By Paul
Cell phones have become essential for survival since they are considered the primary means of staying in touch with those we love and care. Although cell phones have become integrated in our lifestyles, they stack up significant costs to your existing household bills. Family mobile plans are a great option when you have several family members relying on cell phones as it saves you a handsome amount on your monthly phone bills.
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How do family mobile plans work?
In a family mobile plan, all the family members are covered by one bill for a couple of cell phones. The pool of calling minutes, data bundles, and text messaging quota is shared among the family members. Some family plans even let you talk with the members in the family plan for free without using up your allotted plan minutes.
Family mobile plans come in pretty handy when you want your spouse or children to be on the same plan. It is not necessary for all family members to be living in the same house to share the family plan. Even if your family member lives in a different part of the city and you frequently end up contacting him/her, you can save much with a family plan. You can add additional phone numbers in your family mobile plan depending on your family size for a reasonable fee ($10 extra per month for most plans).
How to choose family mobile plans
Different families have different needs with regards to their cell phone usage. Teens vigorously use cell phones and would demand smart phones with multimedia capabilities while some elders might just need a basic cell phone mostly for calls.
Here are certain points that you should keep in mind while shopping for a family plan:
Assess Pool of calling minutes required
Find out the special deals on family mobile plans for certain times of the day or for calls to certain phone numbers. Note any cluster packages available for weekends or late evenings which can save you a great deal of money. You need to consider the number of people you plan on sharing your family mobile plan with along with the geographic area you would be making calls to. All these aspects would affect the amount of calling minutes needed in the plan.
Coverage provided by family plans
Different cell phone carriers provide different degrees of coverage in each area. You should find out the extent of coverage offered by family plan since this determines where you can make calls from. Be sure to get coverage maps for your ease from your carrier.
Availability of handsets
Not every carrier would provide you with a diverse range of handsets that you can choose from. If a certain family member has a preference for a particular cell phone, you might want to consider that before opting for a family mobile plan.
It is important to carefully select cell phone carrier and a family mobile plan that best fits your family needs because it can be quite frustrating to change carriers.
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