The days of coming in to work and hunkering down at your desk for eight hours are long gone for many workers in today’s world. In an increasingly mobile society, being able to access your colleagues and business associates at any moment is becoming more and more important.
For many, that means finding cell phones that allow them to connect to anyone at any time, as well as access e-mail and other information online. Here are some things to consider when you compare cell phones in your quest to stay connected to your job when you are on the move.
What’s your network? Are you mainly traveling in and around the city in which you work, or are you shuttled off to destinations near and far as part of your job? If you work close to home, or even out of your home, you may want to find a plan that has strong coverage in your area. If you are traveling frequently, make sure your provider has a wide network.
Identify your needs: If you are frequently connecting through e-mail, it’s hard to find a better device than a Blackberry, which will get you messages in real time. If your job requires you to have constant access to multimedia platforms on the Web, you might want to look into a smartphone, which works seamlessly with many Web formats.
Mind your minutes. If you find yourself using the text message, e-mail or Web browsing functions on your phone more frequently than actually using the traditional voice function, you may want to look into prepaid plans, like those offered through Cricket Wireless. If you aren’t using even close to the amount of minutes given to you through your plan, you might end up saving you or your company money by paying for your minutes as you go.
Tax considerations. You are allowed to write off your cell phone expenses if you are using them for work purposes. At the same time, you need to be able to prove that you were using your phone for business and not personal use. An easy way to do this is simply to keep a separate phone for work, rather than trying to differentiate work and personal use on a single cell phone bill.
Whether you run your own business or use a phone as part of your job, you’ll be able to get much more accomplished when you can stay connected no matter where you are during the work day.
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