This thread has been quite an interesting read.

At my former place of employment, there was no official telecommuting, but most of us worked from home one or two days a week as we saw fit. Meetings were the primary reason why we needed to be in the office - lots and lots of meetings, both scheduled and impromptu; with colleagues from other organizations, vendors, and the general public; during regular business hours and after (or before) hours. In my case, I also produced events, so even though the planning could have been done from home, I needed to physically be there during the event itself. Most people's day-to-day, behind-the-scenes work could be done from anywhere, and most of us took advantage of that fact. Even if we did not work at home, we did not always work in the office - nearby coffee shops and parks were regular "remote locations". Internet-based programs, remote email access, and cell/smart phones all enabled this way of working. We had a couple of floater laptops that had basic office software installed on them, but most people just used their own equipment. We experimented with cloud-based computing, but it was an absolute disaster, so we ditched it. Most people used flash drives or Dropbox for copying files to work on at home or wherever. Overall, it was an ideal work environment and a culture that allowed each person to work in the way that suited them best. As long as the work got done, each person could modify their schedule or location as needed in order to accommodate things like doctor's appointments, sick children, etc. - the next best thing to full on telecommuting.

I left there earlier this year to freelance from home, which is what I have wanted to do since I was 13 years old. I love it. It is the absolute best way for me to work. I still do some things for my previous employer, and, for those, I use the same web-based programs and remote email access that I had when I was an employee. The only difference is that I now have my own Creative Cloud subscription installed on my own laptop. Work for other clients can be shared with Dropbox or just plain old email, and most correspondence is by email, although I also occasionally use my cell phone. I have one client for whom I have to be physically present at a monthly meeting, but otherwise, I am not bound to any location or schedule.

Reading through this thread, it seems that the very aspects that most people don't like about working from home are the ones that make me rejoice in it. Work/life balance is no longer a concern for me because work is completely integrated into the rest of my life. I can work on a newsletter and do laundry at the same time, create graphics while waiting for bread dough to rise, write cover letters (for other people) in between moving my lawn sprinklers around, and stop in to buy paper samples for a wedding project as I go about my other errands. Yes, I might work long hours on any given day(s), but there are also days when I decide that I'm not going to do any paid work at all. Each day is different, and each is spent entirely in my own way, on my own terms, and on my own schedule.

As for loneliness, that's just not an issue for me. I'm an introvert and a loner, so finally being able to arrange my life so that I can work from home has been the best thing that I have ever done for myself. I get along very well with other people, and my previous office environment was probably the best that anyone could ever hope for, but I still had to give myself pep talks to get out of bed in the morning, and every evening when I got home and closed the door behind me, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Because my days were so filled with other people, I never did much with my not-at-work time; I needed every spare minute to recuperate and gather enough energy to make it through the next day. For me to be able to work in solitude without having to see, hear, talk to, interact with, or be looked at by anyone else is absolute bliss. Depending on what I've got going on, I probably only leave my house once or twice a week; I cram everything I need to do into those outings and generally get my fill of other people then. Not ideal for most people, but it works like a dream for me, and I greatly appreciate the technology and culture shifts that make it possible.