When you’re choosing a personal phone, you tend to choose from one of the best smartphones available on the market. For business, many people choose to buy the best smartphones available for productivity purposes. There are so many smartphones and different models available, as well as multiple mobile operating systems, it can be pretty difficult to narrow down which one to choose. Today, we discuss how to choose a wireless carrier and smartphone for work or business.
1. Choose a Wireless Carrier
Your first consideration should be the cellular service provide that will give you voice and data services. Before selecting the carrier, there are three things you want to keep in mind: Cost, Coverage, and Customer Service.
- Cost: One of the most important factors for getting your wireless service is cost. Mobile service competition is fierce amongst wireless carriers, si all major providers have a similar pricing structure across the board. For example, there may be a wireless carrier that’s cutting costs, however, provide a bit less in their wireless plan.
- AT&T: See AT&T business plans
- Verizon: See Verizon business plans
- T-Mobile: See T-Mobile business plans
- U.S. Cellular: See U.S. Cellular business plans
- Coverage: After cost (or even first, depending on what is important to you), coverage is a huge factor in the wireless carrier to go with. Checking cellular coverage maps to make sure you will have an exceptional voice and broadband data access in your local area as well as outside when traveling is very crucial. For example, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all offer coverage maps that will tell you where they cover services and where they don’t.
- AT&T: Check AT&T the coverage map here
- Verizon: Check AT&T coverage map here
- T-Mobile: Check T-Mobile coverage map here
- U.S. Cellular: Check U.S. Cellular coverage map
- Customer Service: The third and final to keep in mind is customer service. Ratings and reviews from sources like J.D. Power and Consumer Search are incredibly important and can help you evaluate wireless service providers. These ratings will help you understand the quality of customer service and calls that wireless carriers provide.
- To read more about wireless carrier J.D. Power rankings, you can head over to the J.D. Power website.
2. Enterprise Support for Your New Device
It’s important to note that enterprise support is crucial when choosing the right smartphone. Your company’s IT department will need to support the smartphone you’ve chosen or plan to choose. It’s best to talk to your company’s IT department beforehand and ask for a list of devices that are currently supported. If you choose a smartphone that is supported, you’ll get remote set up and troubleshooting resources provided by your own company, such as Microsoft Exchange Server contacts, emails, and more.
Two most popular platforms that have a wide-range of Enterprise Support are Android and Apple iOS platforms. So you certainly can’t go wrong with an iPhone or an Android smartphone. Just make sure that you consult with your IT department first to make sure which device(s) they support.
3. Mobile Apps Support and Availability
Whether you choose an Android phone, iPhone, or any other smartphone with another Operating System, most, if not all, will offer common office and business productivity apps. These include Microsoft Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and task management. It really depends on your app needs, but here is a breakdown:
- Android platform has one of the largest and most available apps available. The OS supports a lot of phones and provides an open marketplace called Google Play Store where you can download productivity apps.
- Apple’s iOS platform is what first comes to mind when talking about availability of apps and the number of apps available. It’s important to keep in mind that when developers think about building apps, they typically start developing on Apple’s iOS ecosystem.
Choosing the Right Insurance Plan
When you’re buying a new smartphone, even if it’s for business, it’s important to purchase an insurance plan for coverage. Your employer will typically opt-in for this option as it’s the best to keep the device insurance and covered for as long as possible.
If you’re interested in looking at some potential insurance providers, you can typically get some through your wireless carrier, or independently through providers like Asurion and SquareTrade.
