- Remind staff about in-network vs. out-of-network calls – Phone calls cost 6 cents a minute when calling a landline. Limit personal usage to landlines and when calling a known landline use a landline if possible. Just one hour of landline calls a day from the cell phone in a work month will incur $72 dollars in talk cost. There are no talking plans available unless you really talk a lot on the phone. These plans are $50+.
- Staff doesn’t need the latest device – The City should not pay for new phones. Verizon offers perfectly good phones for free (S7 and iphone 6s) They change every 3 months so check to see if a phone you want is now free. Spending $200 for a iphone 7 when a 6s is free needs to be clearly justified. I would expect the iphone7 to be free at some point this year.
- Monitor upgrade eligibility – Cell plans are eligible for an upgrade yearly. If a phone needs replacement check to see if it is eligible for a free upgrade and pick a “free” phone. Do note that tax is charged so for a S7 you still pay about $44 for the new phone.
- Upgrades can be swapped – If someone breaks their phone prior to their free upgrade eligibility (basically in the first year) you can use someone else free upgrade to get a new phone. You can mix and match phones without a problem. You should keep old phones so that they can be reused in the event someone breaks theirs within the first year. Again, there should rarely be a reason to buy a new phone for $200.
- Monthly monitoring will save time during the audit – Review your bill monthly to check for overages and to adjust plans. Checking usage prior to end of billing is important as you can back date the texting upgrade so for example if someone text 1000 times this month you can add unlimited before the end of the billing cycle and you will only be charged $12.