Cell service providers: which has the best customer support for business accounts?

[Michael Fortson]

I don't think any of the major providers give the average Joe great (or prompt) phone-based customer service, but is anyone particularly good with business customers? I'm mostly looking at the big nationwide guys (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) but other input would be great as well.

Related question: have you had an awful business account experience with one of them?

Thanks!

[Brandon Clements]

It's a little more complex than just any single carrier, and I'm not going to deal with coverage issues, but here's my personal commentaries on dealing with the big ones you've mentioned.

Sprint (at least the Nextel part of Sprint): hands down the reigning champion. I've got about 50 BlackBerries with them, and I've got a personal customer service contact and a personal technical support contact; while I'm sure they're shared with other companies that's about the lowest number of lines-of-service I've run into for a named contact for a national carrier, and certainly for a named technical support rep. Their website is also good for adding/removing plans-features-lines of service. Possible downsides: no iPhone, and we've never been approached for employee personal line discounts. I'll again stress that this is with the Nextel side of Sprint; I don't know how well it is with the main body of Sprint.

AT&T: shockingly, not horrible on the business end. The company I work for has upwards of 400 lines of service with them, but most of the stuff is an easy call the the (again, shockingly not horrible) support reps or an automated line. I've got a named support rep, but in 5 years I've maybe called him/her (they change, you'll get notified) 3 or 4 times for anything complex; to contrast that, I didn't have a named support rep for 50 lines at a previous company, so the cutoff is somewhere in between there. Upsides: if they don't next day a phone or SIM card I haven't run into the phone or SIM card yet; also, iPhone. Downsides: better make the proper choices when activating a line of service. The website you'll get on a business plan isn't quick to make changes, so if when you get your bill you find a SMS freak you'll need to get on the phone to get it turned off quickly.

Verizon: only have delt with them at the presentation level, but they can make it rain if you're already a Verizon customer on the network level (ALL ONLINE ALL THE TIME FTW!ONE). Having seen the price of said rain, even farmers in Texas wouldn't pay it. If you have them in your area and AT&T is coming in, use them as your counter. If AT&T is in your area and Verizon is coming in, use AT&T as your counter. I'd guesstimate that you'd need 150 lines of service to get a named rep on them as well.

TMobile: sent a RFQ to them, never heard back.

[Brandon Clements]

One other thing: are you looking at a pooled minutes plan or a 'each line has their own minutes' plan?

[Michael Fortson]

Thanks, Brandon.

It's a small business, and I'm not particular about pooled vs. separate minutes. Really it's the customer service that's most important to me, but we won't have (nearly) enough for dedicated reps :)