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I need a land line and I need it now-suggetions?

Posted By: panicattack on 2008-01-31
In Reply to:

I moved and I can't get a land line for (perhaps) another week.  I've already lost a week's income because of the promblem (THANK YOU, CHARTER!!).  I need a quick fix.  I am open to any and all suggestions to getting set up on Friday with a land line or VoIP, even if it is with Vonage for a week until I get my land line phone to work with my DAC phone.  I just moved into this apartment on Monday, but I let Charter know on 1/4 that the previous tenant had turned in her keys, but until she pays the outstanding balance -- heck, she probably hasn't even gotten her final bill yet!!!), they put a "freeze" on phone service. I got that unfrozen yesterday by going into their main local office with my lease agreement, but I have already lost a weeks' pay because of this and I need a quick fix.  They installed my ISP and TV today. I REALLY need to work this weekend.


I am probably in real jeopordy of losing my job.


On top of this, when my son and his roommate came over last weekend to help me pack, they told me they had both lost their jobs to a family of Indians who had come in and bought out their store's owner.  By our State's examination, only one passed the English literacy exam so she is the only only who can answer the phone.  Since the 4 Indian brothers need the managers' positions and they bought 4 stores, 4 managers (my son any his roommate and 2 others) are out of jobs and another 25 or so have left because of the new managers' incompetence. 


Please offer help in getting a land line so I can work.  I am feeling so overwhelmed and it is hard to think with this kind of pressure.  I'm thinking of installing Vonage's VoIP for a week until Charter can get their act together and I get their service.  It's hard to reach other services like ATT when I don't have a phone to contact them.  Charter changed their protocol for getting land lines last week (just my luck) and did not tell my installer/sales rep of the changes.  They are telling the independent distributers it is because of having to reset 911.  I call that baloney.


Can I get a cell phone? How would that connection fit together? OMG, I am so in panic mode.  Please kick around some ideas so I don't have to start job hunting after 1 week after moving. 




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If you are using a land line you don't really have
unlimited long distance, they cap it at 5000 minutes, which isn't enough if you work FT.   You could get a prepaid card - I think at Sam's club they are about 3 cents minute.  You can also use a company like (can't remember name, but has 10-10 in it) that is less than that.  There may be other similar companies too. 
Is C-phone for land-line only?

Won't pretend I understand VOIP but I know its available with my broadband.


If you use dial-up then yes you need a land line - sm
But you don't have to have long distance at all. I have 2 lines in our house, one is the main line with unlimited LD through Verizon, my other line (also Verizon) is just a connection at about $30 a month, no long distance on that line. I have AT&T as my internet provider, though may change my package now as I have one of those 875U aircards (also with AT&T, but could have used Sprint or Verizon if I wanted to) and not sure if when I connect with that it has any bearing on my unlimited package with my dial-up, so I might as well save some money and scale back on that charge. We have no package deals. I have a TracFone, my DH has a company cell phone that they pay for/handle. Your situation sounds a bit screwy; I'd investigate getting either a better deal or seperating everything and see if that works better.
If it weren't for needing a land line for DSL
My cell phone is my primary phone and I have more minutes and free long distance than I can use per month. I got basic phone services and locked it from any LD calls to save money and my land line still costs $30 a month. I feel I'm wasting that money but there isn't anything I can do. I won't drop my cell phone because I have my kids on as extra lines and they wouldn't have a phone otherwise.
No land line even? How far away from civilization will you be? Hospital?
s
Internet service without land-line phone

I recently looked into this subject myself.  If you have Verizon available in your area, you can purchase a plan at about $55.00 per month with a two-year contract.  You will receive a card that you can insert into your laptop, which will provide you with unlimited Internet access at the speed of DSL.  As far as I know, there are no other cell service providers that have come up with this type of card yet, but I'm sure it's bound to happen in the future.  Another option is to purchase a satellite telephone and phone cards as you go along, but the cards are really outrageous in price.  One last thing that I would suggest is that you phone cell providers in your area to see if they have any technical gadgets you could attach to the cell phone for Internet access.  Many of the satellite phone companies have separate packages you can buy, which can be attached to laptops or PDAs.  I also have a TracPhone, so I know it does not come with hardware that will do the trick.


 


Good luck to you in setting everything up.  With the way that technology is moving, I'm sure there must be a way to accomplish what you want. 


If you have a cell phone, why not use that for your LD calls and CX the LD on the land line?
.
Company states cannot use Vonage. Any suggestions for land line unlimited long distance? nm

I have some suggetions.
There is some maintenance you could try that every MT should do. I have learned how important it is.

1. Install updates as they become available from Microsoft. Access these by connecting to the internet, click on tools, then click on Windows Updates and download whatever updates there are for your operating system. (You should do this once a month.) You would not believe how important this is. My computer completely quit responding at all due to the fact there was an important update it needed and I didn't have it. When I downloaded it on the updates page, the computer worked perfectly.

2. Delete temporary intenet files. Connect to the internet, click on tools then click on internet options. Then delete cookies and delete files. (You should do this once a week.) If you have never done this, it will take several minutes for them all to be deleted.

3. Perform scan disk for errors. (Do this once a month.)

4. Perform a disk defragmentation as you mentioned for the C-drive. (Do this once a month also.)

Regular maintenance does make a big difference.
Same as on land

That is so funny as one year I had my aunt and uncle visit from NYC -- where I was born -- and they asked if I had power and sewer system, etc.  And we are the same as you are on land.  They about died when they walked to the walkway, looked down and saw 53 homes on the water, it is a awsome site when you are from a large city like NYC.  I have cable TV, Comcast internet, the wires are in the concrete walkways.  Before they built this new moorage we had wooden walkways and our power lines, etc. were overhead and they were dangerous.  But they come undergrown from the street above and through the concrete walkways.  Have natural gas heat.   Portland has one of the largest number of floating homes as Seattle now has a moratoreum on building anymore.  So our prices are rising finally.    We are safer than normal homes near a river during a flood as we only go up, up up as we are hooked onto pilings on three sides of our houses.   So we float upwards.    Thanks for asking. 


 


From the Land of Make-Believe
x
This is the land of the free.
that works them to death has made the wrong choices in life. 
IT COULD LAND IN COURT SM
Sorry for the shouting, I also did legal and one of my reports from a service with my initials on it was evidence and they questioned the doc on the stand. They say the report belongs to the doc but who knows when this will change. Thank goodness I had nothing to do with it, but they did ask him where it was typed, by whom, the time and date. Some docs do doctor the date to cover their kiesta and that's a hard decision to make. If the case were serious enough, I would question it or send it back with a note and document that note and make a copy. Sorry to be so serious but I've been in this a long time and I've hear it all. Lots of CYA stuff goes on (cover your -ss)
Someone is in la-la land and guess who?
The OP. PA registration called and they said no breast or gyn exams on license. I bet they were about as amused as I was asking the question but I like to hear for myself.
Darned right - people are in la-la land

we're "refusing" to work? Rely on the kindness of strangers, or what? People really need to get a grip on reality here.



Did Discovery land safely?
nm
HAHAHAHA - you must live in the land...sm

of DELUSION AND DENIAL (de Nile as in river *LOL*)


Women use both sides of their brains, a rarity for a man.......*wink*


Ooooohhhh, Biltmore land! :)
Lucky you to be able to visit it so easily!

Hidee Ho! Dictation Land...
I have one doc who always says that before her dictations. It always makes me chuckle...then I wonder...where exactly is Dictation Land? LOL
don't remember land of the giants, but
I remember I just loved Gilligan's Island and Bewitched.
You are trying to land this digital account with
You should require they purchase their own recorders.  That is only fair, but that is just my opinion.  Let them know you need some help with the purchase of the recorders. 
Land an account using your web site? sm
I'm setting up a web site to hopefully obtain clients. My question is if I get an account what can I do to be sure they pay me and I not get stiffed for doing work?

Was thinking about using BuyerZone or some other type of site to acquire payment from the client. If you have any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated.
Wait to land the accounts first

Hi!


I say wait to land the accounts first before you think about what equipment to get. You basically want to use what your client is using, not make the client switch around to your set-up. Maybe others will say differently. But I figure you save $ that way by not getting unnecessary stuff.


Good luck!


BTW, I was just reading that self-employed folks really need to increase their fees once a year just to keep up with inflation. I think a lot of times MTs who are ICs for services forget that the service is their client, not their boss. ICs need to negotiate for the right line rate because remember, you are paying for a lot out of your own pocket now.


Diane


Wow, you live in LALA land
You got I'm rich from my post-wow you are delusional. We live paycheck to paycheck like most of our friends and family, and yes we have health care coverage but over the years more and more of the cost of that had been switched to us rather than my husband's employer.  And I know more than 5 people in Canada and Europe who hate their national healthcare coverage.  Didn't know I needed to list them all.  Go back to lala land.
Wanting to land my own local account

I am currently working part time IC for two different people, I have a little less than one year transcription exp, all in family practive or GI...I have been thinking about trying to get my own account locally but not sure about some of the "in's and out's".  Those of you who do this, do you have someone who covers for you when you have to leave town?  I have always had someone to QA my work, so if I do my own account and have a question(blank) do  you call the office and ask or do you leave it blank?  I am kinda back and forth w/ the idea, I know I would make more money, but not sure if I want ALL the responsibility. 


7 years clinic experience and cannot land a job

Any suggestions??  I have 7 years clinic experience and am looking for work.  Seems like I cannot get a response back to test or interview.  I need a company that offers TAT, not set hours.  I send in resumes and cover letters daily...What else could I do??? 


Also, in the meantime does anyone have suggestions on "practice files".  I want to expand my skills/specialties.  I have not done radiology and have always wanted to get into it...Thanks for any advice!


Yeah, what land are they living in? Copy the page indicated - sm
and fax it to them. Also ask then where in the book does it say "non Hodgkin lymphoma". Too weird.
My aunt has extremely low rate for land, no frills but
I was told according to where you live- mine no frills over $30.00 a month but now say I can have a land phone, will not work, but still pay for it? Erks me.
A gross line is anything on a line is a line. A line set at 65 characters means it sm
has 1-inch margins on each side. The maximum number of characters on that line would be 65 and that includes spaces. If there is 1 character on that line it is a line.

A standard 65-character line usually consists of 65 characters with spaces unless, of course, the employer does not pay for spaces and then it would be 65-characters without spaces.
Anything on the line makes up a line even if just one letter or number. Every line of print is a
s
Gross line = each line on page counts as a line, even if it's only 1 word. nm
x
Gross line means anything on a line is counted as a line.

You can get an idea in the difference using documents you have already created, assuming you're working in Word. Simply open a document and check the properties. Click on the statistics tab and you will see the number of lines as well as characters with and without spaces. If you're currently getting paid by the line and a line is 65-characters with spaces, do the math and see how that number of lines compares with the number of lines in your stats.


One thing to keep in mind: if you have a blank line between paragraphs, instead of hitting the enter key twice, format your document to give the appearance of blank lines between paragraphs.


Gross line, also including blank lines because my line rate is so low. It all works out in the wash.
x
$.06 gross line / .70 = approximately $.0857 cents per 65 character line.

A gross line is anything on a line versus 65 gross characters per net line the other way.  You make more money working for the gross line than for the 65 gross character line, as long as the line rate's OK.


A gross line is any line with typewritten characters on it - no matter how long or SM
how short.  So your gross lines may be longer than 65 characters, but you get credit even for a line as short as "Sincerely,".  If your gross lines are not being counted that way, then you are not being counted on gross lines and are probably getting screwed.  I'd look into that if I were you.
Yes if gross line or 65 character line with spaces....Good Deal!!! nm
x
1) do you have a contract stating line counting and line rate,sm
if you look at the IRS website it's pretty clear what constitutes IC versus SE versus employee. You might want to photocopy that along with a copy of your contract with your next invoice and also put on the invoice any monies due from past invoices they "changed"...maybe catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Good luck!
New England, 16.50/hr, 8 cents a line after minimum line count..
full benefits available with general contribution by the hospital before you start paying for them, retirement, 403b, all benefits, and working at home as an employee, BUT, you have to live local to the hospital.
I changed my line to a business line, talked to a supervisor sm

at SBC, told him what I was using the service for, and got the okay to use it -- $49/month unlimited. 


I have also used The Neighborhood, and their unlimited is truly unlimited.  I also explained to them when I signed up what I was using it for and their comment was "unlimited means just that -- unlimited, no matter what."  I cannot remember how much they were, but it might be worth checking into for you.  (www.theneighborhood.com)


 


Good luck!


What is the average line/hour for a 65 character line with spaces? NM
.
Curious, do most IC's usually charge by the gross line or 65 character line?
Thank you~
it certainly is not pay worthy at 4.5 line or 3 line. I know the companies cram it down our throats
nm
That still is not a paid line rate. If your base is $0.10 per line, it will be $0.08 cpl.
Considering other companies pay 4 or 5 cents per line for VR - you are still making out.

Question about what is PAID for a line and what is BILLED for a line
Does the MTSO actually bill for headers, footers, and other things the transcriptionists are not paid for?  I worked for a company a while back and their copy of what each Transcriptionist typed the day before and our copy was a lot different, about 30% different.  Their copy was the billing copy. So, double their enhanced amount and subtract our 9 cents a line, it comes to a bigger profit than what I thought.   
What's the diff between a gross line and a 65-char line?

Mebbe just got my first OWN ACCOUNT YAY!  He said to charge him the "going rate" since I pay him that.  This could be the start, baby!  (I hope)



A gross line is any amount of characters on a line

for instance...


MEDICATIONS:


Effexor


Prevasid


 


A 65 character line without spaces is black marks on the page only and 65 w/spaces is everything... tabs, spaces, numbers, letters, bold, etc.


 


 


that should be "up .02/line" NOT up "to" .02/line. geez. nm
x

Gross line versus character line....Sm please

I am thinking of taking a job that pays by the gross line and not a 65-character line.  I have never worked this way.  Does this literally mean if there is one little word on a line you get paid for it?  I have not pinned her down on a line rate but I am just thinking I am going to be comparing apples to oranges and am wondering how to accomplish that. 


Thanks for any help!


gross-anything on line counts as line,even one word
xx
gross line is anything on a line, even just your initials. sm

spaces really don't matter in a gross line count.


 


But that's a GROSS line, not a 65 character line.
So a newbie would have no problem at all hitting 150 lines per hour.  A gross line is any line with a printed character on it.