Whether your company chooses to sell, manufacture or buy a prepaid cell phone, understanding how the industry works is paramount to your success. This knowledge can help locate business opportunities and allow you to use prepaid phones to maximize your profits. Most all of the large cell phone providers offer the prepaid option, but there are differences between each service in terms of rates and service and having a good prepaid cell phones industry overview will help you decipher all this information.

The industry offers you’ll find range from a cell phone with no credit check to the pay-as-you-go-cell phones. Prepaid cell phones require less of a business commitment than traditional phone rate plans. This is ideal for companies that don't use their cell phone frequently. From a retail standpoint, prepaid cell phones can offer an additional revenue stream for any retail outlet. However, before you purchase or sign a retail agreement, be sure you have a clear prepaid cell phones industry overview and try to:

1. Speak to associations under whose umbrella the prepaid cell phones industry fall.

2. Understand the regulations that govern prepaid cell phones.

3. Compare the market leaders in the prepaid cellular telephone services.

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

Contact the organizations within the prepaid cellular phones industry

Prepaid wireless phone services as a general rule are quite competitive in pricing. While there are some differences, the main differentiation between services is in terms of coverage. The coverage in metro areas is usually consistent, but the difference in rural areas can be a big contrast. The best source of information of these various issues is the industry associations.

I recommend: Call or email CTIA (International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry) for any industry or company specific questions. Review the broadband industry overview from Wireless Communications Association International. The wireless broadband network is the system on which prepaid cell phones operate.

Review the prepaid cell phone services regulations

The rules and regulations over this industry are very fluid. The regulatory changes come as rapidly as the development within the prepaid cell phone community itself. To better situate your company within this environment, it's imperative to know the latest rules and add those to your prepaid cell phones industry overview.

I recommend: Visit the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau section of the Federal Communications Commission website, which provides the latest updates on industry regulations. Review the regulatory bulletins published by the Rural Utility Service Telecommunications Program offered through USDA Rural Development, which tells you more about the telecommunications industry as it pertains to those in non-metro areas.

Contrast the prepaid cell phone price points of the market leaders

The providers of prepaid cell phones are not all made from the same cloth. Each company offers different advantages depending on what type of business you operate. Use the available resources to find the product that best fits your business needs.

I recommend: Utilize the reviews and other information available on Compare-Prepaid-Cell-Phones to better understand the prepaid cell phone service available in the industry. Examine the prepaid cell phone tutorial at CNET Reviews (provided by CBS Interactive) for more comparison information between prepaid cell phone providers.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When you buy prepaid cellular phone devices, be sure to block the international calling feature. Some prepaid phones charge an additional fee for international calls beyond the costs of the phone itself.

The biggest benefits of having prepaid wireless phones for your business is that you don't need to have an annual contract, a credit check, or a deposit — all you have to do is buy, activate, and dial the phone to make a call. Before you go with prepaid, remember:

1. Check the offerings of major carriers. Most carriers, including virtual network operators that lease time off major networks, offer prepaid services.
2. Your cost per minute with prepaid phone services varies widely even within the same service carrier because the plans generally offer lower charges per minute when you buy larger batches
3. Avoid making a prepaid cellular phone purchase without closely studying your prepaid calling plan features and fees. As a rule of thumb, most plans are cost-effective when you want to provide phones for limited use.

Action Steps
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Choose a solution from a major carrier

Major carriers typically offer the largest feature sets, like text messaging, international calling, free mobile-to-mobile minutes within the same carrier, and more advanced phones, but these special features can come at the cost of extra fees.

I recommend: Check out Cingular, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Choose a solution from an MVNO

MVNOs (for mobile virtual network operator) are resellers of cell service. They usually offer basic services but sometimes have better per-minute pricing plans than major carriers.

I recommend: Check out Boost Mobile, NET10, TracFone, Virgin Mobile.

Search them all for the best deal

Cut through the features and price models you don't need with MyRatePlan.com.

I recommend: Plug in your specs to the CellCalc Web tool.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Watch out for minutes that expire if you haven't used them after a certain time period. Also, look to go with plans that let you roll over your unused minutes to your new minute total when you add minutes before you plan has expired.
• •  Pre-paid carriers typically don't offer the latest phone models.

When making the most of prepaid cell phones, it pays to examine how your employees communicate. You also need to evaluate the communication products like the prepaid cellular phones your company sells. Prepaid phones can help profit margins in two primary ways. First, you can replace the company’s traditional cell phone plans with pay-as-you-go-cell phones or buy prepaid cellular phones wholesale for another retail revenue stream by offering prepaid cell phone services to your customers. There are other uses of these products but both of these can directly or indirectly boost profit margins.

Your company can also check into special features that various companies offer when making the most of prepaid cell phones. These add-on features are also an option to look into if you decide to sell prepaid cell phones on a retail basis. Should you opt to purchase prepaid cell phones in bulk for retail purposes, the wholesale pricing structure is most important to your company. However, before making any decisions there are few items to consider, such as:

1. Compare the wholesale prices of prepaid cell phones.

2. Understand how to use your prepaid cell phone outside the country.

3. Verify that the prepaid cell phone provider offers coverage in your area.

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

Seek out the most advantageous pricing when you buy prepaid cellular phone(s) wholesale

For companies that want to sell prepaid cell phones, they enter into a wholesale purchase agreement with prepaid providers. There are many options available from the proven industry leaders and the new start-ups alike. The new companies can be riskier, but may offer better pricing structure and rate plans. The more established providers have the advantage of a proven product and service. Both options can be a great opportunity for your company to increase profits.

I recommend: Contact Mobie Wireless, a relatively new company in the wholesale prepaid cell phone industry to see if reselling its phones would be advantageous to your company. Fill out the retailer request form for Virgin Mobile, one of the largest providers of prepaid cell phones. Though many businesses are familiar with using them as cell phone provider, you may not realize you can also become distributor of this mega corporation.

Make sure the prepaid cell phone service operates effectively in other countries

There will be times in the global business environment when you'll need a prepaid cell phone that can work outside the United States. If your business frequently takes you outside the country, the type of prepaid cell phone you need will depend on which country you're traveling to.

I recommend: Locate the country in which you’re going to for your business trip at Telestial to select an internationally compatible prepaid cell phone. Examine the international cell phone guide at AllWorldCellPhones.com.

Use Internet sites to check the coverage of prepaid cell phone services

Before you choose prepaid cellular telephone services, it's important to know if the phone will actually work in the areas that you're going to use it. You can check through the company website or call its service department, but these websites or departments sometimes overstate the reliability of the service. The best option when making the most of prepaid cell phones is to verify the coverage through independent sources via the Internet.

I recommend: Check the coverage of the prepaid cell phone on CellReception.com from Mobiledia. Utilize the coverage verification application at DeadCellZones.com to double-check the results from the previous website.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Prepaid cell phones offers another advantage for small businesses in that you can buy the prepaid cell phone with no credit check. This is ideal for businesses that have a poor credit rating and may not be able to qualify for the traditional business cell phone services.

If you are thinking of switching to a prepaid cell phone, you should learn prepaid cell phones key terms to avoid mistakes that may cost you in the long run. While most people find they can save money with prepaid cell phones, there are some things you may want to watch out for as you select a plan.

While prepaid cell phones require no credit check, contract, commitment or activation fee, there are other ways prepaid cell phone companies can find to make this system profitable for them. Know what you are getting before you purchase prepaid cell phones.

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

Wireless service provider

A wireless service provider is a company that offers prepaid cell phone service. Choose a wireless service provider that has good phone coverage in your area. Also select a wireless service provider that has the type of phone extras that you want, such as caller ID or call forwarding.

I recommend: For tips on choosing a wireless service provider for your prepaid cell phone, see the information on Prepaid Reviews.com.

Networks

Your cell phone must be compatible with either a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network. The two networks are not compatible. If a phone is not compatible with the accepted network of your wireless service provider, then the cell phone won't work.

I recommend: Read about the difference between GSM and CDMA at WiseGeek.

Data service

Data service includes web access, text messaging and email access. Some prepaid cell phones have this as part of the package, while others only offer extremely limited data service.

I recommend: Telestial offers prepaid data service plans in conjunction with prepaid cell phones.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth capability on a prepaid cell phone allows you to use a small wireless headset to communicate with the phone. You can essentially use the phone without touching it. Radio waves allow the Bluetooth headset and the phone to communicate with each other.

I recommend: AT&T offers GoPhones with Bluetooth capability for prepaid customers.

Pay-as-you-go

Pay-as-you-go plans allow you to purchase only the number of minutes you need. You should check with your wireless provider to purchase the largest monthly bundle of minutes you use, because it is probably cheaper than buying several smaller bundles of pay-as-you-go minutes.

I recommend: Wirefly has information about pay-as-you-go prepaid cell phone plans.

Anytime minutes

Anytime minutes are the minutes you pay for on a prepaid cell phone plan. Some prepaid cell phones come with free, unlimited night and weekend minutes that don't affect your anytime minute usage. With some plans, data services count as anytime minutes as well.

I recommend: Anytime minutes come in different bundles at dPiTeleconnect.