Credit Card Software, Broadband and the Little Guy

[blurdgman]

Little Guys Anonymous, first of all I am a Little Guy.
What I mean by that is that I own two 6 bay unattended car washes. I checked on what broadband would cost me per month and found that I'd have to pay the phone company $142 more than the $76 I'm paying them now for simple business phone service at the two locations. I can't afford that additional cost. I'd have to wash more than 284 extra cars to pay for that and right now I can't find enough cars to pay me what I should be taking out.
A lot of companies today, especially credit card terminal providers are arranging their software to operate only on high speed broadband, well I can't afford it and I doubt that all the other Little Guys can't either.

Wake up terminal providers!!! You must allow dial up reporting on your software as some have done in the past otherwise you won't be able to sell to the thousands of Little Guy operators like me.

What do you think?

 

[MEP001]

Is that cable broadband? It typically costs a lot more than DSL, which has less bandwidth but is still far more than you need for credit card systems. We pay about $50 a month for "business" DSL.

 

[blurdgman]

Is that cable broadband? It typically costs a lot more than DSL, which has less bandwidth but is still far more than you need for credit card systems. We pay about $50 a month for "business" DSL.

It's DSL, I also checked bringing Comcast cable in and it amounted to the same cost.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

What about using a cell phone with internet service.
Use the cheapest monthly plan.
Buy an internet card for the cell phone, I think it's about $40-50 per month.
Have the credit card batch out once per day late at night so you won't be using much time.
Might work.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

I'm a little guy too - one 5 bay self serve.
I agree with you - if credit processing is the only use for the broadband, it is way too expensive to justify. Fortunately a couple credit card systems do support dial-up processing.

 

[Ben's Car Wash]

I had to run a cat 5 from the SS to the tunnel (200' of cable) so I could share the same router and not pay for an additional phone line when I installed CC in all the bays. Otherwise it was an addition $150 a month in fees.

How far appart are the sites? Can you reach one wirelessly with an antenea on a wireless router?

 

[blurdgman]

I had to run a cat 5 from the SS to the tunnel (200' of cable) so I could share the same router and not pay for an additional phone line when I installed CC in all the bays. Otherwise it was an addition $150 a month in fees.

How far appart are the sites? Can you reach one wirelessly with an antenea on a wireless router?

Ben
My two washes are self standing and unattended and not near any of our facilities. We pay about $38 for phone service at each location. I don't need broadband as yet because my Washgear has dial up however I understand that Washgear's latest software does not include dialup but requires broadband which I believe is a bad move on their part for not considering us little guys and including both.
I'm also considering having Comcast internet installed, dropping the phone service and buying MagicJack. Check out Magicjack.com I've tried it and it works great for phone service at a cost of 19.95 per year. I'd have to change our phone number for customers that call in to our message machine. I have an existing local Vonage number for that.

 

[blurdgman]

I had to run a cat 5 from the SS to the tunnel (200' of cable) so I could share the same router and not pay for an additional phone line when I installed CC in all the bays. Otherwise it was an addition $150 a month in fees.

How far appart are the sites? Can you reach one wirelessly with an antenea on a wireless router?

Ben:
Thanks for your reply.

 

[Ben's Car Wash]

I added wash pay last year. It needed to that a T1 line or DSL I belive which I already had at the tunnel. The DRB system need this a few years proir, so I had to upgrade then from dial up.

There seems not to be an affordable answer in many cases. Many vending machines (including some SS vacuumes) are using wireless cell phone technology to batch CC info without having to run DSL lines. The only other option is can you install a lap top with a net work card that can batch daily?

 

[blurdgman]

Ben:
I've thought of using a network card right in the desk top unit that supports Washgear. Would that network card support a VOIP phone line? Has anyone used VOIP like Skype or MagicJack with a network card? Magic Jack is preferable to Skype because you can plug a regular phone into MagicJack.

 

[pitzerwm]

You can plug a real phone into Skype too. The jury is out on Magicjack. I'd read some of the reviews on it. I have been using Skype for 2+ years but not for CC verification.

 

[bigleo48]

Dialup CC processing over VoIP is not likely to work unless data rate used by the modem is very low (like 300 to 1200 baud). This is because VoIP uses compression on voice (CODECs) to substantially reduce the total bandwidth required to carry the voice traffic. This messes up the tones used by modems and the CODECS are expecting natural voice, not sudden and distinct changes in amplitude and phase that the modem dishes out.

If the data rate is slow enough, the codec might be able to adapt and so both ends could communicate. So I'd test it thoroughly first.

I personally would be inclined to dump the phone line, get highspeed and use a VoIP phone service (like Skype, Vonage, etc). In the long run, it's all going that way.

BigLeo

 

[blurdgman]

I believe that high speed is the way to go overall but only if it's cost effective.

I just checked with Bank of America Merchant Services and they told me that they have no requirement that we switch to high speed from telephone dial up.
Washgear is said to claim that Visa and Mastercard will require high speed in the near future and that's why their latest software will only work with high speed. Something doesn't sound right.

I'm hopeful that someone with meaningful authority would clear up this matter.

Incidentally. I telephoned my car wash computer via PCAnywhere through MagicJack and was able to view and control the car wash computer screen. It wouldn't work with my Vonage line.

 

[bigleo48]

Incidentally. I telephoned my car wash computer via PCAnywhere through MagicJack and was able to view and control the car wash computer screen. It wouldn't work with my Vonage line.

Blurdgman,

PC Anyware requires a fair bit of bandwidth...so if it's working, the MagicJack system may recognize that it's a modem call and handle it differently. This is to say that it would turn off compression and just handle it as raw data. At MagicData's operations center (or whatever they call it), it could route it to a modem bank (or a router that has the ability to act as one) and then to telco. This type of call handling is usually refered to as Async Data. It's all doable, I'd just be surpised they did it.

BigLeo

 

[Ben's Car Wash]

Blurdgman,

PC Anyware requires a fair bit of bandwidth...so if it's working, the MagicJack system may recognize that it's a modem call and handle it differently. This is to say that it would turn off compression and just handle it as raw data. At MagicData's operations center (or whatever they call it), it could route it to a modem bank (or a router that has the ability to act as one) and then to telco. This type of call handling is usually refered to as Async Data. It's all doable, I'd just be surpised they did it.

BigLeo

sounds like a cheaper alternative?

I got a call Saturday from Verizon saying that they are cutting off my DSL line and installing FIOS (at no extra charge) as they are upgrading all the lines in my "hood". So I was concerned that I would have interuption in CC clearing from both washes. I have several static IP address, cameras, intenet and the DRB system.... the freaking router has (hell I had to add a second router) 10 ports going everywhere!

It's always a nightmare when I see the verizon truck working on the lines south of town. Last year they cut me off at the switch for three days! It drove me nuts trying to figure out why I couldn't connect!

I took me 4 weeks to figure out that I couldn't rig the SS up wirelessly via a router and beam it to the tunnel. I gave up and ran the cat 5 and cut thru the drive way!

 

[bigleo48]

sounds like a cheaper alternative?

I got a call Saturday from Verizon saying that they are cutting off my DSL line and installing FIOS (at no extra charge) as they are upgrading all the lines in my "hood". So I was concerned that I would have interuption in CC clearing from both washes. I have several static IP address, cameras, intenet and the DRB system.... the freaking router has (hell I had to add a second router) 10 ports going everywhere!

It's always a nightmare when I see the verizon truck working on the lines south of town. Last year they cut me off at the switch for three days! It drove me nuts trying to figure out why I couldn't connect!

I took me 4 weeks to figure out that I couldn't rig the SS up wirelessly via a router and beam it to the tunnel. I gave up and ran the cat 5 and cut thru the drive way!

Fiber sounds good! Much more reliable than DSL.

There are many things you can do at your end to find out what your telco is doing to your phone line. For example you should read about -48Vdc on your pair. No volts, no service. Also, the ring is 20hz at about 110vac. If your phone rings, but you get nothing when you anwser, it means there is a partial open that can pass AC, but not DC. Also, when you call the phone and you hear ringing, but the phone does not ring, it also tells you that the switch's end is configured, but the transmission (including the pair of wires) likely has a problem.

WiFi Point to point wireless (like accross the street) is done all the time and should work...I don't know what happened without more info. However, cabled is usually more reliable and should be the first option where possible.

BigLeo

 

[soapy]

At one location where I recently added CC acceptance to the SS bays I had the following bad experience. Originally I had signed up for a long distance plan at this wash that billed for actual calls used with no minimum monthly fee since I did not forsee any need for longdistance calling plan with this line. A few years down the road I added these card readers that have to dial in for authorzation. WIth my CC processor if you use their 800 they charge you 5 cents per call. WHen I orignally setup my CC system it used a non tollfree number and my charge from ATT was $1.39 per call. After the first month my bill was $650 for phone service on the CC. I just changed plans and signed up on a plan that cuts it down to 7 cents per call. It will still be cheaper to change the CC to use the processors phone number and pay them the extra nickel.