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Many companies send employees across the globe to negotiate business deals and create international partnerships. In order to correspond with employes, companies need business mobile phone plans. Chief operations officers are tasked with ensuring employees can contact the company while they are away. COOs need to provide phone plans to their team to stay in touch during international travel. However, there are numerous kinds of plans that you can offer to employees. Keep reading to learn about the best business mobile phone plans for international travel.
Day Passes
For shorter international trips, a day pass business mobile phone plan is the best choice for COOs. These plans are ideal for international business trips expected to last no more than one week. Usually, you can get these plans for $10 per line. Some carriers even offer cheaper options for calls made from Canada or Mexico. Additionally, most carriers provide a texting plan similar to your domestic one. Data may also follow that same rule of thumb. In such a case, you can use your email service for small business overseas. While a day pass plan is great for shorter time frames, the costs can quickly rack up if the trip ends up lasting longer than expected. Day pass business mobile phone plans are great for shorter trips and those within North America.
Monthly Plans
If employees will be out of the country for a long period of time, consider a monthly business mobile phone plan. With a monthly international plan, your employees have unlimited calls and texts coming out of over 30 countries. These plans typically cost under $100 per line for the month, which makes them significantly cheaper that the long term costs of day passes. Additionally, monthly plans offer surprisingly fast data speeds. COOs should choose monthly business mobile phone plans if they expect their employees to be abroad for a while.
Prepaid International Roaming
Some cell phone carriers offer prepaid international roaming as a kind of business mobile phone plan. Though this is not a typical international plan, it functions similarly. Both ecommerce business owners and brick-and-mortar owners can benefit from these plans as they would from others. Smartphones that are GSM or LTE capable have access to international roaming through certain carriers. With this plan, your team has unlimited data at 2G, with the option to purchase a pass to gain higher speeds. While texting is covered by international roaming, expect to pay around 20 cents per minute for phone calls. Because international roaming is already included by some carriers, COOs can simply cover the additional charges in place of a business mobile phone plan.
Premium Unlimited Carrier Plans
Similarly, many carriers provide international coverage as part of their premium unlimited plans. Again, this is not exactly a separate international plan. There are post-usage costs that need to be covered. These plans cover device usage in Canada and Mexico for free. For usage outside of North America, there are additional fees charged to the users account. If your employees already have unlimited plans through their carriers, you only have to cover additional charges from business usage abroad. In lieu of a business mobile phone plan, consider reimbursing your team members for international usage fees from their personal carriers.
Alternative Options
If you do not want to purchase business mobile phone plans for all of your traveling employees, there are alternatives. One option you have is to buy unlocked prepaid phones to use for international business. Couple these devices with SIM cards from the foreign country to have access to the local network. Many phones in the US are owned by their respective phone companies. Therefore, they are incompatible with different SIM cards. This is why it is smart to buy a cheap phone and a SIM card while abroad. Additionally, have employees call their current carriers to discover if their phones can be unlocked for international use. For COOs who are looking for alternatives to business mobile phone plans, consider having employees buy unlocked phones and SIM cards from destination countries.
Companies with employees who do a lot of traveling for work need business mobile phone plans. With these plans, you can improve business performance by communicating effectively. For shorter trips, consider using day passes that allow your employees to access networks abroad for daily fees. Trips lasting longer than a week should be covered by monthly plans to ensure your company is not paying too much. Prepaid international roaming and premium unlimited plans offered through carriers are great for travel outside of North America. Finally, for companies that want alternatives to international plans, use unlocked phones and destination SIM cards to keep in touch with employees abroad. Follow this advice to choose the best business mobile phone plans for international travel.
