TECHNOLOGY PUTS OFFICES ON THE MOVE TODAY

Workers crawl through traffic every day en route to their office. Now, their office can be as close as their car.

While cellular car phones have existed for nearly 10 years, new technology has enabled fax machines and even personal computers to be hooked up to the car phone.

"Those services are available in Cape," said Donna Hanschen, business manager of Cybertel Cellular here. "Several businesses have checked out the fax machine but so far there have not been a lot of sales."

Jerry Zimmer, president of Zimmer Broadcasting, said his company was one of the first cellular phone customers in Cape.

"With the phones, cars really serve as offices. We use them a lot when we're traveling between stations," he said. His company ope~rates nine radios stations in Missouri and Illinois, including stations in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, Jefferson City and Poplar Bluff.

"When the radio station is in a remote location, cellular phones allow us to gather news quicker and get it on the air," said Zimmer. He said that the fax and computer options would interest his operations.

Hanschen said that since cellular technology is relatively new to the area and has only been available to the Cape area for the last year, its potential has yet to be realized. The same may be true of Sikeston, Poplar Bluff and Perryville, which have also received cellular service in the past year.

Hanschen expects interest in the fax and computer options to grow as it has done in the basic phone option.

"The support throughout the area has been very good," she said.

Jackie Engel, a Cybertel communications manager based in St. Louis, said that cellular technology appeals to people in two situations.

The first is anyone in a remote area who needs visual material, diagrams or in-depth instruction.

"For instance, utility workers who are laying pipes may need a diagram of the exact position or instructions on how to fix a problem that arises once they're at the site," Engel said.

The second situation in which cellular technology is making an impact is when people need to access mainframe computers from the road. Personal computers can be hooked up to the office mainframe with the cellular phone serving as modem.

Insurance adjusters and realtors may have needs for this service.

"An insurance adjustor may have to survey damage at the site of a tornado," Engel said. "With the personal computer and cellular phone he can access information from the office system."

Three types of cellular phones are on the market. Installed units are powered by the car battery, while small hand-held models are powered by their own batteries. The third type is the "bag phone," a transportable phone that comes in a carrying case and can be used inside or outside the car.

Cellular phones are computer-controlled radios that operate on specific frequencies and link into the public telephone network.

The phone got its name because each radio tower's coverage area is called a cell. As a vehicle moves from cell to cell, the call is automatically transferred from one radio tower to another.

And while some people picture the phones as toys of the wealthy, cellular phone use is not limited to yuppies in BMWs.

Engel said that cellular technology often benefits workers in the field more than corporate executives.

"A retailer at the SEMO District Fair can use a cellular phone to call in credit card verifications," Engel said.

Chantal Geiser, who operates an apartment rental business in Cape, uses her cellular phone to keep in touch with the office while she is at apartment sites or en route to picking up supplies.

"I'm away from the office a lot and we're small so we can't afford to have someone in the office all the time," she said. "With the cellular phone people who call the office can reach me wherever I am."

Geiser also appreciates the phone for other reasons.

"Especially, since I'm a woman, I like the added security of having a phone in the car," she said. "If I have a breakdown, I have a phone to call for help."

Businesses like rental companies were the first wave of customers in Cape.

"Banks, construction companies, and those in sales showed interest," Hanschen said. She added that interest has spread to other levels like medical services, "basically anyone who has to deploy resources."

Soon, faxes and computers may be commonplace. Engel cited a national survey in which 22 percent of cellular phone owners said they would be interested in the computer option.

And the technology envelope is being pushed even further.

Cellular digital packet data (CDPD) are now in test markets. When perfected, the CDPDs will allow customers to send small bursts of information over the cellular system in less time.

That will save customers money because they are charged per time spent on the system. Packages range from 20 minutes a month to 800.

With the current system, you would have to send a full sheet of paper even if all the information you had on it was a telephone number.

"With CDPDs, it allows customers to send bursts of data and thus spend only as much time on the system as they need," Engel said.

Already there are indications that cellular technology, as with many other forms of technology, gets more affordable as improvements are made in the existing systems.

A nationwide cellular industry survey shows that the average monthly bill has dropped from about $96 in December 1987 to $72 four years later.

During that same period, the average call length has hovered around 2.3 minutes.

The same survey showed that the number of subscribers has jumped from 90,000 in December 1984 to 7.5 million in December 1991.

Despite the popularity of cellular phones, computer and software manufacturers have hesitated to pour money into developing cellular compatible products.

"When cellular technology took off, the computer industry and other manufacturers were just sitting on the sidelines and took a wait-and-see approach with cellular data," Engel said.

She added that the tentative reaction was caused by the lack of uniform specifications among the handful of cellular carriers in the country.

Thus, products that were compatible with one carrier's system were not necessarily compatible with another.

"Cybertel, through its parent company of Ameritech Mobile, teamed up with the major carriers to standardize specifications in the spring of this year," Engel said.

With the cross-system compatibility, the industry manufacturers are responding with interest. Engel expects new products to hit the marketplace in a few years.

Hanschen anticipates the same. "It's hard to envision what's over the horizon," she said.