By KATHLEEN F. PHALEN

Used to be you'd call the telephone company business office to order your phone service. Maybe you'd get a few bells and whistles, like voice mail, call waiting and, for the big guys, perhaps a PBX — a private branch exchange, where one company or building has many outside lines and one central switchboard. Most anybody could place the order. And whether you needed five lines or 500, you were looking for a reliable dial tone. That was then.

This is now. There's digital, analog, wireless, self-healing fiber, bandwidth, ATM, DSL and ISDN. (Refer to the glossary on Page 77.) The options and acronyms boggle even the savviest of telecommunications buyers. It's not just the jargon that makes buying connections a daunting proposition. There's also the question of whom to call — there are regional Bell operating companies, Internet service providers, competitive local exchange carriers, incumbent local exchange carriers, resellers and outsourcers, to name a few. In the directory that begins on Page 69, Virginia Business has pulled together information on service providers culled from a number of different sources. Not all providers answered our queries, but the digest provides a glimpse at who is doing what.

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Telecommunications experts warn buyers to watch out for pitfalls when shopping in such a rapidly changing marketplace. Some services are not yet available even though they're highlighted in all the company literature. Some technology offerings won't work with your existing infrastructure, and hefty installation charges and termination penalties are hidden in the fine print. Analyst J.B. Haller, vice president of telecommunications intelligence for Sterling-based Current Analysis, warns clients to beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Nail down from your provider when the service will be installed and how much the installation will cost," he says. He adds, of course, that an outside consultant is often worth the expense. "A consultant can ... make a quick assessment to let you know if the proposal is in the ballpark. They can keep you from getting ripped off."

Tom Bonadeo suggests following the good-fast-cheap rule when buying telecommunications services. "Pick two: If it's good and fast, it's not cheap. If it's cheap and fast, it's not good," he says laughing.

Bonadeo has been in the telephone business for more than 20 years. Now director of telecommunications at James Madison University, he's in charge of more phone lines and telecommunications services than some telephone company presidents. "A university is like 70 or 80 businesses. We've got every range of telecommunications service. It challenges me to be creative," he says.

Right now Bonadeo is working on a $5 million network renovation to meet the university's growing data requirements. His provider is GTE. While he and GTE have a good relationship, and he has a strong knowledge of the industry, he says he'll still use a consultant to go over his plan to make sure there's not something he's overlooking.

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The possibilities are boundless. Just outside Indianapolis, Ind., police patrol cars are equipped with laptops. Officers can check a registration in six seconds. With their digital communication systems, they can talk with law enforcement counterparts without the criminals, who might have police scanners, listening in.

In Williamsburg, the Henry S. Branscome Co. is using a wireless data network and global positioning satellite technology to track its fleet of more than 100 trucks. Mark Hockaday, executive vice president of the construction firm, says the equipment allows the company to pinpoint its trucks anywhere between Hampton Roads and Richmond. He can then advise customers of true arrival times at job sites.

In the past, the best deals and the most advanced technology were reserved for large companies. Now that's changing. "Small to midsize companies are an untapped market," says Jim Samp, a GTE project management specialist.

It's not just the smaller purchasers who fall under the shadow of the big guy. Small sellers do, too. "The big guys drive the marketplace," says Carl Rosberg, president and CEO of CFW Communications Co. So how do the small guys play? Rosberg says once they see something that's good for the market, they can react and move much more quickly. "I once heard an AT&T executive say, 'AT&T is like an aircraft carrier and the small guys are like torpedo boats. They can move much faster. But beware, once the carrier gets moving.'"

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Data is the future. Bob Wohlfarth says all his customers are talking about it. "About a year ago, the statistics said that the data market was growing 35 percent faster than voice," says Wohlfarth, general manager for Adelphia Business Solutions in Hampton Roads. "When businesses evaluate their needs and a carrier, they have to realize that bandwidth requirements are not going to get smaller."

John Vincenzo, manager of product technology media relations at GTE, says with business moving onto the Internet, new sales channels are opening up. "It is very cost-effective. ... While many businesses still don't have the connections, they'll eventually need to be online," he says. "Smaller companies have to decide where they will spend their dollars, but if a customer can order or communicate with you even through e-mail, it saves time and money."

Many of the larger phone companies are pushing integrated services digital network, which can be installed in place of a more traditional modem for the high-speed transmission of all types of information. ISDN is equipped to handle many devices and phone numbers over the same line. "ISDN is an older, slower technology. It is a layered approach," says Wohl-farth. "For places like hospitals, where you have many routes, you could layer with ISDN."

Haller doesn't predict a great future for ISDN technology. "ISDN is the dog's breath of telecommunications," he says. "The next real market is DSL," digital subscriber line.

Like ISDN, DSL can work with traditional copper wires, but it's faster and more accessible, according to experts.

The future is also promising for wireless technology. "Wireless is indispensable for somebody who moves around," says Bonadeo. "But I think that from a data standpoint and high-speed access, we're not there yet. It's still developmental."

While Haller says it's unfortunate that there's not a one-stop solution to telecommunications buying, the investment in time is worth the outcome.

"This is a new frontier. ... The technology is just now becoming available to many," he says. "It's affordable, and it enables the provision of services and applications smaller businesses could only have dreamed about a few years back."