The Gartner Group, a market research firm, predicts that by the year 2013 every third cell phone sold in the U.S. will be a Smartphone. These include the Blackberry devices, Palm phones, iPhones, Droid phones and other PDA type phones. It should come as no surprise that rate plan or service packages will now be constantly changing. In fact, the four major carriers have made significant changes to their plans within the past six months. In the last year and a half, the wireless providers have had their line up of Smartphones geared toward using a lot of data, text, email and Web browsing. As a professional, who may be trying to run a business, you can now go without a computer for days. But in terms of pricing, it's gotten more competitive in these last six months, and will be even more competitive in 2010.
So what do small businesses owners need to keep on eye on when purchasing SmartPhones for their employees? What are the hidden billing surprises?
Be careful about selecting the right data and email service for your phones. The providers will tell you that they offer an "unlimited data plan" for wireless connection card (known as Air Cards). They are NOT unlimited. The unlimited plans are actually limited to 5GB per month. While this will accomodate most users, I have seen bills come in with overages as high as $1000 for some users. Verizon has just announced that they are bringing in a "limited data" plan for less. That means you can buy 25MB and email service for only $10 a month instead of the $30 unlimited plan. For businesses, I highly recommend you stay away from these small data packages and go for the unlimited or 5GB because you more than likely will go over your allotted minutes and pay hundreds of dollars in overage charges.
The other thing to watch out for are the new termination fees associated with SmartPhones. Verizon is charging higher fees for certain phones. For example, Verizon's Droid now has a $350 termination fee. They're claiming it's a much more expensive device, so they are trying to recoup [costs] with early termination fees. They are the first ones to go to $350. It's unclear whether the others will follow suit.
Two carriers have made significant changes that are beneficial for any business
T-Mobile has no contract pricing now. If you bring them the device, you don't have to sign a two- year contract. You just go month to month. In fact, the monthly cost is even discounted. For example, it is $80 for unlimited voice and text on T-Mobile with no contract if you bring them your own Smartphone. So it's separating contract from phone. It gives you flexibility of moving that device around.Sprint now has free mobile to mobile, any network, any time. You can call anyone on any cell phone and receive. You are looking at the ability to get virtually unlimited usage like your home land line phone. If you are a mobile workforce, that's a pretty good plan. Those changes were pretty significant -- the first of the industry.
What else can your company do to save money?
A bill analysis is the best thing to do. You will need to look at the calling patterns, network the calls are made from, time of day, and text and data volume. If you don't have the expertise to do that type of analysis and you've finally figured out that you can't get straight answers from your wireless provider, then by all means do yourself a favor and hire a wireless expense management company to do it for you. There are experts out there who know exactly what to look for and in most cases can dramatically cut your costs. Make sure you find one that works on contingency rule that says if they can't save you money, they don't get paid.Go with shared minute calling plans. I would suggest you tackle it in the same manner. Corporate accounts have different ways of pooling minutes. For the most part, you have to understand who everybody is calling. Are they clients at their offices or all mobile to mobile? The second part is looking at how the four major carriers are they allocating minutes. Ideally, you want to be able to pool all the minutes together so you have heavy users and light users pulling from the same pool. And make sure you are not over buying. The biggest mistake is buying these big pools and plans and only using 30-40% of the minutes you have.
If you Are you a voice only company? Or do you use other ways to communicate with your workforce?
Studies show that businesses who use two way radio communications have lower monthly bills. Sprint still has Nextel two way radio calling, which is very popular with businesses.
If you have Blackberries in your business, you may want to consider the Unlimited plans.....not because you need the extra minutes, but because without a bundled package you will always pay more to have the extra services you need with this type of phone. Buying these services ala carte from your provider will cost you more. For example, with a SmartPhone of any kind, you will need a data package, which can cost you an extra $40 a month. You will more than likely need unlimited text messaging which will cost you another $20 a month. Don't forget an unlimited mobile to mobile package for your users to contact other cell phones. Sprint is the only provider that offers a package that includes all these features for one price. It's called the Simply Everything plans. With this plan you get unlimited calling, unlimited text and data, unlimited calling to any other mobile phone regardless of the provider it is with, unlimited GPS services, unlimited two way radio service and more. You can save hundreds of dollars by using their Everything plans.If you have each individual users expensing their wireless expenses back to your company, it is important for YOU to make sure they are on the best plan. You may not be managing their cell phone bill, but you're paying for it....so make sure those employees are on the best plans that save your company money.
Stay on top of all the new changes your wireless provider puts out there. They may not always bring your attention to those changes, which may increase your costs. In the last six months, all four major carriers made significant changes in their plans and as much as they want you to think they are trying to simplify it, we've seen it get more and more complicated. There has been so much change the last couple of months that I expect more this year.
That's one thing we focus on at Wireless Resolutions: We make sure our clients stay on top of any changes in the wireless industry that might effect their costs.
