Strong and effective communication is a vital element for business success. It lets collaborate with colleagues efficiently and provide improved customer support experiences. Choosing a good business cell phone plan can offer massive benefits to your organization. These benefits include access to unlimited talk, text, and data for your employees, allowing them to keep the lines of communication open.

But if you’re having trouble choosing the right phone plan for your business, we’re here to help. Read on to learn more about business phone plans and everything you need to know when choosing one for your company.

Here’s what we’re going to be touching upon:

Businesses work best when they communicate well. It could be communicating with employees, suppliers, manufacturers, or business customers. In any case, keeping the lines of communication open, encouraging team collaboration, and providing the proper tools to do it are essential to eliminate costly misunderstandings.

With companies and employees looking at flexible working environments, utilizing landlines or traditional business phone systems is no longer an option. Some companies have implemented bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives to cater to their flexible workforce. However, using personal phone numbers or calling plans can be problematic:

• Employees have their free time interrupted with business calls
• Personal mobiles can be lost or stolen, leading to unexpected costs
• Consumer plans lack business security features, risking viruses and malware
• Mobile devices and numbers are subject to change

For instance, each time an employee leaves the company or changes their number, both suppliers, and clients need to update phone numbers, potentially leading to confusion.

That’s why a business phone plan is crucial to smoothly operating the lines of communications for your business. It can provide you with business mobile devices for your employees, unlimited talk and text, and other features for your business needs. Above all, you have a permanent business number you can keep and use for as long as you require.

Phone carriers offer a range of affordable cell phone plans for businesses, with specific security features and discounts depending on the functionalities and number of smartphone lines needed. There are even specific plans for small businesses, to fit a smaller team structure and budget.

As the business plans often operate monthly, you can upgrade these options as your business scales. It enables you to choose a monthly plan to add new numbers and provide devices for your growing team.

Advantages of investing in a business phone plan

Providing your employees with business phones and plans help regulate, secure, and safeguard your company communications. Additionally, it enhances your business capabilities, giving you phone service and features to improve internal and external communications. Below are other benefits of investing in a business cell phone plan:

• Cost-effective for large and small business needs
• One network means the same contract lengths, tariffs, device types, network coverage, and pooled data
• Unified billing cycles
• High-quality and capable devices for modern businesses
• Employee perks, like the latest handset for personal use
• Business mobile devices can incentivize potential recruits
• Unlimited talk, text, and data
• International coverage
• Favors flexible working environments

When choosing your carrier and business cell phone plan, it’s crucial to pick the right one. While you’re often paying a single monthly bill, selecting a business plan ties you to a carrier network for the duration of a multi-year contract.

Different carriers offer varying network access, coverage, and features. Picking the wrong business solutions could lead to costly cancellations and communication overhauls. There are five steps you can follow when choosing a business phone plan:

1. Consider your business communication needs
2. Choose a plan designed for business
3. Prioritize network coverage
4. Look for strong security features
5. Purchase hardware/cell phones

By following these five steps, you can guarantee that the cell phone plan you choose is suited to your business size, needs, and unique wants. We’ll go through each step below.

1. Consider your business communication needs

Every business has unique communication requirements. When picking a business cell phone plan, you must look at what you and your employees need to succeed.

For example, mobile engineers need smartphones with high-speed data plans, wide network coverage, and GPS to work efficiently. Alternatively, an app development team might need international coverage, business wireless plans, and conference calling features to collaborate with remote colleagues.

2. Choose a plan designed for business

Many carriers and networks offer business-specific cell phone plans. These plans cater to businesses in a way consumer options can’t and typically provide unlimited calling, SMS text messages, and unlimited data usage.

For instance, the basic business plan from Verizon includes unlimited talk, texting, and data as well as unlimited 4G LTE and 5G coverage nationwide. A similarly priced basic phone plan for consumers includes just 5G network coverage and unlimited data.

Understanding your communication needs is vital to choosing a plan designed around your workflow. For example, if you’re reliant on VoIP services, you may only use data and texting to manage your business. Consider your desired features, number of phone lines per month, and unlimited requirements to choose the best business unlimited plan for you.

3. Prioritize network coverage

It’s easy to think that in a day and age where basic phones have given way to advanced smartphones, we’d have perfect cell phone coverage. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

While many popular networks offer a high coverage of services, they can differ by area due to cell tower location. It can mean different towns, cities, and rural areas will benefit from separate network service providers to fulfill their needs.

To ensure excellent network coverage for your business, consider data speeds and consult network coverage maps. These can be found on the network service provider's website and show you what experience you can expect. If you have international employees or clients, you should look at business solutions that offer international coverage.

4. Look for strong security features

Business phone plans involve one network providing multiple lines and devices to streamline your billing cycles and business operations. The last thing you want is to complicate your workflow by paying for separate security services and plans for your devices.

Look for network service providers that offer critical security features like:

• VPNs
• Document and email encryption
• Spam and fraud protection
• App scanning
• Virus and malware protection

It’s crucial that you choose the best security features to prevent cyberattacks and malware from slowing you down. Ensuring sensitive business and customer information is safe is a vital requirement to building trust with customers and improving your brand reputation.

The table below shows the best security features of three popular carriers and the type of options you should look for when picking your network provider.

5. Purchase hardware/cell phones

Some businesses operate a BYOD policy to reduce costs, giving employees both business mobility and a sense of freedom. But, this can cause business issues, such as:

• Cause phone number confusion if employees leave the company
• Devices are unregulated, leading to security issues with older models
• Without key network security features, a BYOD policy is susceptible to viruses and malware
• Cause unnecessary expense costs depending on employee phone plans
• Multiple tariffs, networks, and device types may create inconsistent experiences for customers

As well as providing strong network security features, carriers will have the latest handsets available, ensuring your business workflow isn’t hampered by aging cameras, internet connections, or unreliable wireless services.

Additionally, some apps or services need compatible devices to work. For example, if you’re developing an iPhone or Android phone app for the Apple or Samsung App Stores, you’ll want your employees to have a compatible handset to test and showcase your product. Similarly, to take advantage of 5G networks, you’ll need 5G capable handsets.

When it comes to hardware, look for and select plans that give you the right options to drive your business communications and operations upwards.

Business cell phone plan features

In addition to broad coverage and security features, there are other business cell phone features to consider when making your final decision. For instance, you may need auto pay, call forwarding, or additional voicemail storage to enhance your business capabilities. Other key features to consider are below.

Business unlimited plans

Every business owner wants the best bang for their buck, and business phone plans deliver. Unlike consumer options, most providers include unlimited plans as a standard across their business solutions. It includes unlimited:

• Talk
• Texts
• Data
• Mobile hotspot data
• Video streaming

However, unlimited options frequently come with caveats, such as data speed limits or usage caps. For example, while T-Mobile offers unlimited video streaming across all its plans, it typically streams video at 480p.

So, it’s important you read the fine print to identify any shortcomings before choosing your unlimited business plan.

Mobile hotspot

A solid internet connection is important for employees working remotely. It allows them to access crucial business documents and services from anywhere. However, Wi-Fi connections aren’t always available. When they are, they can be insecure, unreliable, public networks.

Mobile hotspots are like portable Wi-Fi networks and a great feature included in many business phone plans.

It acts as a mini signal tower. By enabling mobile hotspot data on a compatible device, nearby devices can connect to the data network through a smartphone. It provides your employees with business internet services for their laptops, tablets, or additional mobile devices.

With service providers touting network security features, your business internet connection is secure and reliable wherever there’s network coverage.

Number of lines per month

Depending on the size of your company, you might need 3, 30, or 300 phone lines to address your employee communication needs. It's why different service providers include a varying number of lines per month in their starting price.

As the number of monthly lines increases, network providers generally offer discounts, so shop around and look for the best plan prices. Saving a few pennies per month per line can add up.

International calling

Crossing borders is nothing new for businesses. With international shipping and remote working, customers and employees exist around the globe. It's why international calling is a must if your business operates in other countries.

Most US business phone plans include unlimited or free calls to Mexico and Canada, letting you reach international clients, suppliers, and collaborate with remote colleagues. Other regions, such as Europe and Asia, vary depending on the service provider but are frequently offered as add-ons to a business phone plan.

VoIP wireless plans

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a method of making phone calls over the internet, instead of using traditional phone lines. On mobile phones, it happens via Wi-Fi calling. This feature enables you to call and text over wireless internet connections, maintaining the same call clarity and security, even during times of congestion.

You don’t need to change your phone number, download a specific app, or go through a special activation process. When there’s a lack of cell coverage, your network or VoIP provider routes calls through an internet connection, ensuring you receive every business call. It’s useful if:

• Your business or employees exist in rural areas with low coverage
• You have international clients or suppliers
• Your employees are mobile or work from anywhere

If wireless calling is important to you, choose a business phone plan that provides fast data speeds and specific VoIP features.

So, which provider should you pick?

While the answer depends on your specific business requirements and wants, you’re likely to choose between the three popular mobile phone carriers: T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. Each provider offers an entry-level, mid-tier, and top-tier business phone plan.

In the table below, you can see a comparison between the mid-tier offerings from each provider, promoted as a mix of basic and advanced features for growing businesses.

We’ve already covered the security features of these three carriers above, so we'll now focus on other features of each plan for businesses.

Choosing a business phone plan can be daunting. With varying features, plan prices, tariffs, and contract lengths available, it’s tempting to fall back to using traditional business phone systems and landlines. However, while those phone systems have been stalwarts of the business world, the future is mobile.

Flexible working environments are growing in popularity to provide employees with a better work-life balance and the freedom to work anywhere. Their workflow depends on solid communication and mobile internet connectivity. Business phone plans come with unlimited talk, text, and data as standard, often offering the latest handsets. It lets your teams function without communication bottlenecks.

Additionally, with international coverage, you can communicate with teams and customers around the globe, improving your business reach, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity.

Picking the right business cell phone plan ensures you have the right tools and capabilities to increase your connectivity, improve your customer support experiences and continue to drive your business forward for years to come.

Follow the steps outlined here to get an idea of the various features and offerings to find a solution for your requirements and budgets. Remember, the plan should fit your business needs, not the other way around.

Who has the best mobile business plan?

There’s no one business phone plan to rule them all. Your budget, required features, and network coverage decides your best plan. Go through the steps listed above to choose a business phone plan for you.

How much does a business phone plan cost?

It depends on the business phone plan you choose. The cheapest is around $15 - $30/line/month, whereas the most expensive can exceed $60 per line/month.

Can you use a prepaid phone for a business?

Yes. However, prepaid plans are short-term, renew monthly, are specific to one handset, and are typically geared towards consumers. You won’t have the same business features, data pooling, or unified billing cycles.

Can I get a phone with my EIN number?

Yes. An Employee Identification Number (EIN) is widely accepted as a form of ID to apply for loans, credit cards, and business phone plans.

Which carrier has the best small business phone plans?

The only way to find the best small business plan for you is to compare current small business or entry-level phone plans from different network providers. The best one for you depends on your budget, features, and network coverage.

What are the benefits of a Verizon Business Plan?

Verizon is one of the largest network providers in the US, with broad coverage, unlimited talk, text, and data for small to large businesses, and competitive international plans. Additionally, they have a wide variety of iOS and Android devices available, ensuring the best handsets for teams that are on the go.