THE coming year may hold several surprises for any business, and therefore never have predictable monthly costs been so important.
The festive season was full of fantastic upfront offers; we’ve all seen the amazing vehicle offers for a top-end car, but you can only do 3,000 miles a year, unfortunately the same can apply to mobile phone contracts.
When looking for predictable monthly costs, it’s vitally important to understand the full cost of the contract. Many businesses still choose to deal directly with the networks who are inflexible, offer vanilla support and sign you up to tariffs that come with hidden extra costs.
For example, data allowances are usually provided on an individual basis and should you use more than your tariff permits, expect an invoice to arrive with a nasty surprise. Depending on your network, you could be charged between £20 to £30 per 1Gb over your bundle. Headline rates and line rentals always look attractive, but according to research from Citizens Advice (2018), four million people in the UK have been charged for phones they already own, which translates to a staggering total of £490m extra on their latest contracts. You must make an informed decision before committing to a mobile deal, so be sure to check the small print.
Your choices
There are four ways to source a mobile contract:
* Directly from the network
* Through a third-party reseller
* Through an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator)
* Via a wholesaler such as dbfb
By going direct to the network, you don’t necessarily get the best solution for your business. Very little is fixed in business and flexibility is key. When buying direct, it can be difficult to manage all your devices. You are tied into a 24-month contract, and when buying new handsets, you end up with a wide array of different contract end dates and a range of different tariffs. If your business reduces the number of staff, your tariff stays the same. There is little flexibility to reduce costs.
A reseller can provide lower-cost handsets from a network, but your mobile contract is supplied direct from the network provider; this means your terms are broadly similar if you had purchased direct. Your support however, is provided via the reseller. If you have a problem with the signal, you are locked into one network and if your bill isn’t quite right and you’d like to query it, you could expect up to 10 business days before receiving an answer.
Sky, Tesco & Giff Gaff are MVNOs and piggyback off the networks. Deals are cheap, but there can be a compromise on service as you will be one of millions of subscribers. The experience for the end-user is very much like when using the networks direct; a small fish in an exceptionally large consumer-focused pond.
dbfb – the difference
dbfb is a wholesale partner; as your business grows and develops, flexibility and management are key. A partnership with dbfb offers you unrivalled flexibility and the opportunity to make sure that your mobile plan works for you. For example, we can allow you to scale up and down the number of connections you require on a monthly basis. We also offer the choice of network to your end-users without any comprise on service or economies of scale. You benefit from a single contract to negotiate, a single invoice and one supplier that you trust.
Our voice services are delivered to you with unlimited calls and text messages for an easy-to-budget price per user. You don’t contract to the network directly and therefore should you wish to change network with dbfb, you can do so with no termination fees and minimal fuss.
Our wholesale agreement and in-house billing platform enable dbfb to create totally unique and bespoke tariffs for our customers. The demand for 3G, 4G and soon to be 5G services is at an all-time high. Our plans range from 250Mb to unlimited individual allowances, or if you have lots of mobile phones, you could benefit from a shared plan or pay-as-you-use data.
We understand it’s vitally important for your business to keep your employees connected, but the world of telecommunications can be complex. dbfb are independent so you get the very best for your business, a local provider who cares and likes to keep things simple.
Don’t just take our word for it; according to a recent Ofcom Report (2019), 34 per cent of SMEs don’t have the confidence to identify and source phone and broadband services which would benefit their business.
Let’s connect
We’re confident we can deliver. Want to know more about simplifying your mobile estate? Contact us at quoting ‘smartdata’ and we’ll provide free of charge data for the first three months (terms and conditions apply).
