[Yssybyl]

hi all - quick (or not so quick) question...

The contract on our work mobiles is up soon and I'd like to replace it with something much better. We need about 10 handsets (not necessarily all the same) at least 5 need email capability (not necessarily push email, but something with a decent data rate) for sales (who also need a good minutes allowance) and the rest are for day to day client interaction/travel use.

Anyone know of any good offers?

[Ben]

I don't know of any specific offers, but have you tried talking to someone at Vodafone business? I've always thought of Vodafone as being particularly business-friendly.

[getti]

Have you looked at http://www.three.co.uk/business/index.omp

The Qtec or the E61 would make a good business phone and with Mobile Mail you you get your email pushed to your phone.

£25.53 gets you Mobile Mail, 500 mins + 100 texts
£34.04 gets you Mobile Mail, 750 mins + 100 texts

Out of the Qtec and E61 i would say go for the E61. Amazing battery life and easier to use than the Qtec

Or as ben said, have a look at Vodafone to compare

[3GScottishUser]

If you are considering mobiles for business you really have to discuss your needs with all of the networks that offer business tariffs.

Companies like Vodafone offer free calls between business users and very different deals to those available to domestic consumers.

T-Mobile were on a big business acquisition push for a while and were blowing everyone else away with free handsets and £4 a month line rental for business users!!

Dont compare anything available on the domestic market with business deals for 5 + handsets as the differences are quite astounding in terms of both price and customer support.

[Hands0n]

I can't believe I'm saying this but ............. O2 have some good business deals also .....

[Yssybyl]

*grins*

Not the overwhelming "go for with the " I was hoping for but enough to get started.... :)

I'd be very interested to know about any good/bad experiences...

[Hands0n]

LOL - I have to say that Vodafone have a very long and strong history of Business relationships. I believe that they are a leader of all the operators in large scale corporate deals (I know they have HSBC for example).

[Ben]

Not to mention that their network coverage and quality really does lend itself to business use... but of course there'll always be localities where any of the networks are naff, so even there you get no safe bets.

[3GScottishUser]

Suffice to say that if these handsets are 'mission critical' you have to look to networks with experience meeting the needs of the business community. 02 and Vodafone both have some excellent deals but if data speed is important and your folks are in cities then vodafone have the fastest data available with HSDPA (they call it Mobile Broadband).

Vodafone Small business plans offer a range of prices with inclusive minutes that can be shared over a number of handsets.

How it works

Pick a plan with inclusive minutes that you share between mobiles and use them for calls outside your company
On top of these inclusive minutes, you get an unlimited number of calls at no extra charge to
- other mobiles in your company on the same plan
- up to 5 office landlines
These calls are included in your plan and do not come out of your inclusive minutes. (Up to 60 minutes per call: 8p per minute after that)

With calls between company mobiles and up to 5 office landlines included its pretty easy to see why hybrid consumer products are simply not at the races!!

Just about every phone in the range is free including Blackberry, nokia E61 and the whole 3g range.

Check out the deals here:http://www.vodafonebusinessshop.co.uk/

[Yssybyl]

Thanks all for the advice. We have decided to go with Vodafone, 5 on E61 and 7 on "lesser" handsets on their small busienss price plan on an 18 month contract. This gives the best deal and 25% extra free mins until May 2007.

The reason we haven't given everyone E61s is because only the first one is free, subsequent handsets are approx £85, so the people who don't need them for email can have other (free) Nokias :)

We compared our minutes/data/SMS requirements accross the networks and found Vodafone to be the cheapest overall monthly cost.

Even with the initial outlay for the E61s this is a considerable saving and I've made the sales team very happy :)

Thanks once again

yss

[3GScottishUser]

The business deals and the levels of customer service are a bit of an eye-opener.

Glad you got a deal that suits your needs and hope you'll let us know how the E61's and other handsets perform for you and your colleagues.

Good deal for your company by the sounds of it and a nice new customer for Vodafone who deserve some credit for their small business packages.

[3g-g]

What about.... damn, I hate getting here late!

I had the deal to knock your socks off, ah well, perhaps in 18 months!

[Yssybyl]

Nothing has been signed yet as we're trying to get the current supplier to beat Vodafone's deal... if you can do better then PM me and we could do business :)

[Yssybyl]

Just had a meeting with Orange and it sounds very positive :)

Orange are offering

double minutes for the first half of the contract i.e. buy 2000 mins to share between handsets on a 2 year contract and get another 2000 free for the first 12 months.
free calls between handsets, no limit talk until the battery runs out!
free calls to base/voicemail
Free handsets - 13 x E61 !!!
free insurance inc replacement if faulty within 24 hours


For a base fee for 13 users of under £300.

Additional services my company would need are:

text bundles (60 for £3.40, probably need more though!)
Windows mobile email (no setup costs due to our current infrastructure) then £16.50 per person per month for 4 users for an average of 40 emails a day each


All in all I was very impressed, Orange seem to take their business customers seriously and there are lots of other benefits that we're not going to look at now, but may add on in the future:

line 2 to allow users personal calls to be billed directly to them to save on office admin.
flat rate international pricing regardless of which foreign network you roam to
extra handsets for new connections provided free!
push to talk (or talk now as Orange call it) which is probably unnecessary for us but great fun


Just waiting to see whether vodafone can do better before we make the final decision, but it looks like a very good deal to me...

[3g-g]

Looks lovely to me! ;)

[3GScottishUser]

Even better the whole lot is tax decuctable!!!

Best kind of phone to have is one that someone else pays for!!

[Ben]

Even better the whole lot is tax decuctable!!!
Which puts another + on Vodafone's list :p

I hope they can make you an attractive counter-offer, to borrow from Bill and Ted I really do find them service Most Excellent.

[Hands0n]

Thats what I love about being self-employed. Fatty Brown pays for an awful lot of stuff that I use in business.

The orange offer sounds tantalising - what do Vodafone say? Do they object to losing your business? If so, by how much do they object LOL :D