THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603020153
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRISTEN DE DEYN KIRK, SPECIAL TO BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Millions of people have turned to a better way of communicating in the last two years, and more are expected to follow in the future.
William Gillis, landscape division manager for Ripley-Wright Associates Ltd., made the move to pagers last year, and he knows it was the right decision for his team at the Virginia Beach development firm.
``Before, we used a radio system to keep in touch with the foreman. We ran into problems with break-downs and trying to contact people if they were away from their trucks. Now with pagers, we can reach someone no matter where he is,'' Gillis said.
He leases five pagers for $9 each per month. He estimates he uses the pagers three times a day to check on a job's progress or to notify a foreman of an urgent schedule change.
When the cellular phone was introduced, many industry experts predicted the decline of the pager.
However, with their smaller size, more affordable price tag and less invasive nature (pagers, unlike cellular phones, do not require an immediate response), pager sales have soared to 100 million annually.
New features such as two-way paging, voice messages and computer-link capabilities should only help the industry continue to grow.
Two-way paging became possible when the Federal Communications Commission auctioned off new radio frequencies in 1994.
SkyTel 2-way was the first pager to hit the market in September 1995. A little larger than a deck of cards, the pager receives messages up to 500 characters long and allows the recipient to respond with either 16 pre-canned or customized messages.
Hewlett-Packard also offers a ``palmtop'' computer that connects to the pager and can be used to write original responses up to 94 characters. The pager can be purchased for $399 or leased for a monthly charge of $15. Monthly fees range from $24.95 to $54.95 for regional service and up to $74.95 for nationwide service.
Pagers capable of sending and receiving voice messages, like miniature answering machines, are being introduced as well.
VoiceNow, offered through Page-Net for about $20 a month, allows callers to dial an 800 number and record short messages that are then transferred to the pager.
With BellSouth Mobilecomm's ReadyTalk, messages can be recorded and sent to any person who calls the pager. Voice message capabilities may put an end to phone tag if callers remember to record complete messages instead of the basic ``call me'' message that they're accustomed to using.
The most exciting developments are occurring with computer and pager link-ups.
Several systems now make it possible to connect to electronic mail, the Internet and software programs such as Excel.
Notable Technologies manufacturers an AirNote alphanumeric pager that forwards messages sent to an on-line address, displaying up to 240 characters and saving 20 messages.
The pager makes it possible to have information such as schedules or sales figures from software programs E-mailed automatically to you. Monthly charges start around $20.
The AirTrack pager, licensed through Radio, Computer and Telephone Corp., features a built-in computer that allows you to receive hundreds of messages and store them in pre-defined databases.
With a personal computer equipped with paging software, you can create messages to be sent to the pager through the computer's modem.
Socket Communications' PageCard operates through Windows and is capable of receiving and storing messages up to 2,000 characters long.
Ex Machina even offers a marketing tool to help you get potential customers' attention. Sign up for the company's Reach Me! service and you'll receive disks programmed to activate your pager.
Send the disks to prospective clients and ask them to run the software. You'll show them just how up-to-date you are on technology and how quickly you can respond to a page.
Be sure to do your homework before purchasing a pager. Laura Simmons, customer service representative at PageNet in Chesapeake, says your first choice is between a alphanumeric or numbers-only pager.
``The letters and numbers pagers are going like hot cakes now because they give you more options for receiving messages, and they're much smaller than before,'' Simmons explains.
You may also choose between regional and nationwide service. Even if you decide on the less costly regional service, ask for a pager that also has the frequency to receive nationwide messages.
The price is the same and allows you to easily upgrade your service in future. Simmons also recommends asking about initial connection fees, discounts for multiple pagers, charges for calls over the set limit, insurance plans and the amount of time and cost involved for repairs.
And don't even consider buying a pager. In most cases, leasing is your best option.
``If you purchase a pager at a cost of hundreds of dollars, you'll probably hesitate to upgrade to the latest version,'' Simmons says. ``Pagers are offering new features all the time, so it makes sense to lease and upgrade whenever you'd like to take advantage of a new technology.'' by CNB