BYOM at work

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My employer is asking (telling) all of the employees that currently have company issued smart phones to switch to a personal plan and they will throw in a $35 per month stipend. I don't have to get a smart phone at all, but if I don't then I won't get the $35 and I still have to provide a phone number I can be reached in case of emergencies.

Question for everyone is can I use a prepaid carrier such as Cricket Wireless that the company will still pay the $35? The money isn't being added to our checking accounts, but instead they are paying the money on my behalf directly to the carrier. Since prepaid plans don't really have a bill that is sent, I am thinking that I can't pick a prepaid carrier as my company will most likely do EBT from their account into my phone account.

According to one of my friends at work his wife used to have a prepaid phone that was partially paid by the company, but that was in Canada and calling either AT&T or Cricket doesn't yield any answers and representatives that came to my work location said no, but then said ask that guy who wasn't there. Also the FAQ they sent along with the official new policy doesn't say you can't.
 
I use Cricket ($35/month plan) and don't see why you can't set it up to charge to a company credit card. Having said that, the actual plan price is $40 with $5 off with autopay, so when you first start it's $40 the first month, then $30 the next month, once the $5 off catches up, then $35/ month after that.

So far I love both my phone HTC Desire 520 and Cricket.
 
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
I use Cricket ($35/month plan) and don't see why you can't set it up to charge to a company credit card.


The policy specifically says we can't use our company credit card to pay for it.
 
You don't have a personal cell phone now that they can apply the $35 a month to for your bill?
 
Work in IT. I'm used to being on call. One of the main things I tell new employees in my field is to NOT mix your personal smartphone with your work phone. There are MANY obvious reasons why, but one that I see and don't want to spread is the fact that if you do mix the two anytime your personal phone rings/buzzes/notifies you, you should not cringe.

Your personal phone is for personal family use and emergenies. Your separate work phone is for on call work stresses. It's a small price to pay to have to babysit (charge, update) two smartphones, but your mental health and family are priceless.
 
I don't know what the labour laws say in your area, but I'm not so sure your employer can require you to have a specific type of phone and not reimburse you in full. I would be responding to the effect that I will gladly get what they are willing to pay for. Also, are you being paid on-call pay to answer the phone, or is it part of a salaried position?
 
We had personal cell phones for a while. It got to be a pain. The time spent to sort the bills was more valuable than what it would cost to just pay the bill in full, so my employer simply absorbed all of our plans and they own the bills, the plans, etc.

I don't know what anyone gets paid an hour, but if people have to spend company time sorting out bills it might just be cheaper for them to provide you with a phone plan.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
You don't have a personal cell phone now that they can apply the $35 a month to for your bill?


No I don't.

Originally Posted By: fsdork
I don't know what the labour laws say in your area, but I'm not so sure your employer can require you to have a specific type of phone and not reimburse you in full. I would be responding to the effect that I will gladly get what they are willing to pay for. Also, are you being paid on-call pay to answer the phone, or is it part of a salaried position?


We don't have to have it, but heavily frowned upon if you don't. I do travel for work, so that is why I have to have at least the cheapest call only type of phone, but I won't get reimbursed for it. I'm a salaried position.

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
$35 a month doesn't cover the cost a real cell phone plan, seems lowballing to me


For us its more about them paying $35 a month for what the business use portion of the phone would cost, and since a majority of people use them for personal phones as well then the rest of the cost is yours.
 
Problem I see is-no company plan would be that cheap, & they would be getting a HUGE discount if they had the contract, & how is the bill paying going to be set up? They just send the $35 (don't forget taxes & fees on top of that) & you're left holding the bag on the rest?? What if the deadbeat company goes under? You'll be paying the rest of the contract! If you have wifi at home, you can use Google Voice for incoming calls for free, and a cheap provider (like I have for my personal Verizon CDMA iPhone 4 on Tracfone) can handle the rest for under $100/year if you're smart with using it.
 
My company used to do this, they offered you a company phone on AT&T (only option) or gave you a $40 check ea month towards your choice of carrier.

Bad thing was AT&T didn't have good coverage where I lived so I just took the check, it covered some of the costs of the line but not all.

Now with downsizing and layoffs, we're paying our own full bill and its crazy with 3 lines just for cell phones!
 
The OP is out of luck from the description of the conditions of the allowance.

The company is being silly here. What they want is 24/7 availability by the staff through their own mobile phones because it's cheaper to pay a stipend than provide company phones.

What's happening here is that they don't trust their employees. A normal company would not care to pay the cell company directly. You just give a stipend in exchange for constant availability.
 
Cricket uses AT&T network. I have good Sprint coverage in my area, so I use Boost Mobile which is $30/month, $5 cheaper than Cricket.

$35 CAN cover a monthly phone bill if you look around.
 
Originally Posted By: fsdork
I don't know what the labour laws say in your area, but I'm not so sure your employer can require you to have a specific type of phone and not reimburse you in full.


This is America. Govt/employers screw us, tells us they are screwing us, and then screws us some more.

Case in point, I was a Deputy Sheriff. My employer REQUIRED that I have a cell phone so that I could be contacted 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. They did not give us a cell phone and did not reimburse us for using a cell phone. Additionally, using a personal cell phone for work related business opens the phone up to being subpoenaed by the courts as evidence. So no dirty talk with the wife or swapping sexy pics back and forth with the wife, on a PERSONALLY OWNED AND PERSONALLY PAID FOR cell phone. Lovely... lots of folks paid for two phones, a personal and a work one, to keep their personal phone from being subpoenaed.
 
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
The OP is out of luck from the description of the conditions of the allowance.

The company is being silly here. What they want is 24/7 availability by the staff through their own mobile phones because it's cheaper to pay a stipend than provide company phones.

What's happening here is that they don't trust their employees. A normal company would not care to pay the cell company directly. You just give a stipend in exchange for constant availability.



This basically sums it up. Make me pay for something so they can increase their profits. They don't necessarily want me to be available 24/7 as the work/life balance here is pretty good, but they still want you to answer the phone or email if there is an emergency, which isn't very often. Its only been a few times in 7 years that anyone has called or sent me an email that had to be answered right away outside normal business hours.

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
What if the deadbeat company goes under?


Its a Fortune 500 company that has $15 billion plus in sales.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Cricket uses AT&T network. I have good Sprint coverage in my area, so I use Boost Mobile which is $30/month, $5 cheaper than Cricket.

$35 CAN cover a monthly phone bill if you look around.


Yep. I have AT&T right now through the work phone and have very few problems with coverage where I live. Cricket is owned by AT&T and has a $35 plan with 2.5 GB of data, unlimited talk and text, fees and taxes included. This is why I want to go to that plan and was wondering if anyone has any experience or knowledge that companies can make direct payments to the carrier on prepaid plans.
 
Originally Posted By: SVTCobra

Question for everyone is can I use a prepaid carrier such as Cricket Wireless that the company will still pay the $35? The money isn't being added to our checking accounts, but instead they are paying the money on my behalf directly to the carrier. Since prepaid plans don't really have a bill that is sent, I am thinking that I can't pick a prepaid carrier as my company will most likely do EBT from their account into my phone account.


This sounds like a question for the people in charge of the policy and billing at your company.

My wife has been carrying a Verizon dumb phone from around 2006 for travel and emergencies. A $30 refill card keeps it active for 3 months.

If you can get them to pay the $35 directly to you somehow, you could come out ahead with a program like that. As many have said, keep the work phone separate. I'm mixing metaphors, but it seems like they want to put a bell on the cow for almost free. Really, if they want you to have a cell, they should be paying for it.

If you must get an actual plan to get the company reimbursement, look into options for claiming the rest on your taxes. If the phone is required for work, and used only for work, it seems like the cost ought to be eligible for deduction.
 
Originally Posted By: RedOakRanch
They will provide the phone if they really want you to have one.


Or they will tell him, "Get a cell phone by Friday or you're fired."
 
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