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Cell Phone Family Plans

solsovlysolsovly Registered User regular
edited November 2008 in Help / Advice Forum
I was looking to get three iPhones on a family plan (myself, two parents). It is a bit too pricey.

45 for Voice
20 = 10 for two additional lines
90 = 30 x3 for data plans
155 before my 21% corporate discount.
~122 not even including text messaging.

This would be my first phone with a data plan. I was shocked to find that you need to purchase an additional full price data plan for EACH phone.

It looks like every major US carrier does not offer a family data plan. Can anyone confirm this or share their family plan? I'm not interested in 1 line plan options.

solsovly on

Posts

  • DaenrisDaenris Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    As far as I know there are no providers that offer combined/shared data plans. Each phone needs it's own data plan.

    A few months ago I was looking for new phones and came to that conclusion.

    Daenris on
  • solsovlysolsovly Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Daenris wrote: »
    As far as I know there are no providers that offer combined/shared data plans. Each phone needs it's own data plan.

    A few months ago I was looking for new phones and came to that conclusion.

    That's disappointing. That is quite a bit of change to check email and watch youtube videos from your phone :(

    Thank you for the response Daenris.

    solsovly on
  • CrashtardCrashtard Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    I have a blackberry through Alltel on a plan with someone that has a regular phone, and her phone receives the benefits of the data plan. Can't get an iphone though *sad*.

    Crashtard on
    Robert Khoo wrote: »
    I pinky swear that we will not screw you.

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  • DaenrisDaenris Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    Crashtard wrote: »
    I have a blackberry through Alltel on a plan with someone that has a regular phone, and her phone receives the benefits of the data plan. Can't get an iphone though *sad*.

    This looks like it might be true, however after just checking they charge $40 for an additional smartphone line on a plan, not 0 or $10 like most other carriers do. So adding another iPhone to an AT&T plan costs you $10 for the line and $30 for the data plan, Alltel just charges you the $40 for the additional line.

    Daenris on
  • DjeetDjeet Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    We're paying about $155/month after taxes and fees for 2 iPhone lines, unlimited data on both, 200 txts on one, 1500 txts on the other, with 1400 shared rollover minutes. My iPhones are 2G, the plans are a little different from the 3G ones. AT&T won't let you share data (at least not on iPhone).

    If they had metered data plans I'd do that, as I never crack 20MB/month data, but I don't view video online: just news sites, blogs, forums, email, and txts.

    Djeet on
  • Dulcius_ex_asperisDulcius_ex_asperis Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    AT&T is currently advertising a family plan for $30 a month (in addition to your regular plan) for unlimited messaging. It says it includes unlimited media messaging (video/photos) and unlimited texts, as well as unlimited IM. You may want to call and see if that's offered to new customers, though. I don't know who is eligible for it, it just pop up when I'm logged in to my AT&T account.

    [edit] I don't know if the iPhone is eligible or not, but it's worth asking.

    Dulcius_ex_asperis on
  • DaenrisDaenris Registered User regular
    edited November 2008
    While the iPhone may be eligible for that (I don't know), it doesn't include anything about data/web access, so you'd still need a data plan on top of it to be able to use the web.

    Daenris on
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