[RetailEdge Moderator]

You would need an internet connection to have direct credit card processing. I am not sure what your specific situation is but credit card processing through an internet connection these days is pretty common and does a couple of things.

1. It is faster than a dial-up connection.
2. It allows you to drop a phone line that you would need for your credit card terminal.

Most businesses today have reliable internet connections and in order to do credit card processing you don't really need a connection that is that fast since the amount of data transmitted for credit card processing is really small.

If for some reason you can't get an internet connection into your location, you can always use PCCharge. PCCharge has the ability to use the modem in your computer or an external modem that you can attach to your computer to connect to your processor.

PCCharge is a separate program that can talk to almost any backend processor. Many processors will give away PCCharge or at least give it to you at cost to get your business.
Using PCCharge should not prevent you for also checking out our integrated processing partner Payment Processing Inc. (PPI) or Mercury Payment Systems (MPS). They can still work with you using PCCharge and then you will be ready to go if you do have the ability to switch to a direct internet connection in the future.

Whichever way you go there are a couple of things to consider.

1. Rates. Get a rate review. We don't want you switching to a processor unless it is going to save you money. You can waste a lot of money with processing fees if you are not careful. And you have to be careful looking at your statements because their are lots of little tricks that processors use to make a rate look attractive when they really aren't. Both PPI and MPS should be able to analyze an existing statement for you to help you determine where you can save money.

2. Service. Both MPS and PPI provide 24/7/365 service. And they know their systems and gateways because they own them. Many bank processors are passing through their processing to another processing back-end. And they are not open all the time. This is an intangible benefit you have to weigh when making an evaluation.

Let me know if you have any more questions or need anything else.