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While there are plenty of advantages for businesses that use VoIP services, we’ve also seen the downsides. Yet most VoIP discussions only discuss landlines. That is, we’re talking about a static phone line for the office. We’ve become an increasingly mobile society, though. Some businesses have even replaced their office phones with cell phones for employees. VoIP has gone mobile, too. We can access many VoIP services, such as Skype, right from our laptop computers and mobile devices.

The question is, as always: does this work for businesses? As with most issues, there are two sides. Here are the pros and cons for using mobile VoIP services for your business.

Pros

Mobility. Using VoIP over a mobile broadband connection means you can use it anywhere. That’s the whole point, really. Instead of having the line set up in your office, like any other regular landline, VoiP using mobile broadband gives you greater flexibility.

Talk without limits. Unless you have an expensive unlimited talk plan, you have limits to your cell phone usage. Since most business conversations happen during peak hours, those minutes can run low quickly. VoIP services typically offer cheap per-minute rates, so you can still talk at a discounted rate all day long.

Software options. There are many options for VoIP over mobile broadband. Skype is just one of them. Many others exist, and they offer rates that compete with one another. That also means you can switch to a different one if you don’t like the service.

Cons

Expensive mobile broadband. Mobile broadband services aren’t cheap. Maybe you can use your cellular data connection, but oftentimes you’ll need a separte mobile broadband plan. Just look at mobile broadband T-Mobile plans. And then remember that they’re among the cheapest.

Unreliable connections. Cellular signal comes in and out depending on your area. But cellular data is even more unreliable. If you’re on a mobile broadband VoIP call and lose 3G data, the call will drop. On a normal cell phone you won’t drop if you leave a 3G area.

Not always on. If you’re using VoIP from a laptop, you need your laptop open, and connected to the network, to take calls. On a mobile phone, you need the connection ready and the app open. That is to say, it’s simply not as easy as cellular.

As with most business issues, there are two sides here. As with most business issues as well, each business will focus more on the positives or negatives as their needs dictate.

For more than a decade now, almost every major national cellular carrier has offered long distance as a standard calling feature. Even regional carriers, which originally charged extra for long distance, have come around. Now it’s essentially impossible to find a cellular plan that doesn’t offer long distance standard. That leaves open an important question for the future of long distance.

When will we go all cellular?

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Let’s face it: Choosing a smartphone plan can be intimidating. Regardless of how much research you do to pick the right plan, you always cringe when you sign the contract and brace yourself for the first month’s bill. The good news? It doesn’t have to be this way.
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If you follow Twitter and Facebook, you might notice an odd phenomenon lately. People you know are mid-flight, or who mention that they’re mid flight, are, well announcing that they’re mid-flight. For essentially all of aviation’s history, passengers have had no access to communications services. A few airlines have allowed (expensive) calling services, but that’s about it. Even as cell phones became more popular, they simply were not, and are not, allowed on commercial flights. But now many carriers are offering Wi-Fi connections on flights. That means that we can use our smartphones, while in airplane mode, and laptops while we’re hurtling through the air at several hundred miles per hour. Before you go and book your airline tickets, make sure to check out this list of carriers that offer in-flight Wi-Fi.

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One of the biggest obstacles of bringing your laptop on a business trip can be finding a spot to connect to WiFi, especially if you aren’t in one of the top airports that caters to tech savvy travelers. Even if you do end up in one of the more tech friendly airports, you may run into the following WiFi problems:
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