Defining your Mobile Phone and Tariff Requirements
All the networks offer a range of price plans for businesses and individuals. With a wide range of tariffs available, and high costs for some services, particularly those associated with data transmission, it’s important to consider carefully what your needs are. Time spent in carrying out extensive research could save you considerable sums of money in the long run. Speak to business advisors in the specialist mobile phone stores; visit the business pages of the network websites; speak to the network’s business advisors.Most business packages are charged monthly and include phone handset rental plus bundles of inclusive talk minutes and text bundles, data services, etc. Important considerations when choosing a mobile phone package include:
Who do you call?
Costs vary depending on whether calls are made to a landline, a mobile on the same network, or a mobile on another network:
- It’s more cost-effective to use one network for all your mobile devices. Many of the one network packages include free calls between all your mobiles
- If most of your calls are to landline numbers, look for a package whcih offers cheap landline call rates
- If many international calls are made, find out what international call options are available
When do you call?
Most mobile packages have either a fixed rate all day, or a mixture of peak and off-peak tariff rates. Most businesses make the majority of calls during the traditional working day of between 9am and 5pm. The best options are to select the package with the cheapest peak rates or a low fixed rate. If most calls are made outside the traditional working day, consider packages with the lowest off-peak rates or large bundles of off-peak minutes.
How many calls do you make?
Most packages include a number of inclusive minutes; business packages usually allow you to split the inclusive minutes between all mobile phone users and carry over unused minutes to the next month. Packages can be easily changes if inclusive mibnutes are insufficient or excessive. If a low number of calls are made, your business that only use mobiles to receive call, it might be more cost-effective to move to a “pay as you go” or pre-payment package. These packages are not usually advertised as a business package.
What technology do you need?
SME’s are increasingly using their mobile phones and PDA’s for a combination of voice, text, international calls, email and data usage. Network providers for SME customers and offer different packages tailored to the needs of SME’s to a range of special deals, introductory offers and even more sophisticated devices to encourage you to sign up.
We have a comprehensive section on mobile phones with practical articles on…..Smartphone buyers guide…Mobile deals with free gifts…Pay As You Go deals...Mobile Phone Manufacturers….Mobile Phone Networks….Defining your mobile phone and tariff requirements….A to Z of Mobile Phone Features……Mobile Phone FAQ’s
