This post comes from partner site WhistleOut.com.
If you and your family members are all on separate cellphone plans, you may be missing out on hundreds of dollars in savings. Most cellphone carriers offer great deals on family plans, with discounts on each additional line. Another great thing about family plans is that you generally get all the same benefits and features included in the individual plans, such as data, mobile hotspot and any entertainment extras.
Before going any further, if you’re not currently a Sprint customer, check out this deal.
Best family plan on offer right now
The best family plan on offer right now has to be the Sprint Unlimited Plan, which you’ll get free for an entire year. Not only will you get unlimited data, talk and text, but you can add up to four additional lines (five lines total) with all lines getting the same “Free for 1 Year” deal.
All you need to do is bring your own compatible phone to Sprint and switch from a non-Sprint network carrier. Your free year will begin within one to two billing cycles.
If you go with the Sprint Unlimited plan, once your free year is up, you’re free to switch to a different carrier or you can go with the Sprint Unlimited Basic Plan — which is offering $60/month for line 1, $40/month for line 2, and free service for lines 3, 4 and 5 until the end of April 2020. (After that, you pay $60/month for line 1, $40/month for line 2, $20/month each for lines 3, 4 and 5.) You can see how that stacks up against other providers in the chart below. Regardless of your preferred carrier, you’re likely to save money overall by bundling all of your clan’s lines into one family plan.
Unlimited plans: Individual and family plans compared
| Cost per line (per month) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrier | Plan | Individual plan | 2-line plan | 3-line plan | 4-line plan |
| Sprint | Unlimited Basic | $60 | $50 | $33.331 | $251 |
| Boost Mobile | Unlimited GIGS | $50 | $40 | $36.66 | $301 |
| Metro by T-Mobile | $60 Unlimited Plan | $60 | $45 | $30 | $301 |
| Verizon | Go Unlimited Plan | $75 | $65 | $50 | $40 |
| AT&T | Unlimited &More | $70 | $62.50 | $48.33 | $40 |
| T-Mobile | ONE | $70 | $60 | $401 | $351 |
1 With current promotion applied
As you can see from the table above, the more lines you have on your account, the less you pay per line. A lot of carriers also have limited-time promotions offering additional lines for free.
Pros and cons of family plans
The main benefit of family plans is that you’ll be saving yourself a lot of money in the long run. By having all of your lines on the one account, you could save hundreds of dollars each year. However, there are some downsides of having a family plan that you should consider also.
On the positive side:
- Save $100 or more per year.
- Manage all lines easily from the one account.
- Eligible for buy one, get one free deals on phones.
Some shortcomings of family plans:
- Most family plans don’t let you mix and match different plans.
- Only one bill per family plan under one person’s name (one person is accountable for entire bill).
- Unable to mix and match carriers (if someone has a preference for carrier/network).
More from WhistleOut.com:
- “5 Amazing Deals on New Cellphones”
- “Unlimited Cellphone Plans: What Are You Really Paying For?”
- “Save on the Best TV Shows With These Cellphone Plans”
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