Remote Work - RV-Dreams Community Forum

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

Remote Work

Ckerr · RV-Dreams Family Member

Curious... Are you still doing call center work? We're hoping to hit the road full time in May 2011, so would be nice income in the meantime if not beyond...

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm not positive, but I think the problem is that the fastest and most reliable internet connection for full timers is a satellite dish from Hughes and that connection is not fast enough for what the call centers require.

I'm sure one of our resident computer experts will weigh in.

Cindy T · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm with Fred on this one. I've gone to several company websites who offer remote call center work. All of them have specified that their workers must have a cable internet type of connection & a land line phone. I'd be interested to know if there are legit companies who permit their workers to have satellite & cell phones.

Cindy T

Paul and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

rjenkins wrote:
There are hundreds, if not, thousands of jobs working remotely for call centers, the key is having a good internet connection for reliability and voice quality calls. Jobs available are full or part time.

I've been thinking along these lines too, as well as wondering what other types of jobs could be done this way while "on the road".

Anybody got any additional ideas?

Paul

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yes, I still do it but the same constraints still apply, a solid internet connection. As for landline phones being a requirement, I can only speak for the company I work for and those in the company that I know that have other part time jobs with other call centers, that this is not a hard and fast rule.
When I first started with them 5 years ago, yes you needed a landline phone but technology has changed that. A lot of call center software that tracks what calls you are taking, duration, hold times, etc, also provides VOIP service. This means that you take your calls through software loaded on your pc that connects to the call center software and you use a headset connected to your PC. No landline phone is required, just a broadband connection.
Unfortunately, satellite does not provide a solid connection, there is delay in the voice signal to take customer calls. The good news is that when 4G becomes more readily available, or with campgrounds with strong wi-fi (I have not tried this, I am only speculating) you could possibly be able to do this.
4G will be reaching limits that go beyond any current broadband based service to the house including FIOS by Verizon. But that is still a couple of years away. The down side is that you would have to be near large metro areas to take advantage of the 4G for some time until it is deployed in lower tier cities.
In my other job (my true day job) I tether my laptop on the AT&T 3G network and can do corporate email while taking calls or being on conference calls. The speed of the connection is 'acceptable' but noticeably slower than being hooked up to the office lan or wan.
I would try to see if you do get delay in signals using a wi-fi connection from a campground by using some sort of voip typee service. Also Sprint has a more developed 4G network than anyone else and you may want to try it with them via your laptop.
I hope this helps...

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Problem with using a cell based service for internet and call connectivity will be the usage limits. I'm guessing working as a call center representative will eat up the 5GB per month limit most wireless companies have for internet usage. We went over the 5GB limit on our Verizon aircard one month and received a $600 bill for the normal service and overage.

I haven't priced an unlimited call plan for cell service lately but I seem to remember they were expensive, so that would eat into your profit margin for doing this kind of work.

Unless you were able to find a widely available wireless 4G unlimited use plan, along with an inexpensive call usage plan all at a fairly inexpensive rate, this may not be a cost effective way to go.

Like you said as technology changes, competition increases and more and more people demand unlimited usage at low rates.... and you park in an area where there's good coverage, a cellphone/wireless based solution would be the way to go.

Right now the big push is to send movies over the internet to smartphones, so I'm sure the rates and unlimited usage plans will need to change as more and more people get trapped and discover those 5 movies they downloaded ate up their 5GB limit and now they have overage charges.

I too had thought about remote call center rep work and even considered going to a Starbucks, McDonalds or other free wireless site to work from...but then you wouldn't be able to control the background noise.

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

Yes Bear, background noise is a big factor and one which call centers have on their check off list when they monitor calls for quality. When you talk about calling plans, think more about data plans not usage minutes since that will become a thing of the past soon. Just like phone companies where dial tone is now a throw away commodity, they are in the business of selling broadband and video services. The same thing is happening in the wireless industry. Note the push for smart phones. The reason is simple, because you need a data plan for a smartphone in order to use all its features. Thats where the money is, in data plan not usage based minute plans because most people are texting. Thats why Verizon finally allowed Skype to work on their smartphones where you can make a call on the data side of the network rather than the minutes side of the plan.
Anyone that offers unlimited data plan for a set fee take it because it will not last forever.