well my earthlink account has this...

• Is July 4th a holiday for you? - wah, no cookout or fireworks this year
  • On vacation for the first time in 2+ years - YAHOO! - omt
  • Unfortunately it's just another workday for us. - Molti
  • No, it's a regular work day. - Thankful MT
    • 4000 LPD??? They think y'all are machines?.. - 2000 lines per day is EXCELLENT...nm
    • Thankful MT - MT Veteran
      • Dunno' - ThankfulMT
        • listen - it's a RARE MT who could do 4000 LPD.. - I cannot believe your company!!!...nm
          • Unless, of course, the MTs use only expansions - I cannot believe your company!!!...nm
    • No Work on the 4th - LinK
    • Yes a Holiday - Sunny
      • no mistake, i'm sure. read carefully - !!
        • I think you're reading way to much into these posts. - Don't be delusional

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access numbers.   I use Earthlink DSL and I get 20 hours of dial-up every month included.  I travel a lot and it comes in handy.   I was once in an area that didn't have a local number and used AOL and I had so many problems with it I had to swipe my hard drive.  PeoplePC and Netzero I think are just dial-up, though they are supposed to have lots of local numbers. 

Some transcription companies will not allow you to have AOL for work purposes, so you might want to check with your company before changing. 

You can still use Outlook with other ISPs. 

About 180 EarthLink employees in Atlanta will lose their jobs as the Internet provider completes a move to outsource customer service and technical support telephone lines.

EarthLink cut 1,300 call center employees in 2003 and another 1,300 in 2004 as it began farming out the work to call centers in India and the Philippines.

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The latest cuts eliminate the use of EarthLink employees to handle customer calls, said spokesman Dan Greenfield.

The job cuts will take place between August and September. Greenfield said EarthLink would provide severance pay based on seniority as well as assistance in finding new jobs.

EarthLink will be left with 1,020 employees in Atlanta and 1,800 nationally.

Using overseas call centers instead of American employees saves money, the company said.

When the plan to use outside vendors was first announced, Garry Betty, EarthLink's chief executive, said the company was "making hard decisions that are necessary to ensure the ongoing viability of our company."

On Monday, Greenfield said that the latest cuts were needed "to allow us to compete in a very dynamic marketplace."

The overseas call centers handle both customer service and technical support questions.

and they have files for know spam and suspected spam.  You can fix it where you don't get ANY e-mails except for people in your address book and then if someone not in your book wants to e-mail you they get an e-mail asking to submit a request.  You can approve/disapprove any request.   I don't use this option because lots of times worms/viruses will attach themselves to  your addy book.  I've never had it happen but know lots who have.

I do use suspected spam and so far the past 2 weeks it has caught 1569 spam e-mails, but it has left through probably 150 week.   I used to have an unmoderated yahoo group and it would get spam posts so it got blocked, but most of it wasn't spam. 

"air" cards that allow you to go wireless provided you are in their service area.   The service is about $50/mo I think and then you have to buy the card.  I think the card is about $200, but they have deals sometimes where if you commit to 1 or 2 years that you get the card for free.   You can probably go to the websites of both companies to check to see if you have service in your area.  

We also have a service in my area called Clearwire.  They have a modem that you plug into an outlet and you can take it and plug it in and get service anywhere within range.  They have different levels of service, similar to DSL, where the faster the download the more the $$.  I think the cheapest package is $25/mo.   They may have the same service under a different name in other areas. 

you use numerals for all numbers (and the old way is to spell out numbers UNDER 10).  The BOS says to use numerals for ordinals; 10th, 2nd, etc.  BUT, many accounts have their own preferences, so why don't you check to see what yours wants?

My own accounts been doing them for over 4 years, it is just one office person that says anything.  I think that she was having a bad day last week and we about went on a minor screaming match with each other not only over this but some other things.   So will let things calm down, check and double check to see if I can figure things out but without showing me, I am in the dark like I explained to her.  When nothing comes back you think all is great.  

separate folder on Word and I just click on the appropriate folder. I do 4 hospitals in one state and two more, plus a local.

I never have gotten anything mixed up that I know of.

You should never work for only 1 company.  I learned this the hard way.  It's always good to have a backup.

I took a small account a few months ago. 3 docs, I do 2 and 1 has his own MT. She is an employee but we cover for each other for vacations. It is lucky they have that other person and they are flexible when I go away (rarely). Some accounts might expect you to find your own coverage. I have had problems with them not paying on time. It's not their fault, they have a large institutional accounting office over them. But MT is my only income so it has been a problem. Make sure you have a cushion in your checking account or whatever that you can live off of if you don't get paid for a while.

Another option might be an IC position if you can find the right one. I also have an outside contractor position with a local hospital that has employees, but I charge them like a service and they make no demands on my time.

Something to consider is how much time you will spend doing administrative things like billing, recordkeeping, marketing, answering emails, picking up tapes if applicable, traveling for interviews or training if you will be working on their system. I find that stuff eats up a lot of my time.

You might want to consider a 30-day trial period in case you dont like them. My account turned out to have a crappy dial-in system, they expected me to fax every report 1-4 times, and they eat up my time with emails and phone calls - each doc has his own secretary and they have another MT and they all tend to call me for things they don't need to bother me with like I'm an employee. Instead of telling them to find one person to deal with me we agreed I would charge by the hour instead.  I have no problem telling a secretary who calls me at 7p I will take down the info and call her back during business hours unless it is an emergency. It is hard to anticipate those things hence the trial period.

I don't think my account now is any better or any worse than any others.  I have been doing this for over 15 years and basically 2000 lines a day has been my average for the last 9 years and during that time, I have worked in house for 1 hospital and for 4 different agencies. 

I just make good use of a lot of word Expanders and sit down and work and not answer the phones and talk to people and watch TV, etc.

 Boy this sounds just like an account I used to have.  I would go pick up the tapes- “Oh the Dr did not dictate”  or “ Oh the Dr took the tape home”.  They never gave me a list with names.  I was always searching my database for the last names, etc. They did stress tests and never marked the names down so when the machine was running and the Dr would say the name, I would get the first or last name, once again, I would have to search my database.  I did this for about two years and asked about 5X please list everyone that comes in, etc on the list. They would do it for a day and quit, so I just left the name blank and did not care any longer. Obviously, they did not care to get me the information.  Oh yeah, I ever called the Dr 2x and asked her to please help me out and talk to them. It lasted 2 days.  For the tapes, I go so sick of driving and wasting gas, I called 15 minutes before they would leave to make sure there was a tape. I did this for 3 years and decided enough is enough.  I gave my all to the job and did not give 1%. It was not worth it. Some offices have no consideration of the transcriptionist.  They think this is not a "Job"-guess again-It is a job where we barely make money and then they are taking what profit we do make- I would try talking to the Dr and calling before hand.