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Pros and Cons: Third Party Service Providers
People love their smartphones, and people love saving money. Two-year contracts are binding and people often can’t afford to buy an iPhone or Galaxy S4 outright at full cost. A way people save money on cell phone plans is by switching to an alternative third party cellular services. Third party cellular services use the same cell towers as other carriers while offering cellular services at discounted prices, which attracts people looking to save money on the devices they love. If you own a repair shop, offering a third-party cellular service can increase foot traffic to your business, which in turn lets people know what you have to offer.
I recently spoke with Andrew Van Beek of Ames iPhone Repair, who knows all the ins and outs of offering third party cellular services. He began offering Page Plus cellular service and since then he’s expanded his business to offer Spot Mobile, H2O, PrePayd, and Selectel. He’s noticed an increase in business since offering these services and though it’s a lot of work, he believes it can dramatically increase a repair shop’s business.
“The prepaid cell phone service part of the business has increased business despite the fact that my business is home-based and sees little foot traffic. When people come into my place of business to get their phone fixed, and see the marketing materials, they ask questions about it and many are sold on the idea of switching to a prepaid carrier after their contract has expired. I have had many people calling me asking me about the service because of the dealer locator tool on the company websites. Offering prepaid cellphone service will definitely increase foot traffic in a retail location.”
So you advertise the service, attract customers to your store…and then what? There’s more to it than what meets the eye. It may sound easy offering cellular service through a third party provider, but Andrew has found it takes a lot of work and can at times be challenging.
“Running the prepaid cellular service part of my business has been challenging. In order to keep up with the competition, the plans and pricing that each carrier offers are constantly changing and a dealer must stay on top of it. Furthermore, a dealer must be able to provide technical support and troubleshoot customer issues. That takes a lot of work. However, if one carefully selects which companies to carry, that workload is considerably less.”
There are scores of options for third party service providers. Most third party service providers don’t require any dealer startup fees, and some will even set you up with a starter kit full of introductory marketing materials and/or SIM cards. Every third party provider is different and the benefits are different as well.
It’s good to know the basic differences between GSM and CDMA technologies so you have an idea of coverage areas and roaming to best serve customers in your area. Third-party service brings customers in, and your service keeps them coming back.