How to Compare Free Cell Phone Family Plans

Family plans are a convenient, economical way to share phone lines with your family on the same bill. Most cell phone providers offer this option. Before signing a contract, investigate different aspects of the family plan.

Minutes

• Family plans share minutes between phones. This means there is a set amount of minutes that is used by all members of the plan. Most family plans allow the phones to talk to each other for free, but it costs minutes to call others.

Text

• If you do not have unlimited texts between the phones, make sure your family plan has enough text messages to share between all of the users. This is the same for a data plan. Data is used when you are online on your phone. Ask if there is a per-phone charge for a data plan, or if the provider offers a flat monthly fee for all phones.

Phones

• Consider the phones that are free and offered with the family plan. Make sure the phones offer all of the features you want and need. For example, if you text often, make sure you get messaging phones with a keyboard.