Raise your hand if you’re on a family cell phone plan.
Almost 70% of American smartphone owners are part of a group plan, according to a 2015 report from the Pew Research Center. And for good reason: It’s typically cheaper.
Going solo with your cell phone plan often costs $50 or more, but splitting a family plan among four people can lower the monthly price to as little as $25 per line before taxes, fees, device payments and add-ons like insurance.
Finding the best family cell phone plan for your needs is key to keeping costs down. And what works for other families won’t necessarily work for yours. Parents sharing a plan with two teenagers might need more data than those who split theirs with adult children, for example.
We scoped out the best family cell phone plans in several categories, using a family of four as our model. We only considered plans that offer at least 6GB of data per family, per month. All the data amounts discussed in the article are on a per-month basis. Prices don’t include taxes, fees, the cost of phones or other charges.
Best family plans for average users
Both Sprint’s large Better Choice plan and Cricket Wireless’s Basic plan offer just enough data to cover four average users, each of whom typically go through 2GB to 3GB per month.
If you use more data than your allotment, no problem. Neither carrier charges overage fees. Instead, both slow data from lightning-fast 3G or 4G speeds to 2G speeds until the next billing cycle begins. That means uploading 30 pictures would take more than 20 minutes, instead of about one minute.
- Sprint Better Choice – Large
- At a glance: Unlimited talk and text, 12GB of shared data.
- Price (monthly, four lines): $140.
- Price per line: $35.
- Activation fee: Up to $36 per line.
- Why we like it: Just enough data for average users, no data overage charges.
- Cricket Wireless Basic
- At a glance: Unlimited talk and text, 2.5GB of data per line.
- Price (monthly, four lines): $100.
- Price per line: $25.
- Activation fee: $25 in store or free online.
- Why we like it: An inexpensive, no-surprises plan with a reasonable amount of data.
THINGS TO KNOW:
- Cricket: Cricket is owned by AT&T and operates on its network. Unlike name-brand AT&T customers, Cricket users have their LTE data speeds capped at 8Mbps, much slower than the 20+ Mbps LTE is capable of. It’s still plenty fast for social media and music streaming, but more data-intensive activities, such as streaming HD video, might suffer.
HOW OTHERS COMPARE:
- Verizon: Four lines with unlimited talk and text and 16GB of shared data for $170 per month.
- T-Mobile: Four lines with unlimited talk and text and 2GB of data per line for $100 per month.
Best family plans for parents with teens
Teens can blow through a few gigabytes of data without batting an eye, thanks in large part to their affinity for social media and streaming video.
T-Mobile’s Simple Choice 6GB plan solves this problem by making video streaming from services like Netflix, Hulu, ESPN and Vevo separate from your monthly data allowance. The plan also includes Data Stash, which rolls over each line’s unused data to the next month. And since each line has its own 6GB data package, Junior won’t eat up anyone else’s data.
If you want to go prepaid, Boost Mobile’s family plan offers an inexpensive 5GB of data for each line. Plus, you can stream unlimited music from Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker Radio, Milk Music and 8tracks without using your data allotment. And there’s no overage charge if you do go over: Boost will just slow your data to 2G speeds for the rest of the billing cycle.
- T-Mobile Simple Choice 6GB
- At a glance: Unlimited talk and text, 6GB of data per line.
- Price (monthly, four lines): $160.
- Price per line: $40.
- Activation fee: None.
- Why we like it: Great data saving features, no data overage charges.
- Boost Family Plan 5GB
- At a glance: Unlimited talk and text, 5GB of data per line.
- Plan price (monthly, four lines): $140.
- Price per line: $35.
- Activation fee: None.
- Why we like it: A relatively inexpensive prepaid option with no data overages, unlimited music streaming.
THINGS TO KNOW:
- T-Mobile: Sprint offers the same price for the same amount of data, but T-Mobile’s data-saving features make it the clear winner for families with teens. With the Data Stash feature, customers can roll over up to 20GB of data per line for up to 12 months. Plus, T-Mobile doesn’t charge for data overages. Instead, it slows you to 2G speeds for the rest of the billing cycle.
- Boost: Boost is owned by Sprint and operates on its network. If you want to switch over to Boost, you’ll probably have to purchase new phones up front, as Sprint only allows certain phones on its network.
HOW OTHERS COMPARE:
- Sprint: Four lines with unlimited talk and text and 24GB shared data for $160 per month.
- Cricket: Four lines with unlimited talk and text and 5GB of data per line for $160 per month.
Best family plans for heavy data users
Sprint’s Unlimited plan gives you virtually endless data, plus a 3GB mobile hot spot allowance for each line, for just $180 per month. That’s a bargain compared to the prices competitors like AT&T charge: $160 per month to share 15GB between four lines. At Verizon, sharing 8GB of data between four lines will run you $150, plus taxes and fees.
» COMPARE: Best unlimited data plans
If you’d rather choose a prepaid carrier, the Cricket Pro plan gives you a hefty amount of data at a good price.
- Sprint Unlimited
- At a glance: Unlimited talk, text and data.
- Price (monthly, four lines): $180.
- Price per line: $45.
- Activation fee: Up to $36 per line.
- Why we like it: Great price for an unlimited plan.
- Cricket Wireless Pro
- At a glance: Unlimited talk and text, 10GB of data per line.
- Price (monthly, four lines): $180.
- Price per line: $45.
- Activation fee: $25 in store or for free online.
- Why we like it: Prepaid option with hefty amount of data for a good price.
THINGS TO KNOW
- Sprint: No unlimited plan is truly unlimited. If you exceed 23GB of data usage on a Sprint line, you’ll receive much lower speeds, as is the case with a few other carriers.
- Cricket: As explained above, Cricket operates on AT&T’s network, but its LTE data speeds are capped at 8Mbps, much slower than LTE is capable of.
HOW OTHERS COMPARE:
- T-Mobile: Four lines with unlimited talk, text and data for $280 per month.
- Boost Mobile: Four lines with unlimited talk, text and data for $200 per month.
Best prepaid family plans
Want a family plan without the taxes, fees and a multiple year commitment? These prepaid plans offer just that.
Cricket Wireless’s Basic plan provides unlimited talk and text and a reasonable amount of data for a much lower price than traditional contract and postpaid plans. You get 2.5GB of data on each separate line.
Boost Mobile’s 2GB family plan offers a little bit less data for the same price, but if you stream a lot of music, it might be more cost effective in the long run. Boost lets you stream unlimited music from Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker Radio, Milk Music and 8tracks without using up your data allotment.
Going prepaid will save you on monthly costs, but it does cost more at the beginning, as you must pay full retail price for each phone up front.
- Cricket Wireless Basic
- At a glance: Unlimited talk and text, 2.5GB of data per line.
- Price (monthly, four lines): $100.
- Price per line: $25.
- Activation fee: $25 in store or for free online.
- Why we like it: An inexpensive, no-surprises plan with a reasonable amount of data.
- Boost Family Plan 2GB
- At a glance: Unlimited talk and text, 2GB of data per line.
- Price (monthly, four lines): $100.
- Price per line: $25.
- Activation fee: None.
- Why we like it: Inexpensive price with nice streaming features.
THINGS TO KNOW
- Cricket: As explained above, Cricket operates on AT&T’s network, but its LTE data speeds are capped at 8Mbps — much slower than LTE is usually capable of.
- Boost: Boost is owned by Sprint and operates on its network.
HOW OTHERS COMPARE:
- MetroPCS: Four lines with unlimited talk and text and 5GB of data per line for $180 per month.
Best family cell phone plans: summary
| Carrier | Plan | Best for | Monthly price (4 lines) | Get started |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Boost Family Plan (5GB data per line) | Parents with teens. | $140 | |
|
|
Cricket Wireless Basic (2.5GB data per line) | Average users / people who want a prepaid option. | $100 | |
|
|
Cricket Wireless Pro (10GB data per line) | Heavy data users. | $180 | |
 |
Sprint Better Choice – Large (12GB shared data) | Average users. | $140 | |
|
|
Sprint Unlimited (Unlimited data) | Heavy data users. | $180 | |
|
|
T-Mobile Simple Choice 6GB (6GB data per line) | Parents with teens. | $160 |
Methodology
We evaluated more than 200 cell phone plans offered by the following carriers: AT&T, Boost Mobile, Consumer Cellular, Cricket, GreatCall, Google’s Project Fi, MetroPCS, Net10, Republic Wireless, Sprint, Straight Talk, T-Mobile, Tracfone, Verizon Wireless and Virgin Mobile.
To determine the best plans, we looked at the monthly plan price before taxes and fees, the price per gigabyte, and features such as unlimited video streaming or rollover data. We only considered national carriers, which ruled out regional providers like U.S. Cellular. For family plans, we looked at plans with at least 6GB of data and calculated pricing for a family of four.
Kelsey Sheehy is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: ksheehy@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @KelseyLSheehy. Stephen Layton of NerdWallet contributed to this report.
This article was updated July 7, 2016. It originally published Jan. 19, 2016.
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