Why do Family Cell Phone Plans Make Sense?

Family cell phone plans have increased in usage, because of the added benefits they offer. For one, as a concerned parent, I would want my children, especially my teenage daughter to be able to use a cellular phone in emergencies. Since my spouse and I both have separate plans, I thought about switching to family cell phone packages instead. So why would family cell phone plans make sense? What are the advantages?

This way, I would be able to have my spouse, daughter and my plan linked together under one family cell phone plan, where we could share a pool of minutes and have unlimited talk time with each other. The advantage of having pooled minutes is that minutes won't be wasted on one phone that uses fewer minutes and could be used by a family member that uses the cell phone more.

Although the unlimited talk time to each other is great, you have to remember that most teenagers most likely don't look forward to have long conversations with their parents. However, I do talk to my spouse very often and by having that option you can reduce a lot of minutes that would have been counted as anytime minutes on your bill: this equals lots of savings.

Back to my teenage daughter, I wanted her to have a cell phone because of the added security it brings to her and also a peace of mind for me when she goes out. With family cell phone plans I can do this without the extra costs of a separate plan. For only $10-20 a month another phone can be added to the cell phone family plan; this gives security without the big price tag.

But if your teenager doesn't control their phone usage and uses up all of the pooled minutes, extra minutes could cost 40-45 cents a minute. They could also rack up a big bill if they use text messaging too much (10 cents each) I would recommend getting a messaging package if they do.

With that said, monitor their usage during the month to avoid unexpected large bill at the end of the month. If they do have a problem with managing minute usage, I would recommend getting more minutes in the family cell phone plan or just get a prepaid phone for your teenager instead. That way they can only use a predetermined amount of minutes only.

It only makes good sense for my family to go with a family cell phone plan, how about yours?

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