I worked from home as an IT consultant for about 2 and a half years. When I started out, I was afraid that I would have a hard time staying on task while working from home. I was afraid the temptation would be too great to blow off work and do stuff around the house or watch TV.
What I found was that the opposite happened. Because I worked from home, I never left the office. I ended up working insane and unsustainable hours and my clients grew to expect it from me. Ultimately, I ended up just going to work full-time for one of my favorite clients. Now I love going into the office - especially given the fact that it's an easy commute by bike. I do miss being able to run errands during the day without having to explain myself to anybody. I also miss the money a bit too. But overall, I'm much happier NOT working from home.
Of course, it sounds like you're trying to organize a work from home day and not telecommute full time. I recommend using an instant messaging service like AIM for most communication (both at home and in the office). If you're sending confidential information around, it should be software running on your own private server. Otherwise AIM, MSN, ICQ and the like are fine.
Screen sharing software is also super useful. Easy to use options include GoToMeeting or GoToMyPC. If you can't get the boss-man to spring for one of the commercial services, you can use VNC or remote desktop but it will require a bit more technical knowledge to set up. (Of course, if you're running a mac, it's built right into iChat)
Lastly get a comfortable headset for long phone conversations/meetings. Speakerphone sucks. Holding a phone to your ear for hours at a time sucks just as much. Most cordless phones and cell phones have a jack for headsets these days.
Really there's not much to it. If you want telecommuting to be accepted by your company, discuss what you're going to accomplish in advance and then produce results. Encourage your coworkers to do the same. If it's abused or the perception of abuse exists, it will be shut down instantly.