Let’s start with the obvious, first. The limiting factor that impedes the advance of even the best cell phone repair shops. An elephant that can’t be done away with. A cancer, even, that metastasizes if it’s not sufficiently catered to.
If you haven’t already guessed it, I’m referring to the communicative lifeblood. High-speed internet: the make or break issue determining the viability of any modern commercial concern. Electronics repair businesses, of course, depend on it more.
Defining the field (and where a quality internet service factors in)
Think about it.
I’ll make it easy with an example – narrowed for my field of expertise.
A typical cell phone fix outfit, these days, functions on the bedrock of a solid phone repairing software. Now, for conceptual clarity, these are of three broad types:
- Repair Shop Software
- POS Software
- Phone Repair Utilities
Some brief descriptions:
Repair Shop Software
The first category pertains to shop management software. End-to-end user interfaces that combine both POS and Inventory Management solutions. More service options, such as HR rosters and Accounts modules, can also be added to the mix.
These subscriptions are geared to provide shop owners with a complete reprieve on their everyday business affairs. Distilling reliable automation of the regular workflow; significantly easing and expediting deliverables.
POS Software
The second entry is self-explanatory; only comprising the shop’s electronic payments exchange. This is the point where customers make their cash, credit cards, and other currency transfers in lieu of the service(s) received.
These transactions are recorded in attached ledgers; which are seamlessly synced with other tethered databases. The goal with these dollar (or other denomination) input frameworks is automatic alignment. A vital prerequisite for any background accounts audit.
Phone Repair Utilities
Phone repair utilities, on the other hand, are detailed fix solutions. Geek iPhone repair provides a favorable background environment for conducting repairs; linking algorithms, hardware, and the soldiering tech. Their only drawback is that they come specialized for a guilded few. Repair experts versed in the minute technicalities of the trade.
Now, to my knowledge, the market doesn’t currently offer a reputable software pack that combines the three types.
I know there are several ambitious ‘starter’ tools that attempt to bridge the divide. But these, based on a slew of painstaking testing sessions, hardly make the cut. Most fall apart on account of faulty coding when tried with even the barest of workflow thrusts.
So your best bet is to stick to an interface that promises a decent, performative turnaround of 2 out of 3.
That’s the realist’s prescription, at any rate.
I would encourage you, though, to try your own customized set; see what works best for your business.
On the commonality that binds…
We’ve already established that none of these new-age conveniences work without broadband internet. So, as a serious repair shop owner, you need to evaluate all the ISP options available in your area.
A good rubric for conducting this assessment, devised by yours truly, goes something like this. The deciding benchmarks for the affair, if you will:
- Cost per Mbps
- Fiber, cable, DSL, wireless networks availability
- Data Caps
- Actual Bandwidth (Download/Upload Speeds)
- Hidden Costs & ‘Accelerated Expense’
- Free Service Add-Ons
Since this piece is primed for the US market (my playing field), I’ve parsed my take accordingly.
The following list of ISPs comes minutely tested along with these criteria (though I do admit taking inspiration from a recent CNET article on the issue). Specifically on the grounds of an aggregate score (which assigns ranks on the holistic, user-value, front).
So – in the deliberated order:
1. AT&T – Best Fiber
With a cost per Mbps of only 10 cents (inclusive of equipment charges – as of Feb 2022), you can’t beat AT&T for fiber. This is probably the most cost-efficient, ultra-speed, deal you’ll find for your shop in the US. A network offering that comes with the guarantee of effortless phone repairing software syncing.
The only drawback with this subscription is that it’s locally restricted for coverage areas. Fiber transmission networks are still few and far between in America; usually centered in prominent East and West Coast metropolises. The suburban areas on the peripheries also get to rub off on this locational advantage.
Since my own shop is positioned in NYC, I understand – deeply – the potential of this service. My raving customer testimonials, lauding of deliverables speed, bear testament to it.
2. Charter Spectrum – Top Cable
Dishing high-speed internet to over 100 million subscribers, Charter Spectrum should be your shop’s go-to in the event of fiber unavailability. The promise of bandwidth speeds in excess of 100 Mbps (net download) is too hard of a temptation to ignore. Even, I’d say, for the toughest critics – who like to burden their internet channels with multiple data consumption services.
In principle, I’d wager that cable internet services are also more reliable than their fiber counterparts. Longstanding use does offer more service-based entrenchment, after all. The opportunity for providers to better their transmissions with each feedback; each new arrival of tech refinement.
3. Rise Broadband – 5-Star Rural Coverage
The mid-west rural zone is home to a great number of cell phone and computer repair businesses. A majority of these are single-owner ventures where the primacy of reliable internet provision becomes even more urgent. The same can be said of the business’s software subscriptions; which do much of the repetitive heavy-lifting.
Rise Broadband is a wireless service provider; meaning that subscribers need to install the required antenna equipment. The ISP’s promised net download speeds reach up to 50 Mbps during low-traffic hours; a keeper in my book. Plus, since the service can often be the only broadband gig in town, you can’t go better than this.
Even for the most trafficked customer shifts, the service does deliver – so take heart if you’re contemplating it.
4. Verizon – Customer Support Prowess
Good customer support is vital to a phone repair shop’s smooth operation. It’s the glue that binds the business owner’s sanity to the subscription when things go wrong. Service outages, owing to adverse environmental conditions and power breaks, come as a common occurrence. During these times, when customers may scream, all of us require some heady assurance.
On this front, no ISP does it quite like Verizon.
With one of the largest service coverage areas in the US, you can be sure of a speedy telephonic resolution at any time of the day.
5. WOW! – Lowest Price
Although WideOpen West’s service coverage area is only restricted to 9 states, the ISP provides the lowest cost per Mbps in the field – at only 8 cents per Mbps.
The company broadcasts its various internet subscriptions through a dedicated cable network. This linkage framework makes for a reliable service experience for any repair shop worth its salt.
So there you have it.
The best five internet service offers that you need to get hooked with – if it’s a stellar phone repairing software arrangement you’re after.
Care to differ with this listing?
I’d love to read your thoughts on it!