Where are you? Communications has developed in leaps and bounds in the last eight years, on a personal level just how far it had moved became clear the day 3 years ago when a client phoned me one Saturday afternoon on my British number which routes to whichever office I am at (free of charge!), during the conversation he sounded a bit distracted and suddenly asked what's that noise? I said what noise? and he said well like a crashing noise, to which I answered oh it's OK it's only the waves, we are at the beach and the sea is a bit rough today, he sounded surprised and said what in Jersey in the middle of November?

It then became clear you can actually be anywhere and with the right communications everything and anything is now possible, you can appear to be in one place when you are actually somewhere totally different. A client who is totally obsessed with windsurfing and diving is Telecommuting from a desert island in the South Pacific, his clients think he is in London or New York! So telecommuting is already happening. We get feedback from our clients around the world telling us about trading operations and home office businesses they have set up in very unusual locations, and why not? Who wants to endure the grim Northern European winter when you can sit in the sun earning money tax free while sipping a cool beer?

The number of individuals and small companies using the internet and innovative telecommunications technology to operate from expatriate locations is growing all the time, we will never be a large enough number to really trouble the tax authorities in the home country but we are already visible in most desirable location, look out next time you are on vacation. But difference between individuals and large companies are not so great when we talk about telecommuting because electronic communications and e-commerce has greatly levelled the playing field. Everyone can use the very same or similar technology.

The key to successfully setting up communications facilities is in making sure outward appearances yield the required results, suppose you are based in The Canary Islands which is in the same time zone as London but you want your clients to communicate with you by e-mail or fax rather than telephone, clearly they would be far from amused if you told them you don't like using the phone, the solution is to create a situation where they do what you want without being asked, the method to achieve this is to create a virtual office situation with phone, fax, mailing address and e-mail facilities in a completely different time zone, in our experience Australia or California are ideal, the messages and faxes are delivered by e-mail as attachments direct to your inbox, the benefit of this structure is that the time difference makes it impractical for them to phone because neither of you are open at the same time! Mission accomplished! And the cost? About £13.00 / $19.50 per week for a street address in a major town, a local secure 128ssl email address and 2 telephone numbers for phone calls and faxes.

Communications fall under several headings

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MOBILE TELEPHONES.

A mobile cellular telephone is the cheapest and simplest way to create the illusion of being in two places at once. If you are based in Edinburgh but wish to appear to be living in Las Palmas or Marbella £195* or $275 will cover the cost of the telephone and courier fees to deliver it within 3 or 4 days. The phone comes with a hefty amount of credit to cover the call charges, once it arrives you are ready to tell your ex wife or anyone else for that matter that you are now living permanently abroad. The best thing is that if they don't believe you they can pick up a phone and dial your foreign telephone number.

*If you already have a GSM phone the card alone costs only £135 other cards e.g. Switzerland are also available.

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ADVANTAGES.

Instant live communications
Very convincing that you are in the country where the number originates
Portable, you can travel from country to country and subject to GSM coverage it works anywhere.

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DISADVANTAGES.

You pay for incoming calls
WEB TO PHONE - A telephone call from many parts of the world using the local government owned Telephone Company is often £30 or $45 for a short 10 minute telephone call to Europe or the USA. Using WEB TO PHONE the same call is about £0.66p or $1 which in most countries is the same or less than phoning the next town.

To use Internet Phone, you will normally need:
· Pentium Processor 75 MHz with 64 MB RAM
· Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0
· 32-bit Winsock Internet TCP/IP connection
· Minimum connection speed 14,400bps SLIP or PPP; 28.8bps recommended
· Windows-compatible sound card
· Microphone and speakers or Headset

NOTE: A full-duplex sound card is needed for full-duplex mode.

The greatest advantage of Web to Phone or PC-to-Phone as it is also known is that you probably use the Internet every day to gather information, send and receive e-mail and conduct business so doesn't it make sense to use your PC to make phone calls, too? Every month clients discuss with us the benefits of Internet phone calls. Placing a phone call over the Internet is similar to traditional phone calls. Depending on how you utilize the technology, you may need special software or equipment to get started. The reason it is so cheap is that by using public telephone switching networks for only the minimum portion of the call - and by using the Internet to carry the call over a wide distance - the cost to place your call is drastically reduced.

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