We just got Verizon and
it - although we do pay a fair amount each month. But - that's because we live in Canada, and travel frequently all around the US and Canada, so we had to have a plan that worked everywhere for that.
However, I did notice that you can put parental restrictions on additional lines - so if you got a cheap family plan w/Verizon, you can actually control who your kids can call on their cell phones - so they can't run up a huge bill