High-tech communications make doing business easy for travelers

The time is long past when a traveling businessperson had to find a land-line telephone to call the office secretary to check on messages. Modern communications equipment has made business operations mobile friendly. Physical distances don't mean much anymore. What's next -- transporter beams?

"Definitely the PDAs (personal digital assistant) and Blackberry technology are hot items right now," said Don Hinkebein, operations manager at JCS/Tel-Link in Cape Girardeau. "The prices have never been better, and the more people use these technologies the more prices will drop."

Hinkebein said when it comes to accessing email while away from the office, the most prominent name in business communications is Blackberry. "It is a very fast and reliable way to get email on the go. It's wireless and completely independent of the office," he said.

Another popular communications item is the PDA, which Hinkebein said evolved from palm pilot devices. He said palm pilots are still in use, and some PDAs use updated versions of the palm pilot operating system.

"The Windows Pocket PC and Windows Mobile are becoming popular, and a lot of the reason is because of integration -- so many offices are using Windows-type products that are compatible," said Hinkebein.

Hinkebein said a big buzz right now is the Treo 700, which is a Windows-based PDA that allows the user to receive and send email, have wireless access to Internet search engines, and it's also a cell phone -- all in one unit.

Laptop computers are widely used by business travelers, said Hinkebein. Although his business doesn't sell laptops, it sells conductivity -- or wireless -- high-speed Internet access to laptops in the form of a personal computer (PC) card. Hinkebein said the PC card performs like a cell phone with speeds up to three megabytes per second. In this area, it's available at 141 kilobytes per second.

Wireless communications is very important to the business community, said Hinkebein, adding it can be used in vehicles, on trains and, to a limited degree, on airplanes.

"While in flight you can use some of these devices, just not those connected wirelessly to terrestrial or cellular systems. They were really designed to be used on the ground. Above certain altitudes you can't get service," he said.

At Radio Shack in Cape Girardeau, salesman Steven Kirk said cell phones are wildly popular.

"We sell cell phones more than anything else," he said. "People like cell phones that come with accessories. The Motorola Sliver has a built-in iPod that can store 100 songs. Business people can listen to them when relaxing between business calls."

Kirk said Blackberry is a high-tech cell phone that is very popular with business travelers.

"We also have a demand for small laptops like iPacks, and we sell Wi-Fi equipment," said Kirk. "Wi-Fi allows travelers to get off planes and go into coffee shops that have Wi-Fi (wireless) capability. People can check their email that way."

Hinkebein said text messaging is now available on most cell phones. "If we sell 100 data products a month, 70 percent of those will be text messaging or even picture messaging packages. They're ideal in situations where people are in meetings and can't take a phone call. But a lot of times you can read the text message and quietly send a response."

According to Kirk, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is not used much for mobile communications. He said it's basically designed for office and home situations.

Hinkebein said the ultimate in cell phones are those that contain PDA, MP3 player and digital camera technologies. "Now you can get all of those features in a one-piece phone," he said.

Ed Dust, director of economic development for Sikeston, said he relies on his Motorola cell phone to keep in touch with his staff when he is away from the office. He said he can receive email from anywhere in the world.

"I was in Southern California in January representing Sikeston at a trade show," said Dust. "I used my cell phone to keep up with the Sikeston office, and most hotels have Internet access so you can check on emails."

Dust said he doesn't take a laptop computer on business trips. "I see those guys lugging them around airports ... not for me."

Cape Girardeau real estate agent Tom Kelsey has a Nokia 6620 cell phone, which is a combination cell phone and PDA. When he's away from the office, his cell phone alerts him when someone leaves a voice mail on his office phone or an email on his computer.

"I always have my cell phone set to vibrate so it's not a noise that's annoying if I'm with a client," said Kelsey. "I've programmed my cell phone to determine how urgent a call or email is."

Kelsey said when he traveling on business, he takes along a Dell laptop computer to check emails and for other uses.