Prepaid Family Cell Phone Plans

Prepaid cell phone plans are known for the fact that they require no credit checks and no signed committment. However, prepaid services have continued to evolve in recent years, offering more attractive phones and more extensive services and plans. Prepaid customers can now get picture messaging, mobile web browsing, and other services similar to those offered by traditional cellular providers. In addition, prepaid plans have expanded well beyond the basic pay-as-you-go per minute concepts to monthly plans, up to and including, affordable unlimited talk and texting options.

Another newer option that is appearing are prepaid family plans. For instance, MetroPCS is currently offering a Family Unlimited Plan with unlimited local and long distance calling, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited web access with voice mail, callerID, call waiting, 3 way calling, and more for $70 for 2 people, $90 for 3 people, $100 for 4 people, and $125 for 5 people. The MetroPCS plan would work well for small families who want unlimited services without the binding agreement.

Tracfone also offers a no contract, prepaid family cell phone plan. While the MetroPCS plan is for those families who talk and text a great deal, the Tracfone offering is more of a budget plan that can cap your spending while allowing families to stay in touch. Their Family Value Plan costs $9.99/month with 50 minutes of talk time, with subsequent lines costing $5.99/month with 30 minutes. Additional time costs 20 cents/minute. There are no activation or cancellation fees. Clearly, the family can purchase more minutes and still keep their costs below that of traditional plans, but having a good estimate of your usage beforehand would be important to determine whether or not this would be the most economical route based on your family's usage. The Tracfone plan would potentially be attractive to those families who are able to talk and text within limits or who want to eliminate the risk of exceeding their budget by having to purchase additional minutes in advance.

Prepaid cellular services continue to grow in their offerings and are becoming more attractive to users in the US. We'll have to wait and see if other prepaid providers step up to the plate with more family plans in the coming months.