2 of 4

Write now Article Tools

Family plans for cell phones can be a great deal.

The majority of cell phone service providers these days offer some sort of family plan for those who want cell phones for the whole family and want a great deal.

There are many advantages of getting a family plan and as little as two people can be on the average family talk plan.

Add lines for little cost:

Most family talk plans work something like this. You agree to a cell phone contract with at least 2 phones on it and you pay a flat monthly rate for the plan you select. Then you get the option to add additional lines (cell phones) to the plan for a small monthly fee (usually 10 dollars or less a month).

All phones generally share the main accounts 'anytime' minutes. Instead of paying say 50 dollars a month for a cell phone plan for each person, you might pay 60 or 70 a month for 3 phones.

Customize each phone's service:

The main feature of family plans is that you can add lines for a low monthly cost and share a large pool of minutes between the phones. But another nice feature to most family plans is that each line can have as many or few additional options as you'd like.

Say you like to text a lot but the other people on your plan don't. You can add a text plan to one phone but not to the others. Or if your teen surfs the web a lot on their phone, you could add an internet plan to just that line. Of course most family talk plans also allow you to add these options to the whole plan or each handset.

Unlimited talk:

Many family plans give you an average of 1,000 shared anytime minutes per month. So if you have 4 phones on the plan, you could each use 250 anytime minutes and not go over. But even if you have a big talker on your plan, one person may use more then the others, most plans offer free nights and weekends.

With free nights and weekends your monthly 'allowance' of anytime minutes isn't used and phones on your plan can be used unlimited during nights and weekends. Plus many family talk plans allow you to talk to others on the plan for free 24/7 and some even let you talk to other people on the same provider as your plan for free as well. These are often called mobile to mobile minutes.

One bill:

Instead of getting multiple bills you can get one bill per month for all the phones on your family talk plan. You'll be able to see account and billing details for each line, see extactly whose been sending tons of text messages or see who used up all your anytime minutes.

Flexibility:

Basically family talk cell phone contract plans are extremely flexible. You can add lines when you need them for a low monthly rate, add or remove options like text and video for each handset, review all account activity on one bill, and increase or decrease your shared minutes as needed.

If you have friends or family whom you are close with you may want to consider joining up with a few of them for a family talk plan to save money for all of you. Just make sure anyone who signs up for a line with you is able and committed to paying their fair share month after month.

Learn more about this author, Maxwell Payne.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Assessing cell phone family plans?
We want to hear your view. Write now!