Don’t settle for consumer rates

Clueless consumers can be smacked with a $300-$500 bill each month just by making daytime calls, sending text messages as if they were free, and auditioning ring tones by downloading them. In contrast, business subscriber revenue rises only as more devices are added to an account, and it falls off only if the customer gets unhappy. An unhappy business customer isn’t dissuaded, as consumers (rather foolishly) are, by penalties for early contract termination. A savvy business subscriber will pay to leave a lousy operator, knowing that a competing operator will welcome a shot at a new contract.

So don’t buy wireless devices and service like a consumer. The right approach to buying wireless is to adopt the attitude of the privileged business subscriber you are, and that will save you hundreds or thousands of dollars per year. If you bring enough money (a multiple-line purchase) to the table, you’ll get something that consumers don’t even know exists: a dedicated account rep who takes your calls on the first ring and who is empowered to do what it takes to keep you as a customer.

Here’s how to get what you deserve. First, don’t use the Web to buy wireless and don’t deal with the high-turnover staff at phone stores. Find the largest operator-owned store near you and call ahead to set up a meeting with a business rep. Go into that meeting knowing that you can negotiate the cost of phones and rate plans independently, and that à la carte plans are always available. Give at least two carriers the chance to compete for your business, and make sure they know that they have to fight to get you and to keep you.

The business marketing rep needs to understand that if he wants you to buy phones from him (and he does — phones are high-margin sales), they have to be unlocked to operate on multiple operators’ networks. Buy the phone outright instead of amortizing its cost as part of a term rate plan. Claiming that you’ll use the phone overseas is helpful in getting it unlocked.

When you buy a data plan, buy an unlimited plan for which you’ll never pay metered data charges, or what some operators call “overages.” AT&T, for example, puts a rider on the majority of its so-called unlimited data plans that forbids tethering, which is using the phone as a notebook’s gateway to the Internet. The tethering clause gives the operator the right to charge in-plan data usage as overages that are charged at the metered rate, which for AT&T is $10 per megabyte. Horror stories of unexpected data usage bills for thousands of dollars abound. Your unlimited data plan is only unlimited if it includes unmetered tethering, even if tethering isn’t in your future.

Lastly, even the sweetest deal is best left on the table if the rep from whom you buy the service doesn’t hand you his or her business card and invite you to call directly with issues. If you’re given the main 800 number for customer service, you’ve gotten the bum’s rush. It may be that you’ve been spotted as a consumer looking to be handled as a business. In that case, it’s smarter to check with your employer to see if they offer discounted wireless service to employees. In any case, even a consumer who buys wireless phones and service from the Web, the mall, or the retail showroom is just begging to be treated like a sucker. If nothing else, call the operator’s sales line, and you’ll discover phone deals and plan options that don’t show up on the Web site.