I don't find AT&T service to be that expensive. Although most the users that have AT&T have been long time customers, way back when it was Bellsouth (Southern Bell, or whatever Bell it was for you), then branched it to Cingular, and then AT&T bought over the whole deal. My contract was created with Cingular, so I've got more minutes for the same price as the cheap package now. As long as I don't change something, but rates don't change for what I have. Like it's still only $20 for unlimited family texting. With thousands sitting in rollover minutes, it would be stupid to pay $10 more for the current on that includes free mobile to mobile.
For family plan though, you're generally looking at over a $100 with any provider.
59.99 is the cheapest minute plan you can get for the family plan (550 minutes)
- nights and weekends free
- free calls to other AT&T users
- rollover minutes - any minutes you don't use, continuously roll on a 6 month period
9.99 for each additional line
30.00 for unlimited texting on all lines, plus free mobile to mobile calling (any carrier)
15.00 for each smart phone data plan.
With free mobile to mobile calling, and rollovers, it's likely you can go with a cheap minute package and not go over. They're also good at backdating a service. Say you pay for a package of 500 texts per month for $5, each additional is a quarter. All of sudden you get a bill for 1000 texts. That's a lot in overages. So you can call, and ask them to back date your account to include the unlimited texting at $30. Which can save you a big headache.
I know they say AT&T is like the lowest in service and customer support, but I've always had helpful people, that were nice. Most the time any issue could be resolved in a matter of minutes. Plus I get service while at Yosemite, and my bf doesn't get anything on his Sprint phone. I've also done quite a bit of road traveling, and haven't had an issue so far with connection.