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Wireless Carriers - Which One is Best For Your Business?
Index
- The Transition from Voice to Data
- Early Data Systems
- A New Ballgame
- Wireless Packet Data Evolution
- Determining Device and Data Requirements
- Choosing the Best Data Network
Choosing A Carrier
Once the above information is clearly understood, the decision on which voice and data network best suits your needs should be relatively straightforward. Should one particular carrier offer a geographic coverage advantage, this alone may make the decision for you.
On the other hand, if more than one network provides the coverage and array of services you require, you may wish to look at the finer points of their program:
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Do they offer pooling of data and voice minutes? |
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Can the selected plans be changed if not optimum? |
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What is the hardware upgrade policy? |
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What is their contract termination liability policy? |
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What are their historic data service reliability levels? |
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What training programs are included? Will they train new employees? |
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On browser based devices, will their system push Net Alerts to the handset? |
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Will they assign a dedicated account manager? |
US Carriers
| Carrier |
Subscribers |
Protocol |
Push-to-Talk Voice |
| Verizon |
28,000,000 |
CDMA 2000 1X |
No |
| AT&T |
20,000,000 |
GPRS |
No |
| Cingular |
20,000,000 |
GPRS |
No |
| Sprint |
10,000,000 |
CDMA 2000 1X |
No |
| Nextel |
9,200,000 |
iDEN |
Yes |
Canadian Carriers
| Carrier |
Subscribers |
Protocol |
Push-to-Talk Voice |
| Bell Allicance |
4,000,000 |
CDMA 2000 1X |
No |
| Rogers AT&T |
3,100,000 |
GPRS |
No |
| Telus Mobility |
2,700,000 |
iDEN / CDMA2000 1X |
Yes / No |
| Microcell |
1,300,000 |
GPRS |
No |
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