What Company has the Best Family Plan?

Phone plans are expensive. The cost to receive service and data on your mobile device is significant, and that’s on top of the cost of the device itself. Fortunately, there are ways to decrease those costs. With the rise of MVNOs, there has also risen a wide variety of very affordable plans. There are plans that are, in fact, completely free. There is a catch, and it is that those hyper-cheap plans, let’s say less than $10 a line, don’t come with a lot of data. Some don’t even come with unlimited talk and text. 

If you are someone who uses a lot of data it limits your options. Unlimited plans on MVNOs more often than not only give users a limited amount of high-speed data before relegating them to 2G or 3G speeds after they hit the cap. In the right circumstances, a family plan can become your holy grail to save some money on your cell phone bill each month. If you are looking for an easy way to check out and compare phone plans, the Really comparison tool will bring up all the best deals in your area. For a bit more analysis of the family plans, we will break down some of our favorite family plans. Without further ado, let’s dive into what phone company has the best family plan. 

What Makes a Good Family Plan? 

In your perusal of family plans, we would wager you want to save money on your phone bills each month. Really, we all are. Family plans are a great way to do it, but keep in mind that you can still be overpaying for the plan in its entirety if it is giving you more than you and your family need. Family plans are perfect because they oftentimes lower the overall costs of unlimited plans, but you should take a moment to figure out whether or not your family needs unlimited data! 

This article will cover family plan pricing based on four lines (lower if the cost is not affected) and with four people running about we think that an unlimited plan is almost always the right choice, but it depends on whether or not the phone company gives a set amount of data per line or if the plan’s data is shared between all of them equally. 

Our Favorite Family Plans

This section will cover our top 7 favorite family plans and the companies that provide them. We will give some insight into the other plans the company offers because it is nice to have the option to switch plans if you discover a more or less expensive plan is right for you. There are too many variables for us to say, definitively, that one plan is the best, but each analysis will touch on how the plan’s main strengths are best for a particular kind of customer. We will include some cheap family plans, some expensive family plans, and everything in the middle. 

Visible Unlimited

Best family plan for two users

Quick Facts

• $30 a month per line
• Prepaid Plan
• Verizon’s 4G LTE and 5G networks
• Unlimited data
• Unlimited hotspot

The major downside of the Visible unlimited phone plan is that there are no multi-line savings. Yes, this does go against the main idea of the article, but we wanted to include it in this list because of how much value their plans have. Their basic unlimited plan is $30 a month per line with unlimited data and unlimited high-speed hotspots as well. We have this on the top of our list for people who want to save money with MVNOs while getting a really robust plan with as much data as you can use. While $30 a line is on the pricier side, it is less expensive than the major wireless companies. 

We recommend this for family plans with two or three lines, where the multi-line savings from other carriers have not kicked to their fullest extent. Visible Wireless only offers one kind of plan—the unlimited kind. They have a very strong unlimited plan that provides users with excellent nationwide coverage on Verizon’s network. All of their plans have unlimited talk and text and true unlimited data, which means it will remain high-speed data regardless of your usage. 

A lot of MVNO unlimited plans come with somewhere between 20 and 50 GB of high-speed data before throttling data down to 2G or 3G speeds if usage exceeds their allotment. This is especially tricky with family plans, as multiple lines increase data usage a ton. At this point, being relegated to 2G or 3G speeds is brutal for everyone on the plan, and it is a surefire way to invoke outrage in any plan members who have a habit of using a lot of mobile data on the go. 

Verizon Start Unlimited

Best affordable family plan on a major wireless provider

Quick Facts

• $80/60/45/35 a month per line
• Postpaid Plan
• Verizon’s 4G LTE and 5G networks
• Unlimited data
• No hotspot

This is Verizon’s most affordable plan, and it has some of the best multi-line savings out there. Going from $80 a month to $35 is astonishing, making this an exceptional option for plans with a lot of lines to gain access to a major wireless network without paying the premium that is often associated with it. The downside to their cheapest unlimited plan is that users don’t have much “premium” data, which only means that if there are times of serious network congestion they will slow down your data. 

Keep in mind that before your data gets slowed down, they slow down all their MVNO customers. There are not a ton of opportunities to pay this little for coverage with a major wireless network, and for those who want to stick with the big three no matter what we cannot recommend the Verizon start unlimited family plan enough. 

Your data will only get slowed in times of serious congestion, like major sporting or concert events. And if you’re at the big game you don’t need to be on your phone anyway, right? Joking aside, this is a fantastic way to get an amazing deal at a major wireless company for incredibly competitive prices. A plan at Verizon gives you the opportunity to get an even more robust plan if you need it, but when you’re looking for a family plan with the hopes of cutting down your wireless bill, we recommend looking for a plan that will leave you paying less than $50 a line. 

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Mint Mobile Family Plan

Best family plan for mixed-data users

• Mix and match phone plans per line
• Prepaid Plan
• T-Mobile’s 4G LTE and 5G networks
• Data-dependent on plan
• Hotspot data

Next on the line is Mint Mobile’s Family Plan. What we love about this plan is that it lets each line pick the amount of data it wants, making it much easier to settle on lines that are right for each individual member of the family. We see this in a variety of MVNO plans, so if one member of the plan does not need much data at all, they can go with a cheaper plan than the more data-heavy users. Mint Mobile works by offering three, six, and 12-month contracts to its customers, with the longer contracts resulting in savings. Their family plan benefits start at two lines, and they allow the lines to purchase three-month contracts at their lowest price, perfect for customers who shy away from locking into a year of service at a time. 

This is a great choice for people wanting to find a cheaper option for their cell phone service while being able to use some mobile data when out and about. The major downside to Mint Mobile’s plans is that the savings come through the contract, and with a family plan you are able to evade that entirely. The three-month contracts open up the doors for customers to change their data allocation at regular intervals while enjoying the lowest prices offered by Mint. As a general rule, we recommend starting high due to the fact that once your data is throttled down to 2G or 3G speeds you are not able to do much of anything when you are relying on your mobile data.

Reach Mobile Family Plan

Best family plan for low-data users

Quick Facts

• $40, $28, $24, $22, $20
• Prepaid Plan
• T-Mobile’s 4G LTE and 5G networks
• 15 or 20 GB of high-speed data
• Hotspot data

Reach mobile is another excellent pick for family plans. Unfortunately, their unlimited data plan is not included in their family plan package, leaving you with the choice between 2 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB, and 15 GB. Reach mobile is best for families who do not use much data at all. The data allocated is shared between all the lines, so if any member is a heavy data user it is likely that they will suck up all the plan’s data with haste. 

For families that don’t use much data, however, Reach mobile has a lot of good things going. Their give a plan, get a plan initiative is an amazing example of how larger companies can leverage their earnings for the greater good. Reach Mobile donates free data to women and students who need it all over the world. Alongside that, they have a “best fit” program, which automatically lowers your bill if you don’t use a lot of data. 

This is, of course, much harder when you have multiple lines in the plan, but it is a good incentive for each user to use as little data as possible to potentially score some extra savings. They have plans with 2 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB, and 15 GB (we recommend the 15 GB plan for any family plan) and if you have three or more lines on the plan they tack on an extra 5 GB for free. They have no contracts, letting you take it month-by-month as you figure out whether or not this is the right carrier for you. 

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Google Fi Simply Unlimited 

Best family plan for three or more users

Quick Facts: 

• $50, $40, $25, $20 a month
• 35 GB high-speed data
• No contract 
• Runs on T-Mobile and US Cellular’s network

Next on our list, we have the simply unlimited plan from Google Fi. This is a great choice for families who use a fair bit of data but don’t need unlimited high-speed data. If you can  have at least three lines, the savings really start to pile up. With great coverage, fast speeds, and a very affordable plan for families of three or more, Google Fi’s simply unlimited is a great choice for a family plan. 

T-Mobile Essentials

Best family plan for three or more lines on a major wireless network

Quick Facts: 

• $60, $45, $30, $25 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• Unlimited high-speed data
• 3G Hotspot
• No contract 

We had to sneak in another family plan from a major wireless network because of how amazing the T-Mobile Essentials family plan is. The $60 a month for a single line is pretty pricey, but with more lines, the savings add up fast. Halving the cost with the third line is spectacular, and it gives every member of the plan as much data as they can use. We recommend this affordable cell phone plan for families who need a lot of data during the month. The major benefit of using a major wireless provider instead of an MVNO is that you are certain that you will have the highest-speed data that the carrier can provide. 

All the MVNO customers have their data slowed down first, and this plan comes with 50 GB of “premium” high-speed data, which means you will never be slowed down until you get through those first 50 GBs. And after that, you are in a similar spot as Verizon Start unlimited customers and you will only get slowed down if the T-Mobile network burns through all their MVNO customers and still has an overfull bandwidth. Unless that happens, you and all the members of your family plan will enjoy lightning-fast speeds all night long. 

Another big benefit of going to a major network is that they often have a pretty good new customer deal waiting. There are dangers in these deals, and make sure to examine them with a critical eye to ensure that there are no hidden strings that will cost you more in the long run, but for right now, the third line is completely free! That means two lines cost $90 and three lines cost $90 altogether. 

Tello Mobile Family Plans

Best affordable family plan for low-data users

• Mix and match phone plans per line
• Prepaid Plan
• T-Mobile’s 4G LTE and 5G networks
• Data-dependent on plan

Tello mobile offers one kind of plan and it’s a customizable one. Users can customize the talk, text, and data they receive up to their unlimited everything plan, which gives 25 GB of high-speed data. Their family plan functions like Reach Mobile because it lets each line get the plan that’s best for them. While you can choose limited talk and text, we recommend unlimited minutes because it only costs $4 and prevents you from worrying about any amount of phone conversations you have in the month. 

Their unlimited plan costs $29 a month, but if you find that you are not using that much data you can switch your plan to a lower amount without having to worry about any of the other lines on the family plan. This is an excellent choice for families who have different users using different amounts of data. Understanding how much data you use each month is an important step in figuring out what plan to take when you are switching providers. Once you’ve found the right provider, however, it is much easier to switch plans than it is to switch providers. 

These are our favorite phone companies with great family plans

Family plans are an amazing way to save money on your phone bill. Family plans have transitioned to be more like multi-line plans, which means you don’t have to actually be a family to enjoy the savings from the plans. So, grab some friends or your family and chip in together to find the family plan that’s best for you! 

There are a lot of options for a lot of different people, and we recommend figuring out what everyone needs so no one has to make any significant sacrifices when they sign onto the plan.