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Homes with more than one phone line used to be rare, but thedramatic rise in the number of U.S. households with fax machinesand Internet connections has phone companies working overtimeinstalling multiple phone lines. According to the FCC, in 1996,16.5 percent of households were equipped with multiple phone lines,a 13 percent increase from a decade earlier.
Still, not everyone is getting wired. Ever cost-conscious, manyhomebased business owners are "holding the line," makingdo with one phone line to service their telephone, fax machine andInternet connection, and frustrating their callers with a busysignal or a trip to voice-mail purgatory.
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