frequent queries I get on this subject involve people who can’t/won’t make the investment in legal software to do business on their machines.  Well, put away your pirate hat and stop whinng.  eeverything you might need is available, online and free.  For basic letter writing, spreadsheets and presntations (also known as "death by PowerPoint") look no further than "Open Office"  This is 100% free, legal software that does wht Microsoft Office claims to do, does it better and is more secure.

Also, you might not have been watching, but Google has a huge investment in online applications ready for use … see docs.google.com … there’sa a word proccessor, a spreadsheet and presentation manager that do all the basic work tasks, do them well, and … here’s the fun part for a telecomuter … automatically have colaboration built in.

Your boss asks you to draft a letter to a client?  No problem … whip out the draft, ad your boss as a collaborator and presto … he gets a link in his email to open the document and make his comments or approvals … all "by magic" and all stored securely on multiple backed-up servers.  Nice.

Collaboration Software: This is a whole category of software designed to keep teams on task.  It has important aspects for both conventional commuters and telecommuters.  Way to0 much to go into here but way too much value to ignore, so i’m going to refer you to an excellent Wikipedia rundown.  Much of this software is free or cheap to own and it can really improve your success as well as your employer’s.

Video: last but not least, don’t forget about the power of a cheap web cam to go along with voice and data.  You cna spend a ot on formal teleconferencing, but just a simple desktop "cheapy" can keep you in touch with your old office mates or new clients.

Kind of eliminates the option of working in your BVD’s and makes you exercise caution in when you pick your nose, buthey, this is an article about telecommuting, not paradise.  Talk to me if you liked this series or if you wnatsimilar rundowns on other topics and how they relate to the Philippines.

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