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You are thinking about getting your family connected with cellular phones, but you aren't sure what's out there, or what the cost might be. There are four major cellphone carriers in the United States: Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. This article will compare and contrast the basic family packages offered by each of these major cellular carriers.

Online and local research revealed that there are tremendous similarities between three of the four main carriers. Cingular, Sprint and Verizon all offer a base family package that include two lines with the option to add between one and three phones for $9.99 a month. The prices for the same base-minute family packages were identical. Here are the shared factors of these packages:

- 700 shared anytime minutes for two phone lines at $69.99 (add $9.99 per month for each additional phone)
- 1400 shared anytime minutes for two phone lines at $89.99 (add $9.99 per month for additional phones)
- Unlimited Night and Weekend minutes
- Basic voice mail service, call waiting and 3-way calling
- Unlimited Mobile to Mobile calling within network (meaning you can call anyone with the same carrier and it doesn't count against your 'anytime minutes')

Between these three carriers there were subtle differences in their offerings. While Cingular and Sprint require a two-year contract, Verizon offers a family package with a one year contract. Cingular offers roll-over minutes, meaning that you can save 'anytime minutes' that were not used from a previous month, and add them to your current 'anytime' balance. Sprint's night and weekend hours start earlier than any of the other carriers. Sprint offers unlimited night and weekends that start at 7pm, while the other major carriers start at 9p.m. Both Sprint and Verizon offer free phones or free activation if you purchase your plan online.

The only carrier that offered different price and minute options was T-mobile. T-mobile offers both a basic family plan, and another family package called 'myFaves for Families'. I was a little intrigued by the options T-mobile offered. First off, their basic family plan compares more cheaply to the other carriers. You can get the same basic 700 minute plan the other companies offered for a base rate of $59.99. Their next package was 1000 minutes for $69.99. That's an additional 300 minutes for the same price as the other three carrier's basic 700 minute plans.

But what may be better than the pricing, was the 'myFaves for Family' option offered by T-mobile.

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