Best/cheapest family cell phone plan

[Dashzap]

AT&T? TMobile? Verizon? Sprint?

Four lines. Want texting. Don't want to pay for data. Oldest DS needs a touch screen (some paralysis due to spinal cord injury from car wreck).

 

[lucigo]

We have 5 phones with AT&T, a family texting plan, no internet, and our bill is $170 a month. They have touch screen phones that aren't "smart" phones. My son has an Impression and I believe it is touch screen. Hope that helps. Deduct about $20 for one less phone.

 

[Tink-aholic]

Check out Billshrink.com. They'll ask you questions about your needs and give you recommendations based on your location.

...but I'll bet the cheapest will be T Mobile.

 

[biglew]

I used to work for Cingular and I got to say their service was horrible! They are no longer in business since AT&T Wireless bought them out. I heard AT&T also has bad coverage. My family and I are with T-Mobile and love it! We pay about $140 a month for just 2 phones. The reason why it's pretty expensive is because both of us have unlimited data plans. For someone looking for a family plan with unlimited texting, I would choose T-Mobile if the coverage is there for your area. The family plans rates include the first 2 lines and then $9.99 for each additional line. Unlimited texting for the whole family plan is $20 total each month. Not bad at all! Good news for you! T-Mobile is currently running a promo where lines 3-5 is free! Check out their link for more info:

http://www.t-mobile.com/promotions/resourcetemplate.aspx?PAsset=Pro_Pro_KidsAreFree&WT.ac=0928HOM04

Good luck!

 

[brittsmum1998]

Britt and I just bought Virgin Mobil phones.

I pay $25 per month for 300 anytime minutes along w unlimited text and data etc. The only negative was 89 for my phone. No contract. When I go on vacation and need more minutes for that month I can just purchase the next biggest plan.

Britt got the blackberry curve for $250. Her plan is 35$ per month for 300 mins, unlimited text and data. She's already downloaded so many free apps. She loves it.

They both include the web (although I'm still learning )

 

[Purseval]

Britt and I just bought Virgin Mobil phones.

I pay $25 per month for 300 anytime minutes along w unlimited text and data etc. The only negative was 89 for my phone. No contract. When I go on vacation and need more minutes for that month I can just purchase the next biggest plan.

I don't know if you realize it but with that plan even if you run out of talk minutes your data and text still work.

 

[Darcy03231]

We have US Cellular with 4 phones. We have unlimited texting, free incoming calls, and nights and weekends are free after 7 pm. We share 1400 anytime minutes and we never come close to using them up. No data plan. Our bill is $140/mo

 

[MrsPete]

My needs are identical to yours (except for the need for a touch screen), and I just switched from AT&T to Verizon.

I was with AT&T for a very, very long time and was completely satisfied with the coverage/phone service . . . but they messed up my bill and were VERY NASTY about it. And the mistake continued 4-5 months. It wasn't the mistakes that bothered me, though it was a pretty stupid situation -- things will go wrong sometimes -- it was the attitude and lack of helpfulness in resolving it. I dumped them the minute my contract was up.

I chose Verizon because so many of my friends in this area told me that they get good coverage/service -- really, this is something to ask your neighbors because it varies from place to place.

When I went into their store, I told them that I'd only switch if they'd waive the activation fees ($35 for first phone, $25 for other three phones), and that was no problem. The cost was within a few dollars of AT&T, but because I'm a teacher they gave me 20% off the monthly total. I'm completely satisfied.

 

[Shleedogg]

Britt and I just bought Virgin Mobil phones.

I pay $25 per month for 300 anytime minutes along w unlimited text and data etc. The only negative was 89 for my phone. No contract. When I go on vacation and need more minutes for that month I can just purchase the next biggest plan.

Britt got the blackberry curve for $250. Her plan is 35$ per month for 300 mins, unlimited text and data. She's already downloaded so many free apps. She loves it.

They both include the web (although I'm still learning )

This is where I'm going next year when my Verizon contract is up. I've been with Verizon for 9 years. I kept getting sucked back in at the end of every contract because no other company had service in my area. Well, now everyone has expanded so I have more choices.

If I can't get Virgin Mobile, I'll probably be going with AT&T. I HATE Verizon's customer service. The basic attitude I've gotten from *almost* every employee I've come in contact with has been a "too bad, so sad." They're all almost always grumpy when I walk in, one manager lady is downright nasty. I've had cases where she's been available to help me and I've waited in someone elses line for almost 20 min so I wouldn't have to deal with her. They do have the best coverage though. I've gotten reception in some really unpopulated areas.

Sprint has terrible coverage. My dad had them a few years ago and had trouble traveling anywhere and being able to use his cell phone.

 

[brittsmum1998]

I don't know if you realize it but with that plan even if you run out of talk minutes your data and text still work.

Thank you, I didn't even think of that. My dd mostly texts now anyways. She's so excited she finally has it after asking for 2 yrs.

 

[Sadie22]

I used to work for Cingular and I got to say their service was horrible! They are no longer in business since AT&T Wireless bought them out. I heard AT&T also has bad coverage. My family and I are with T-Mobile and love it! We pay about $140 a month for just 2 phones. The reason why it's pretty expensive is because both of us have unlimited data plans. For someone looking for a family plan with unlimited texting, I would choose T-Mobile if the coverage is there for your area. The family plans rates include the first 2 lines and then $9.99 for each additional line. Unlimited texting for the whole family plan is $20 total each month. Not bad at all! Good news for you! T-Mobile is currently running a promo where lines 3-5 is free! Check out their link for more info:

http://www.t-mobile.com/promotions/resourcetemplate.aspx?PAsset=Pro_Pro_KidsAreFree&WT.ac=0928HOM04

Good luck!

We are with AT&T, which used to be Cingular. Don't go by what you hear. I have always had great coverage except when my phone started to go bad. I got a new phone, problem solved. It was not the coverage. It was the phone. Many cell towers have since been added so coverage is great except in very, very remote areas where there are no towers.

We have a family plan of five phones for about $120 a month with a small corporate discount. We don't use the texting.

 

[torinsmom]

This is where I'm going next year when my Verizon contract is up. I've been with Verizon for 9 years. I kept getting sucked back in at the end of every contract because no other company had service in my area. Well, now everyone has expanded so I have more choices.

If I can't get Virgin Mobile, I'll probably be going with AT&T. I HATE Verizon's customer service. The basic attitude I've gotten from *almost* every employee I've come in contact with has been a "too bad, so sad." They're all almost always grumpy when I walk in, one manager lady is downright nasty. I've had cases where she's been available to help me and I've waited in someone elses line for almost 20 min so I wouldn't have to deal with her. They do have the best coverage though. I've gotten reception in some really unpopulated areas.

Sprint has terrible coverage. My dad had them a few years ago and had trouble traveling anywhere and being able to use his cell phone.

I am in the process of switching to VM right now FROM AT&T. I have had both horrible service coverage and horrible customer service with AT&T. My son's phone has already been switched over; I waited until his was active until starting to switch mine, so we wouldn't be without a working phone. We are using his old pay as you go phones for a few weeks to make sure the service is good, and then I plan on buying us new phones.

Only con is you have to buy the phones, but if you buy them through the VM website, you get free lost/stolen coverage, which is nice. DS wants the Rumor 2 and I might get that one too. Or I might just take the one he is using now, since it has more features that anything I have ever owned, LOL

 

[disneydreamersx4]

We have AT&T and have absolutely no problem with them (in the northeast) We have 3 lines with 700 minutes to share, unlimited texting plan and we pay $123 month with the taxes.

 

[HeatherC]

We pay $110 a month with Sprint. 1500 anytime minutes with unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited texting for three lines.

We do get a small discount through dh work, but I still think it is a pretty good deal if you are in a good sprint service area.

 

[jjohnson]

Go on slickdeals.net. There is an employee from Sprint who is permitted to share a code with all his "friends" I've been paying $112 (inc. tax) for over a year for 4 phones with unlimited min. & text. One of the best finds I've ever read on the internet.

 

[Noah]

We are very happy with Verizon. They are a bit pricier than the rest but if you can get any form of corporate or family discount, they are reliable and has good Customer service. They also have a new plan that allows you to set 5-10 most dialed numbers and treat them like in-network calls.

 

[MomToOne]

I am in the process of switching to VM right now FROM AT&T. I have had both horrible service coverage and horrible customer service with AT&T.

Don't expect any better customer service from Virgin. I've used them for 8+ years now, and while the first 7 years with them was great, this last year has been AWFUL. I have a pay-as-you-go plan, and the auto top up feature has failed twice, one time resulting in my service being cut off at a very inopportune time I've also had problems with them charging me outrageous rates (over $1/minute on a series of phone calls, instead of the $.25 it should have been), and with not being able to get a listing of my phone calls on the website (which I need to make sure the $1/minute problem doesn't show up again!). Submitting problems via email is a black hole, you will never get a problem resolved that way. And calling doesn't get you much better service - my last problem I had to call 3 times before they took the time to actually click on the link I told them was giving me a hard error to see it and open a trouble ticket!! After I finally insisted on talking to a Supervisor, she was all sweet, insisting she'd take care of the problem, that it was being escalated and someone would look and get back to me within 72 hours, and she would "personally monitor" the issue to make sure that happened. Well guess what, it's now a week later and I still haven't heard a thing from them. And I haven't had the time to call them about it again because you end up sitting on hold for anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes before you actually talk to anyone!

I've spent the last week doing lots of research and I think I am going to switch to T-Mobile. It will probably cost me slightly more, and I will have to buy a new phone even though I just got a new top-of-the-line phone for VM in January, but I am soooooo beyond frustrated with VM at this point!

 

[tink2dw]

we have 3 phones, 2 just cell phones, and 1. graverty 2 serviced by t-moble, 1800 minutes, cost $176. a month

 

[Ericandjenng]

We have US Cellular with 4 phones. We have unlimited texting, free incoming calls, and nights and weekends are free after 7 pm. We share 1400 anytime minutes and we never come close to using them up. No data plan. Our bill is $140/mo

We've been with US Cellular for 9+ years now and absolutely love their service!!! Also I work for the gov't and can get a discount with several carriers (US Cellular now too) and none of them could touch the price I was getting from US Cellular.

We did finally change our plan recently but our overall price went up $10/month because we added a small text plan to two lines. We have 3 lines, 1000 National anytime minutes, Unlimited mobile to mobile, free nights & weekends after 7p, free incoming texts, pictures, etc with a 250 text plan for two of our phones. All of this is just under $110 without any discounts.

I get great service in their stores and online. I can send an email and within 24 hours I have an initial contact from someone and each time everything is taken care of (like when I added the text plans) within just a couple of days.

 

[IleneF]

I have been with Tmobile like FOREVER. I have there old Fav Five plan with 1200 min. I recently made the mistake of switching to the new Even More plus plan but it didn't work out for us and wound up costing more so they were able to switch us back...PHEW! Aside from 3 cell phones (no data plan but unlimited texting on each phone) I also have my home phone (unlimited) with them for $10/mo. Total cost including a AAA discount is $120/mo. incl
taxes. It still drives me crazy that it costs almost $1500/yr for cell phones but it's hard to envision life without them now. Still I could do it if I had to, not sure hubby and son could though as for them it is also a business phone. Would love to pick up a data plan for my iphone though :-(