In this post we’ll cover the 5 best budget cell phone plans for your business!
If you’re a web-based freelancer of any kind, you’ll be familiar with the way that any place with an internet connection and space for your laptop can become your work station. This being said, your primary cellphone can also quite easily become your work phone or your “business phone”.
If you have a small business owner, though, you may very well have a group of employees who rely on their cellphones to keep in contact with you. They probably also use their cellphone to make calls and texts related to their work or to give them directions to various locations. If this is the case, it may be worthwhile (and appreciated!) for you, as the employer, to set up a cellphone plan for your business so that you can take care of the extra cost that your employees pay each month to advance your company.
To decide on the right business-orientated plan for your company, you’ll need to do some digging. You’ll want to compare things like price, benefits, extras, coverage, phone models, and discount pricing for having multiple lines. With each company having its own pros and cons, it’s important to look into each company you consider.
So, to make this process even easier for you than doing a quick internet search, we’ve done the work for you. Here are a few of my personal favorite cell phone providers that offer business plans and a rundown of each of the factors you need to consider.
5 Best Budget Cell Phone Plans for Your Business
Benefits of Business Cellphone Plans
Consistency
When you sign up for a business cell phone plan and supply your employees with service, you can rest assured that you’ll benefit from consistency. All of your employees will have the same plan, the service coverage will be the same for each employee, and your bill should be roughly the same amount of money each month.
Additionally, if you supply your employees with a device and a plan, you set them up for being able to help each other and troubleshoot should something go wrong with someone’s device. Each employee’s phone will have the same capabilities, can download the same apps, and can do the same things.
Potential discounts
When you use a business plan, it’s quite possible that you’ll be offered multi-line/ multi-device discounts. These discounts can be as simple as a discounted price per device, or as complex as a certain percent of the monthly bill being waived so long as you have a certain plan or a certain number of devices/lines on your account.
When you have multiple employees, these discounts can be pretty handy, saving you a whole lot of money in operating costs.
5 Top Budget Cell Phone Plans for Your Business
1. Cricket Wireless
Cricket is one of the most popular wireless services in the country. It offers prepaid services that range in price from $25 to $60 per month. The cheapest plan, $25, is pretty basic and provides talk and text services without any data. If you want to pay for data, though, you can choose between four options: 2GB, 5GB, unlimited, or unlimited with the addition of a 15GB mobile hotspot. The various plans that can be arranged include a wide variety of features which include picture messaging, text, calls, Wi-fi calling, mobile hotspots, and video streaming.
2. Straight Talk Wireless
Straight Talk is a discount provider that offers customers the convenience of a no-contract sign up process. It can be accessed by taking a quick visit to Walmart. The most popular plan is $45 and includes 10GB of data and unlimited talk and text. When signing up without a contract, Straight Talk permits customers to bring their phone of choice for activation.
There is also the option to sign up for a monthly contract and signing up this way gives you the option to receive a free phone from Straight Talk. Alongside their mobile phones and plans, Straight Talk also offers home phone services and mobile hotspots.
Sign up for Straight Talk Wireless here.
3. Boost Mobile
Boost uses the Sprint network and is another relatively popular, no-contract provider. Plans that include 3GB of data and unlimited talk and text start at just $35 per month (should you wish to sign up with a monthly contract, of course!), with the most expensive plan offering unlimited data and talk and text for $50.
Boost restricts customers from bringing their own phones to sign up but instead offers a wide range of Android devices and reliable models from makers such as LG and Samsung.
One aspect of Boost that I find to be pretty interesting is that it offers an unlimited day-by-day plan. This particular plan, which is on a no-contract basis, allows users to use Boost for one, two, or four days (as an example), and requires them to pay for each individual day. The rate for this convenient plan is $2 per day.
Sign up for Boost Mobile here.
4. Ting
Ting is a great option for you if you’re looking to pay for what you use and nothing more. Fair prices are given out based on usage, which is categorized into “buckets” that customers can navigate freely as they choose.
As an example, having a device hooked up costs $6 per month and 1-100 minutes, 1-100 GB of data, and 1-100 text messages cost $3 each per month. In total, if this was your plan, you’d be looking at $15 per month for your cellphone. As your needs evolve and you use more data, minutes, or texts, your prices would go up accordingly. The next tier covers 101-500 MG of data, 101-500 minutes of talk, and so on. This is where the prices begin to differ with Ting, though, as 1010500 GB of data and 101-500 minutes ring in at different price points ($9 and $12).
Ting also gives customers the option to sign up without a contract.
5. Mint SIM
Mint Sim operates using the T-Mobile network. It gives customers the freedom to bring their own phone, and its cheapest plan starts at $15 a month on a three-month, short-term contract. Mint Sim sets itself apart from its competitors by sending its customers a SIM card in the mail so that they can conduct the setup process by themselves.
The minimum plan offers quite a bit of benefit despite its low price point. It includes unlimited talk, text, and data on the company’s 4G LTE network, a prepaid SIM card in three sizes, and a mobile hotspot. When it comes to contracts, Mint Sim offers contracts on a short-term basis, which makes it great for those who aren’t looking for a major commitment.
How To Choose A Plan
There are numerous factors to reflect on when choosing a cell phone plan for your small company. Here are some major issues you’ll want to take into account.
Your Business Design
If you work with only a handful of employees, you may benefit in signing up for a family-and-friends kind of cellphone plan, which often includes multiple devices on one bill. If you have more than a few employees or run a large scale business, you’ll likely need to sign up for a plan specifically designed for businesses, though. Once you get into the business-specific plans, you’ll need to start thinking especially hard about features, price, and other factors.
Network Coverage
Perhaps the most important thing to consider is network coverage. Without it, it doesn’t matter how many high-tech features you have, so it’s important to ensure that your network coverage is good. You’ll want to ensure that you and your employees have good coverage in the general work area and any place that they might travel to for work-related purposes.
Security Features
Some cellphone providers offer their business clients extra security features. These can include VPNs and encryption and are always useful when handling important business data and the general security of your company. In addition, providers that offer these features also relieve you of the hassle of having to research, sign up, and pay for a separate security service.
Hardware
If you’re going to supply your employees with devices, you should always look into which types of handsets are offered through your prospective provider. Check that the devices are up to date, large enough, have enough RAM, and are up to speed for your company’s use. You may also want to look into device repair plans, damage coverage, and other plans that could cover your employees should something happen to their device.
Alternatively, if you want your employees to use their own devices, you’ll want to make sure that the provider allows them to do so, as some don’t.
Mobile Hotspots
Sometimes, as hard as one might try, business environments don’t have reliable wi-fi. When this is the case, though, an employee could connect their wireless device to the internet using a hotspot – so long as their provider offers that capability.
To connect multiple devices, an employer might dedicate one hotspot that has a secure, reliable connection. Some business cell phone plans offer hotspots as an included feature, while others require that the account owner pay for the hotspots. This is something to think about, as hotspots can be expensive, but could still be very much worth it.
Data Allowances
Most business plans will include or offer some data. As an employer, you should try to be generous with data allowances. This being said, though, you should also try to be smart with your data plan. In general, unlimited data is the best option – but anything over 2 GB is probably close to enough, so long as the employee’s workplace has a stable internet connection.
If your chosen plan has a data cap and isn’t unlimited, find out how much you’re charged if the employee goes over his or her limit. Some plans will simply cut the employee off, while others will continue to let the extra charges accumulate.
Customer Service
When dealing with any kind of technology, you should always prepare for problems to arise. In the case of your business cell phone plan, make sure that your provider has good customer service for when something goes wrong. Ensure that your provider has good customer service hours, has service reps that are knowledgeable and fluent in your language, and who are diligent in solving problems.
It may also be worth it to take a quick check into the methods in which you could reach the service desk. For example, do they offer online chat, email, a phone number, or all three?
Price
For many of us – business owners or not- price is the true deciding factor when we make a purchase decision. With the sky-high price point of many plans, it can be tempting to choose the cheapest simply because it is easier on the checkbook, however, there are instances where choosing the cheapest plan is a bad decision. In other cases, though, the cheapest plan may be just as great as the most expensive plan. It really depends on the company.
So, when factoring price into your decision, be sure to look at all aspects that play into it. This being said, don’t buy based on price alone; if spending a bit more money means getting all of the features you deem necessary and important, you should go for it.
Is A Business Cell Phone Plan Right For You?
While we can’t tell you what to do or what’s right for your situation, we can say, – with confidence!- that business cell phone plans almost always prove to be a good investment. Before jumping into one, though, remember to think the decision over carefully and evaluate your company’s needs and your budget. If you aren’t sure of whether you’ll like the plan or not, try to get a plan that doesn’t require a contract or that has a relatively short-term contract; changes can always be made after the contract ends.
Hope you enjoyed this post on the best budget cell phone plans for your business! If you have any additions let us know in the comments below.
