Prepaid Cell Phones

Free yourself from annual contracts and deposits.

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.

 

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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
Try: Plug in your specs to the CellCalc Web tool.

 

• 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.

Copyright © 2011 Business.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

---