With the proposed merger of Orange and T-Mobile the number of networks available to business users is set to shrink. Which one is best for your business?

There are several factors to consider when thinking about which network to place your business mobiles on.

Firstly, and certainly most importantly, is coverage. Although all of the networks claim to have large percentages of the UK covered in reality the signal strength can vary wildly within a few metres distance and many places get little or no signal at all.

If you already have mobile phones and get a strong signal with your current network make sure you do your homework before changing. You might be offered a very sweet deal to move to another network but that's no good if you can't talk or text.

Try and get a sim card from the new providers to see if their signal strength is as good where you need it before signing up to a new contract. If you sign up to a long term contract and only find out about poor coverage later you could find yourself paying a large sum to buy out your contract and go back to your original network.

Next you have to think about tariffs. Most networks offer broadly similar packages but occasionally you will find one deal that perfectly suits your usage or requirements. It might be unlimited texts or an offer of free insurance (useful if you are always losing your phone).

If you are only looking for a single phone and have a particular model in mind it might be that the phone is exclusive to one network (eg. iphone on O2) in which case your choice is very limited, although there are always ways around this with imported sim free phones for instance.

You might have dealt with another network before and had a bad experience with their customer service. You may have vowed never to use them again. However, if it is only one instance it might have been an isolated incident and it might be worth giving them another try if your business stands to benefit from a great low tariff.

Whichever network you want your business mobiles on at Business Mobile World we can help you with expert impartial advice, getting you the best deal and making sure you are a happy customer.