Family Cell Phone plans
 

So....

I'm way behind the game. So help me. Cell phones. So far my kids have been way ahead of the curve than us on this and that's probably not a good thing. Our 20 and 18 year old both purchase their own phones and their own plans...

The 18 year old is at a change point in her life where she may be shopping for a new phone and plan and I'm starting to wonder if its' time that we jump on to some sort of family plan.

Up to now we've had apples. Mostly because that's what the kids bought so we'd get their hand me downs as they've upgraded. :lol If we take this plunge we'll probably update 4 phones, so we would consider apple or android, though our oldest will remain on his own plan with his apple.

Looking at 4 lines.... Dh and I are minimalists phone users and don't require much data -- text is essential. Some talk. We connect on wifi and that solves most our needs but I guess some data might be nice.

18 yo is a heavier user so I'm guessing she'd want some sort of plan with more data.

And we'd add our 15 year old to a cell phone plan for the first time.... Makes me nervous.... But.... She's getting to the point where she's out more and being able to get a hold of her at all times would be helpful. Plus she'll be driving alone soon.

So.... where do I start? What family plans do you have? Love? Hate? What do I look for?

HELP?!

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We use Total Wireless because it uses the Verizon network and that's the only network worth having in our area. It's been fantastic. We are thrilled with the price and the service.



However, if you live in an area where multiple networks give great coverage, then T-Mobil is possibly a better deal.

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We use Tmobile......unlimited and it also has our internet......3 lines for $155. They keep trying to get us to add another line for $10 more a month. (That includes $5 for Netflix)

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We use Verizon. Dh gets a work discount and that makes it the least expensive (out of the major players, but I did . . . whatever the Walmart one was years and year ago and it was horrendous so gun shy about a discount provider even though its probably all improved over the past 10 years).

We have 4 lines, samsung android phones. I had an iphone (5 I think) and it was fine until 18 months in and suddenly I was completely out of memory. So I took it in and they said oh your phone is obsolete but you are eligible for an upgrade. I said obsolete, its 18 months old. Apparently Apple upgraded my software and it took up almost all the memory on my phone. I was so mad. They Verizon guy reinstalled the older version of software but I vowed never to own an apple phone again. The French gov't has sued Apple for that kind of nonsense.

WE share. . . a certain amount of data between the 4 of us. I looked and its 4GB for the 4 of us. We don't use a lot of data. We had 2 GB but found we were running up right to the limit and risked going over and maybe once did go over, so I upgraded and now its plenty. The kids get on wifi at home and at school. Same with dh and I.

We use data for maps and to google who sings this song when traveling and stuff like that. But no streaming or videos on data and its plenty. We could probably go back to 2GB but we prefer the cushion for downloads and such, then we dont have to think about it.

Disclaimer - we are not tech people, we don't need fancy phones. Our cheaper samsungs hold all the apps we need. If someone wants to watch a movie during a car trip they just download it ahead of time.

As always, YMMV

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We have cricket- 5 lines for $125 unlimited talk text and data high speed. We’ve been thrilled w cricket for years. We all currently have iPhones although at least 2 of us have gone to non Apple and returned to it. I’m only attached to my iPhone Cuz it’s familiar.

However we may be switching as our home has horrible phone coverage. We got a land line to compensate for now. I’m looking based on coverage area and not price.

We use my phone heavily including for work.

One thing to be super careful about sign on deals and monthly charges. We pay cash for our phones but if you get a phone deal they may charge you a down payment and monthly for the device itself. And you need a device that can be unlocked or reset to the carrier or you may need to buy new phones when you switch.

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We use Cricket Wireless, they have good coverage here where I live, and the best deal for our family. Right now, we have 4 lines with unlimited everything, plus 2 with hotspots, for $135/month.

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

I've been on a family plan with DH's parents for over 15 years - we max out the number of lines and it is extremely economical (we pay $28 per phone line b/c we're dividing the cost 8 ways - 3 for us, 2 for his parents, 1 for his grandma, 1 for an aunt, 1 for a sister).

We just send a check to his mom each month and they pay the full bill. We have had both Apple and Android phones during that time but the past few years love Apple phones and that's what the majority of us use (some still have Android).

We use TMobile, but honestly any cell phone carrier works - most data plans are unlimited (or nearly unlimited) at this point.

---------- Post added at 05:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:17 PM ----------

Honestly going in together will be cheaper than paying for your own separate accounts, and I would just choose whichever carrier offers the most coverage where you live (and where you think your DC will live in the next few years).

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We have Xfinity mobile. As many lines as you want for $67. HOWEVER, it is not unlimited data - I think it's 10 gigs. We've never come close to going over, even though I travel a ton for work and don't always have access to WiFi.

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We have xfinity mobile too

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We also have Xfinity mobile. We have to be careful about data use, though. I will turn it on if I want to look something up but I’m not just using it for whatever.

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We have 4 lines for $95 a month with Total Wireless. We do not have unlimited data but we have never run out of data. We all use WiFi when at home. It's prepaid and every month that you pay you get points which can be used for extra high speed data. I have so many points it's ridiculous. We never need them. I should look into the other options for using them.

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 AM ----------

I recommend shopping for your phone and your service separately. Some providers need a compatible phone and you need to keep that in mind, but I'm not a fan of the plans that give you a "free" phone or a discount on a new phone.

Re: Family Cell Phone plans
 

We pay $120+tax for 5 lines with unlimited text and calling and international calling . I think we have 10 Gs of data for each phone that can roll over.

We pay about $95 a month extra for two phones. What I mean by that is that my husband and I do the T-Mobile JUMP plan so we pay x amount of money for our phones. With that, when we have half the phone paid off we can jump to a different phone. Or if there is an issue with our phones, we can get a new one of the same phone for $50 or less. For us, it has worked out well. My parents prefer to buy their phones outright and use them on T-Mobile.