20 Nov 2004

Cell Phone Family Plans

Once the best-kept secret in wireless, family plans (also known as shared plans) are now among the most popular cell phone plans available. The reasons are obvious. Family plans make it inexpensive to add a second line to an account, and consumers have figured out that you don't have to be related to share "family plan" minutes.

What Are Family Plans?

Family plans allow you to share one group of cellular plan minutes between two cell phones. This can mean huge savings compared to paying individual monthly fees, particularly if one of the cell phones is used less frequently.

In addition to being good for families, family plans may be ideal for friends, roommates, and even work groups. Subscribers with different plans and even different cell phone providers can move everything to a single company's family plan without having to change phone numbers. And since you can always get recent-model phones for free when switching providers, you may be able to upgrade your cell phone in the process.

Should You Sign Up?

To summarize, here's what to expect from a cell phone family plan:

Single set of minutes shared by two different cell phones

Very low monthly fee for the second line

Unlimited calling between callers on the same family plan

If you decide that this is for you, check out the best deals on family plans we've found on the web -- go to our Family Plans page.

Where to Find Them

If you decide that this is for you, check out the best deals on family plans we've found on the Web -- go to our Family Plans page. Family Plans are known by different names depending on the provider, but our Family Plans page has the best current deals on: