HIGH TECH COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT EXPANDS IN HOME MARKET

Fax machines, cellular telephones, and voice pagers have been considered "high tech" communication equipment intended primarily for businesses.

Because of lower prices and greater consumer awareness, however, that technology is now making its way into homes for everyday use.

"You can't live without them," Dottie Summers, sales representative for Data Business Systems of Cape Girardeau, said about fax machines. "The whole world is communicating by fax."

Fax machines transmit pages of information over standard telephone lines.

Summers noted that fax machines are more common in the home because business users see a dual application.

"They have really caught on," Summers explained. "In the beginning, people were waiting for everybody else to get one. Now everybody else has one!"

Summers estimated that over the past five years, her company's fax sales have increased about 300 percent. The trend for home use, however, is just getting started. She indicated that 10 to 15 percent of the fax sales by her company are intended for the home, though most of them will still be used for business oriented applications.

"It is a changing market, with lots more individuals buying fax machines for their homes," Pam Dirnberger, co-owner of Superior Office Products in Cape Girardeau, explained. "Most of those with fax machines in the home probably have a small business of some type in the home. However, people who have never really thought about it are seeing that faxes may also have an application for them."

Dirnberger estimates that about 10 percent of her company's fax sales are for use in the home.

A price decrease from $2,000 a few years ago to about S500 to $600 and even less for consumer-grade units sold at discount and warehouse stores has further contributed to the demand.

In a similar way, sales of cellular telephones and services are also booming.

Cellular phone systems relay telephone signals using radio waves and are independent of the regular telephone system.

In Southeast Missouri, the two companies authorized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide cellular telephone services are CyberTel Cellular and Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems.

"Two to three years ago, the majority of the users were business people," said Jill Smirl, Southeast Missouri area manager of Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems.

Smirl added that the market is changing because of lower prices and increased consumer awareness of the potential benefits of a cellular phone.

"The number one reason is safety," she said. "It is unfortunate that society has come to this, but nobody wants to stop on an interstate to change a tire or because of a dead battery."

Laura Klassen, assistant manager of marketing for CyberTel, agreed that safety is one of the primary reasons for the growing popularity of cellular phones by individuals. But it's not the only reason.

"It is also becoming a family tool," Klassen said. "In families with two working parents, it helps to keep the family in touch and together."

Once installed, users often find that the equipment also provides increased productivity and convenience.

Both companies offer a variety of service and equipment packages, with prices starting at $10 per month. Ms.

Smirl said that average price for a Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems Customer in St. Louis is S65 per month.

Paging systems work in a similar way to cellular telephones in that they communicate by radio waves. They are also being used more frequently by families and individuals. This from John Mohorc, sales manager of Star Communications in Cape Girardeau.

A pager is a small piece of equipment that alerts the user that he has a message or relays a message to him. The signal is sent out from a central location.

Mohorc explained that a variety of paging equipment is available, ranging from "tone only," which sounds a tone telling the user to call back to a specific telephone number for a message, to the newest "alphanumeric" pagers, which actually can provide information that is read on a pager's display.

"In Southeast Missouri, we're are just getting out of the business market and into the home market," Mohorc said. "Our individual market has increased by about 20 percent."

Some people leave their pager numbers with babysitters. Others put them on their children, so that they can "call them" to remind them to come home.

Mohorc said that digital paging services costs about $24.95 per month, including equipment rental.

Additional growth of all these technologies in the home market is anticipated during the coming year.

"Faxes are common now, like computers, and they just keep making improvements on them," Summers said. "We expect a tremendous increase in sales in the coming year."

Dirnberger explained that sales of fax machines by her company have doubled over the past three to four years and that they are expected to increase "substantially" over the next year.

Klassen said she expects sales of cellular telephone equipment and service to also increase in the coming year, with additional sales and promotions planned.

Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems made a decision to aggressively pursue the Southeast Missouri market in 1994, so that company will have a stronger presence as it pursues the area's estimated 150,000 potential customers.