Action Steps for Smart Shopping for Cellular Phone Service
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get hands-free supplies for your mobile cell phones

Having a hands-free microphone and earpiece for each employee cell phone may mean the difference between staying on the right side of the law and violating local cell phone usage laws. Most cell phone dealers include a hands-free microphone and earpiece with each cell phone purchased, but you may need to acquire additional hands-free headsets.

I recommend: Familiarize yourself with local cell phone use laws and regulations through the Governors Highway Safety Association's state-by-state listings. Keep in mind that, regardless of civilian regulations, use of a cell phone while driving is prohibited on military bases unless you're using a hands free headset. If this vital accessory was not included in your last cell phone purchase, contact cell phone suppliers like Nokia and Motorola to purchase the appropriate accessories and don't forget to ask for a business discount.

Help your employees keep cell phones in tact and close at hand

Cell phone holsters and carry cases help to protect cell phones from sudden impacts--like being dropped--and to keep them from getting dropped in the first place. They also help ensure that your business cell phones don't get put down and left behind by mistake.

I recommend: Factory Direct Cellular offers a wide variety of cell phone holsters and carrying cases to help protect your phones against accidental bumps or drops. Cell-Phone-Accessories.com offers similar cell phone carrying options to help make sure your employees always know exactly where the phone you've supplied them with is located.

Use the right mobile supplies to keep your cell phones charged

There's nothing worse than trying to reach your employees in the field--or them trying to reach you--and getting cut off because of a dead cell phone battery. The right supplies for cell phones can help you get and touch, and stay in touch, with your employees when your business counts on it.

I recommend: CellPhoneShop.net sells car chargers for a wide variety of cellular phone models to let your employees recharge their phones on the go. If you regularly send employees on long business trips you may want to equip them with a vehicle charger/wall outlet converter from AlternativeWireless.com so they can use their car charger to recharge cell phone batteries from a wall outlet as well.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many cell phone plans offer the option of purchasing insurance against cell phone loss or damage--at extra cost to you, of course. Equipping your employees with the right supplies for cell phones, like holsters, carrying cases or clip-on protective covers, helps eliminate the need to add expensive insurance on to your business cell plans.

Guide to Cell Phones and Service for Small Business

Be a smart shopper for standard cellular plans or prepaid cell phones

By Frances Sharpe, freelance writer/editor

1. Reduce down time
2. Increase productivity
3. Keep you and your employees connected
4. Improve customer service
5. Increase sales

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get the basics from cell phone providers

When comparing cell phone providers, check for these basic elements: a battery that gives you ample talk time, text messaging, conference calling capabilities, a speakerphone and an address book that can hold at least a couple hundred entries. You may also want to look for an address book that syncs with your PC.

I recommend: Find the editor's choice picks for the best cell phones the best cell phones and cellular plans for small business at Entrepreneur.com. Download Good Mobile Messaging or Futuredial Snapsync software to help you sync your PC's contacts and calendar with your phone. Find business cellular plans at Business.com.

Go for the extras on cell phone service

Go beyond the basic cellular phone service: Check the offerings of cell phone providers for a camera, video camera, mp3 player, multimedia messaging, instant messenger, voice dialing, EDGE high-speed data access, Bluetooth wireless connectivity and many others. Accessories you may want to consider include extra memory cards, a wireless keyboard for typing documents, a belt clip, a headphone or a mouthpiece.

I recommend: Find cell phone accessories at AccessoryGeeks.com.

Add a smartphone advantage to cellular plans

For more capabilities, look to a smartphone. These powerful communication tools do double duty as both a cell phone and a PDA. In addition to cell phone service, smartphones let you access email, update your calendar, maintain your contacts, browse the Web at high speed, run business software and work on projects.

I recommend: Find the best-selling BlackBerry and other smartphones from many cellular phone service providers at Amazon.com.

Equip and track employees with the right cell phone service

To save money, only give cell phone service to employees whose jobs take them out of the office on a regular basis. Decide if employees need cellular phone service with access to the Internet and email when they're on the road or if voice functions are sufficient. If employees are on the move within your facility rather than desk-bound, consider push-to-talk technology, cellular plans which offer cell phones like a two-way radio.

I recommend: View a push-to-talk cell-phone service demo from Cingula to see if this technology is right for you. Keep track of your employees when they're in the field with AccuTracking software, a GPS cellular phone service.

Find flexible cellular plans for business

Some cell phone providers allow you to share minutes across employees, transfer unused landline minutes to your cell phone, make unlimited calls to your office number or pay-as-you-go. Look for cell phone providers that allow you to keep phone numbers even when employees leave.

I recommend: Cingular, T-Mobile and Verizon offer cellular phone service plans for small business. Sprint offers cellular plans for both office-based and home-based small businesses. Internet-based communications providers, such as CBeyond.com, are beginning to offer cell phone service plans.

For really flexible cell phone service, go with prepaid cell phones

These pay-as-you cellular plans require no contracts: Buy your prepaid cell phones, buy some minutes, your cell phone service ends if you don’t buy more minutes – it’s that simple. Plans for prepaid cell phones are typically more expensive per minute than standard cellular plans and may have access charges and monthly use-it-or-lose it restrictions on minute usage. But prepaid cell phones can be a great solution for temporary or project use or to keep a very tight hand on cell phone service expense.

I recommend: Prepaid cell phones used to be offered by minor league cell phone providers. Now the majors like Cingular and T-Mobile offer prepaid cell phones, too. Specialists in prepaid cell phones like Virgin Mobile and TracFone buy large blocks of minutes from the major cell phone providers and aggressively resell, so be sure to check their prepaid cell phone plans, as well. For more on prepaid cell phones, read Work.com's Guide to Prepaid Cell Phones and find vendors of prepaid cell phones at Business.com.

Set up for international travel

Most U.S. cell phones are useless in foreign countries. If you or your employees travel on business internationally, select a phone with GSM (Global System for Mobile communications). If you rarely travel internationally, simply rent or buy an international phone for those trips.

I recommend: Check this list of phones from Cingular to see which will work abroad. T-Mobile has a search tool that lets you check international rates, service and coverage before you go. Rent an international phone from Planet Omni or purchase a low-cost model from Mobal.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Control costs by blocking international calling capability on employee phones.
• •  Protect your phone with a sturdy case and screen overlays.
• •  Carry extra memory cards with you so you can supplement your phone's internal memory.
• •  Recharge your battery to avoid losing all your information.
• •  Use prepaid cell phones for targeted, domestic use or occasional international cell phone service

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use cell phones to draw your customers in

Use products from big name cell phone suppliers as incentives to encourage purchases and service contract renewals, or to attract new customers. You can offer high-end cell phones as door prizes, raffle items or bonuses with purchases, contract renewals or membership buys.

I recommend: Connect with cell phone dealers like Motorola and Samsung, both of which offer high profile, easily recognized products, for instant "value added" to your current line of products and services.

Let your customers use their cell phones to get something for free

Contests and giveaways are a fast and easy way of attracting new customers, or at least garnering their attention. When you give customers a chance to win something, they feel like they're getting something for nothing--but the truth is, you'll come out of the deal with the most precious thing of all: their attention. Cellular phone-based contests, an effective marketing tool, are a growing trend.

I recommend: Invite customers to enter random drawings via text message or to submit photos taken through their cell phones for a contest. You can promote your contest through a variety of mediums, including the following: traditional media advertising; your company website or blog; free Internet listing services like Contestguide.com; mobile marketing companies, like Mobivity from Mobile Visions, that specialize in facilitating cell phone contests and other marketing plans or through YouTube, the ultimate online guerrilla marketing tool.

Use cell phones to keep your customers coming back

The cell phones in your customers' pockets offer you a ready-made solution for contacting them, no matter where they are in the world. Offer clients a chance to sign up for instant alerts when services or bills are due or when contracts come due for renewal. You can also create brief text-messaging newsletters to distribute information about new products or special sales.

I recommend: Websites like Omnilert and TextMarks let you create online distribution hubs for sending text messages to numerous subscribers. You can send thousands of messages per minute with Omnilert or subscribe to a TextMarks Pro plan at different levels to let you reach varying numbers of subscribers.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Keep in mind that some cell phone plans charge for both sending and receiving text messages, and some plans, particularly prepaid cell phone plans, may block them entirely. Some cellular phone plans also limit data transfer or charge extra for it. You'll score points with your customers if you're well informed and prepared to address any questions or concerns they may have about charges incurred or problems encountered while using their cellular phones to partake of your business services.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Wireless service provider

All cell phones need a wireless service provider to provide actual service to the phone. These carriers provide the network on which your cell phone runs as well as any service and support issues with your phone. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint PCS and T-Mobile are all examples of wireless service providers.

I recommend: SearchMobileComputing.com provides a description of wireless service providers.

Bluetooth technology

Many cell phones have Bluetooth technology now, which uses a standard communications protocol that enables cell phones to use a link to connect Bluetooth devices wirelessly. For example, cell phones that have Bluetooth technology enabled can use a Bluetooth hands-free headset or can print information to a printer that also uses Bluetooth.

I recommend: Bluetooth.com provides good information about Bluetooth technology and its uses.

Tethering

Tethering refers to the use of the cell phone as a modem for a personal computer or laptop. The cell phone is 'tethered' to the computer by a USB cable or by Bluetooth technology. Tethering capability is a cell phone feature that some cell phones have, and it is a function that some service carriers provide.

I recommend: EVDOinfo.com provides a detailed description of cell phone tethering.

Data services

Some cell phones have the capacity to handle data services. These data services include text messaging, instant messaging, picture and video messaging, music, email and games. Costs for these services vary by provider. The capability to access these data services also varies by cell phone.

I recommend: Myrateplan.com discusses data services for cell phones in detail.

Smartphones

Smartphones are a type of cellular phone that incorporates important features from a personal digital assistant, such as calendars, planners, and address books. They can store data and receive email and often have multimedia capabilities such as taking photos and videos and playing MP3s.

I recommend: O'Reilly's article on smartphones discusses the history and function of smartphones.

GSM/CDMA network technology

Two network technologies for cell phones are GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). Wireless service providers use either of these networks for cell phone coverage. The differences between these competing technologies lie in how they handle data as well as their coverage areas.

I recommend: A PC Today article on CDMA versus GSM provides a definition of these technologies as well as an overview of their basic differences. WiseGEEK also provides an article on the differences between GSM and CDMA.