Business Choice 2023: The Best Mobile Phones and Service Providers in North America

Some people believe you can’t get serious work done without an actual PC, but we’re living in a mobile world now. Most of us are using our phones in some capacity for our jobs, even if only for email. But we’ve evolved far beyond the Blackberry: You can manage heavy-duty productivity on a phone, such as working on spreadsheets, writing, editing photos and video, and IT troubleshooting with a solid phone with reliable service.

It’s been a couple of years since we surveyed our readership on their preferred mobile devices for work and the carriers that power them. For this year’s Business Choice story, we’re doubling down by also asking IT pros to weigh in on the phone brands and carriers they prefer to manage for their workforce, with assistance from our colleagues at Spiceworks(Opens in a new window) and its Aberdeen Strategy & Research(Opens in a new window) division (Disclosure: Spiceworks is owned by PCMag parent company Ziff Davis). We sent our questions north of the border too, to get the scoop on mobile phones and carriers from Canadians. Read on to learn about the best options for you and your team.

The Top Mobile Carriers for Work in the US (2023)

Google Fi (MVNO)

Providing the best of what T-Mobile’s and US Cellular’s networks have to offer, Google Fi has affordable plans as wells as perks including a VPN and end-to-end encryption. It also supports all phone manufacturers (though iPhone users won’t get 5G). 

T-Mobile (Major Carrier)

Those with a preference for big carriers in the US make it clear that the best choice by far is T-Mobile. It scores particularly well ahead of rivals AT&T and Verizon for its choice of available phones, family-plan options, customer support, and especially, cost. 

The mobile carriers rated for work likely match the consumer-oriented Readers’ Choice picks because the majority of people taking our US survey use the same phone for both work and personal use (52%). Only 5.3% carry a work-only phone.

Still, it’s easy to see why Google Fi is the winner for our survey respondents. The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO, a carrier that piggybacks on the towers and network of another provider) earns high scores in almost every category.

The only categories in which Google Fi doesn’t take first place are fees, where it ties for second with Visible behind Mint Mobile, and in choice of phones, where T-Mobile beats every service in second place—Google Fi, AT&T, and Mint—by a tenth of a point. Our surveys include multiple satisfaction categories. There are 11 in the chart below; you can use the arrows in the chart to page through the results.

Our colleagues at Aberdeen also research phones and carriers in the workplace. Aberdeen VP & Principal Analyst Jim Rapoza notes that those looking for a new mobile carrier are four times more likely to rate support as their number-one criterion compared with those who are satisfied with their current carrier. That’s another category in which Google Fi leads the rest.

Rapoza also points out the difference between business leaders (those who score in the top 30% of key success metrics) and followers: “Overall, leaders are driven by quality, and in the business world, by key capabilities around security and collaboration. Followers are driven by costs and customer demands…and are 70% more likely to have been with their provider for more than six years.”

That could explain why so many of our survey takers stick with the big-three carriers in the US—AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless—accounting for 81% of our business-use responses. We can’t ignore that preference, so we add a top choice from that group. This year, with Verizon and AT&T at the bottom of the pack, the only winner in the big three is T-Mobile.

While T-Mobile is on top in only one category across all the networks in the list (choice of phones—a criteria Rapoza says is extremely important for about 40% of people switching carriers), it is far ahead of its two major competitors, AT&T and Verizon. For example, T-Mobile sits two points ahead of AT&T for both overall satisfaction and fees. The gap narrows in other areas, but there are no measures in which Verizon or AT&T overtake T-Mobile’s ratings. The only category in which they come close is choice of phones, but most MVNOs do well in that one too, with the exception of Tracfone and Consumer Cellular.

The Top Phone Brand for Work in the US (2023)

 Google

The Pixel phone from Google has dominated the Business Choice award for years. Now, with its sixth consecutive win, it continues to dominate Android phones in general and is well ahead of Apple iPhones in particular.

Over seven years ago in our survey, Google earned an all-time-high score for its work phones: 9.1 out of 10 for overall satisfaction in this category. This year, the company has come close to achieving that distinction again with a score of 8.9, putting it ahead of Samsung, OnePlus, and LG, all of which in turn are ahead of Apple. That’s a big change from 2021, when Google, Samsung, and Apple tied for overall satisfaction.

With high scores in the majority of categories—many well over 9.0—the Google Pixel line of phones is almost impossible to beat for work phone of the year.

Apple’s scores don’t exactly plummet from the previous survey‘s numbers, but the company doesn’t keep up with the competition either. Samsung and LG both see improvements in scores—LG, for example, came in on top for cost and ease of use, and it tied with Google for the top spot for reliability. LG even beat out the iPhone for messaging, in contrast to the results for the same question on mobile OSes (above). Apple’s only win is for tech support—again, a number that ties with Google. It earns low scores for cost and management of contacts and calendars. 

Rapoza says that according to Aberdeen’s research, users who are open to a new phone are 65% more likely to rate ease of use as very important, while those who are happy with their current phone favor reliability as a key criterion.

None of the phone manufacturers score lower than 7.0 on any measure, however, not even last-place Motorola. Survey respondents appreciate their work phones enough to give high marks in most cases.

The Top Mobile Operating System for Work in the US (2023)

Android

The competition from Apple’s iOS is fierce, but for the fourth time, the Android platform nails the award for the best mobile OS among those who use their phones for work.

The mobile world largely belongs to the Android OS (including many maker-customized versions), with Apple’s iOS coming in second—StatCounter(Opens in a new window) says that worldwide, Apple has only 27.1% of the mobile OS market share. In the US(Opens in a new window), though, iOS claims 57.1%. We don’t see quite those percentages in our survey results; among our respondents, Android claims a higher share of work users. Regardless, the two are in a tight race in almost every work-related category we rate. In the end, Android takes the Business Choice award—but barely.

On our key measures of overall satisfaction and the likelihood that someone will recommend an OS to a colleague, Android is ahead of Apple’s iOS by very little, but a little is all it takes. Android’s standout categories include free apps, email support, and use as a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Apple beats Android when it comes to overall app quality, messaging, photos, video, and digital wallet support. In key areas including OS reliability and overall app selection, the two tie.

The Top IT-Managed Mobile Carrier in the US (2023)

Verizon Wireless

When it comes to mobile providers that IT staffs prefer, the race is tight between Verizon and T-Mobile. But the Verizon Wireless network steals the win. 

We kept it simple and focused for our readers in the IT world regarding the providers they prefer when setting up a workforce with a mobile plan: We asked about their overall satisfaction with the carrier and whether they would recommend it to a colleague.

In Aberdeen’s research, Rapoza said, businesses that are identified as leaders in mobile capabilities choose providers based on reliability of call connectivity and how the plans fit their specific needs, while followers tend to focus on price: “For business users, when a phone can’t connect to a network, or if the plan can’t serve their employees, then someone can’t get work done. These costs add up, so it makes sense that they value connectivity and features over basic price pressures.”

Only the big three carriers make the cut in this category. T-Mobile, which wins our major mobile provider award (above) earned high ratings—but Verizon Wireless ties it. We might have called this a draw, but a deeper look into that likelihood-to-recommend score (in order to generate our Net Promoter Scores) show that Verizon lands slightly above T-Mobile, earning it the top spot in our first look at carriers among IT managers.

IT departments indicate they’re happy with T-Mobile and Verizon, but not with AT&T, which scores even lower for IT use than it does (above) as a direct provider for work phones.

The Top IT-Managed Phone Brand in the US (2023)

Samsung

In our inaugural look at the phones IT managers prefer to deploy in the US, Samsung takes the prize with high scores in every category. In particular, Samsung has standout ratings for reliability and ease of use.

If your job requires a work phone, your IT department likely offers you the choice of one of two brands—Apple or Samsung, makers of the best-selling phones in the country. We can say with certainty: IT prefers that you choose Samsung.

This is the first year we’ve asked IT pros to weigh in, and we received enough responses to include only the two companies mentioned. Considering the kinds of corporate discounts they can probably provide, that’s not surprising.

Samsung’s ratings in every category are higher than Apple’s. Most of the differences are minuscule—sometimes mere tenths of a point, as with setup, reliability, and tech support. But there are larger gulfs, such as the spread between the scores for repairs and for cost, which is always a ding for Apple in our surveys, though it doesn’t seem to hurt the company’s sales.

Full US Results

Mobile Work in Canada

Expanding the reach of our Business Choice awards to IT managers isn’t the only way we’re growing this year. For phones and carriers, we also surveyed readers in Canada.

Although the phone selections in Canada are similar (albeit with a few more Chinese models that haven’t yet been banned entirely), the carrier situation is very different than in the US. All the major national mobile providers are also major broadband ISPs. The MVNOs that can use their networks are frequently owned by the majors (very US-like), but only a handful exist, because the Canadian government forces the big players (Bell, Rogers, Telus, and the much smaller SaskTel) to play ball with small MVNO entrants in order to foster competition(Opens in a new window).

The Top Mobile Carriers for Work in Canada (2023)

Public Mobile (MVNO)

Public Mobile is an MVNO owned by Telus and uses the Telus Mobility network. It offers low fees and high reliability, which propel it to the top of the list of carriers Canadians prefer for work.

Telus Mobility (Major Carrier)

Of Canada’s big-three mobile providers (those that claim the vast majority of customers), Telus Mobility comes out ahead of the rest, with the best numbers for satisfaction and recommendations to other employees.

Despite the fact that most MVNOs in Canada lack 5G connectivity, survey respondents prefer those smaller carriers for productivity. MVNOs claim the top five slots on the list.

Many MVNOs are owned outright by larger providers. Telus owns Public Mobile and Koodo Mobile; Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile are part of Bell. In a twist, Shaw, which is itself a major broadband ISP in the west, owns the Freedom Mobile network, so Shaw Mobile is technically an MVNO of its own subsidiary.

The top MVNO—and thus the top carrier, according to our survey respondents—is Public Mobile. We didn’t get a flood of responses, but what we have underscores how well-liked the provider is. In every category in which it earns a score, it is number one or tied for first place, with one exception: the speed of its data network. Even then, Public Mobile is only a tenth of a point behind Koodo Mobile and Shaw Mobile. None of them support 5G, but that didn’t stop survey takers from scoring these networks just as high for network speed as they did for the big-name companies. Perhaps a speed-perception boost goes with the rest of the MVNO pluses, such as lower costs.

Public Mobile earns an outstanding score for fees; its lowest-price plan is currently $35 (Canadian) per month, with 3GB of 4G data and unlimited calls in-country and unlimited texts and messaging internationally. The company also garners a high score for its data-network reliability.

The backbone of Public is the mobile network of its owner, Telus. And as the highest scorer of the top vendors owning their own networks, Telus Mobility also receives a Business Choice award.

Sticking with the big carriers is a choice a lot of respondents make, as noted above in the US section. Canada is no exception. The big-three vendors in Canada claim about 86% of the country’s mobile customers, according to the(Opens in a new window) Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association(Opens in a new window).

The Telus Mobility numbers are average when compared with the full list, but the company has the top rating for overall satisfaction among all the providers who own their own networks. It also earns the top scores for coverage within a home area.

Don’t discount some of the other major networks for productivity, though. Despite tying with Bell Mobility for the lowest satisfaction rating, Rogers Wireless is actually a top scorer or tied the top score with Telus on several measures. That includes a three-way tie for reliability of the data network with Telus and Videotron, despite the massive Rogers outage in 2022 that crippled much of the country’s internet and mobile access.

The Top Phone Brand for Work in Canada (2023)

Apple

Perhaps iPhone fatigue has gripped the US to a degree, but not so for our survey respondents in Canada, who picked Apple as the best phone brand for work in almost every category.

According to StatCounter(Opens in a new window), Apple’s market share in Canada is currently over 60%. That preference appears to include the iPhone for work. With few exceptions, Apple is the top scorer when it comes to business-use phones. And that’s why Apple is the winner for our first Canadian Business Choice award in this category.

The only categories in which Apple falls short are price (Motorola is on top here), taking photos, and calendar management (Google is slightly ahead on those two). Apple and Samsung have identical high scores for reliability, repairs, email use, and hotspot usage. Otherwise, the top ratings belong to Apple.

When it comes to overall satisfaction, at the bottom of the list are LG and Huawei (the Chinese company banned in Canada(Opens in a new window) from selling phones that use 5G networks because of potential national-security issues).

The Top Mobile Operating System for Work in Canada (2023)

 Android

Despite Apple’s win as best phone for the workplace, the mobile OS of choice is Android. The two platforms have a tie or see Android beaten on several key factors, but it edges out a narrow victory despite that adversity.

The operating system that’s best for work won’t always match up with the best phone. Android wins this first-ever award for the best mobile OS for work in Canada, but only by a hair’s breadth. The two platforms, iOS and Android, are actually tied for overall satisfaction; in most of the categories, iOS is slightly ahead of Android. But the likelihood to recommend score came out in Android’s favor to clinch its win.

When you’re looking for free apps for work, you also prefer Android. But on all the other individual measures, the numbers lean toward iOS. So if you need the best mobile OS for shooting videos or photos, or you plan on heavy use of your digital wallet or a voice assistant for work, take a look at iOS.

The Top IT-Managed Mobile Carrier in Canada (2023)

Telus Mobility

Telus Mobility earns top scores among IT managers in Canada.

In the US, IT providers seem to consider only the big-three carriers here. Canada’s big three (Bell, Rogers, and Telus) are represented in our survey, but so are a couple of MVNOs (Fido and Koodo, owned by Rogers and Telus, respectively). Shaw’s Freedom Mobile also makes the list. But only one vendor takes the win from the two questions we posed to IT pros (on overall satisfaction and the likelihood to recommend the carrier). That winner is Telus.

Fido is close to the top, in second place. The carrier ties its owner, Rogers, on the overall satisfaction question.

The Top IT-Managed Phones for Canada in 2023

Apple

The Canadian preference for the iPhone appears again for the deployment and management of work phones. IT staff prefer Apple to Android phones.

Only three vendors receive enough responses to make the list of phone brands used by Canadians in IT, and two companies tie for the highest overall-satisfaction score: Apple and Samsung. But with more high scores, Apple is the big winner in this category for 2023.

Apple’s low scores in our surveys tend to be caused by the company’s phone prices, but this time, Google’s Pixel line of phones receives the lowest score in that category. In fact, when it comes to IT use, Google scores lowest in every category in which it earns a score.

The only time Apple takes a slight backseat here is when price is compared with that of Samsung’s Galaxy brand, but the difference is negligible. Apple’s other scores offset that difference more than enough to give it the win for Canada’s IT-managed phones.

Full Canada Results

The PCMag Readers’ Choice surveys for Phones and Mobile Carriers were in the field from February 21 to March 13, 2023. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read the survey methodology.