I am starting a local business where I provide in-home computer tech
support such PC repairs and upgrade installations. I want to be able
to allow my customers to provide payment using their credit cards but
I am having trouble finding out how I can accept credit card payments.
Do I need special equipment? I know retail stores have credit card
machines where you swipe the cards and punch in information, but I
will be traveling to different homes and am not able to have such a
device since I can't be tied to a fixed phone line in order to verify
the credit card. How can I solve my problem? Please let me know if
more clarification is needed.

People who rent tables at craft fairs can take credit cards by using
those imprint machines that allow one to imprint the information from
the card and process the transaction.  They would only be able to
verify this if they had a cell phone and could call for authorization
manually which is a possibility.

That's what I've seen done anyway.

You need to talk to a bank that provides 'merchant services'. Start
with your own but not all banks offer this service but, if not, they
can surely point you in the right direction.

It can be quite expensive to set up ($200?) and you will have to give
a slice of your income to the merchant provider. (8%?)

The old 'zip-zap' machines (which would be ideal for your application)
may still be available but the service provider may try to rent you a
terminal instead.

Are you a Costco member? We are, and we used their merchant services
for credit card processing with a cordless device. So, you could bring
this to your clients and ring them up straight away. The good thing
about using this point of sale terminal is that you will know
immediately whether or not the credit card is 'good'. Also, you get a
better discount percentage on cards that are swiped rather than called
into the customer service center. Check out this site for information:

http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=Info%2Fexecutivemembership%2Fcredit%2Easp&log=

Good luck!