|
|
|
|
|
Phone Collector
Looking for a BYOP family plan to cover a family of 5, including 3 teenagers. All the big providers seem to have family plans for 4. Provider suggestions welcome.
Three of us are currently on Verizon prepaid for a total of around $108/month, including taxes (we are on the older "double data" plans at 16/16/6 gb and not the newer loyalty discount plans). The other two are on Xfinity By-the-Gig, and the cost ranges from $40 to approx. $100/month, depending on the amount of data used. Xfinity runs on Verizon.
We do not have or need unlimited data, but probably could use between 5-10gb per person per month. We are not traveling much due to CV, so coverage is not that much of a concern, but data speeds need to be reasonable and reliable. We do not need calls/texts to Mexico or Canada. We don't need new phones.
Would like to keep costs around $100-125. Is this realistic?
Post Machine
Visible is unlimited everything and would be $125/mo total for 5 lines using Party Pay. Party Pay groups are anonymous groups of 4, so your 5 lines can be in 2 or more groups. But I'd suggest starting with 1 line to make sure Visible's performance is acceptable in your area.
Post Machine
Regarding something cheaper than Visible at $125/mo, Red Pocket offers a variety of plans that could be cheaper if some of the lines use significantly less than 10GB, but otherwise, I think Visible might be the cheapest plan that would allow 10GB/line.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
There are a few that go to 5 lines, but not as many as 4. As Boz points out, you can have your own Party Pay group for 4 people, and another for the 5th. Otherwise, you could always use a different provider for the 5th line, which is what I would do if I decided to put everyone on prepaid (I use < 5 GB/month, so I could just as well be on a few different providers for under $25 per month).
Visible is nice since it's all-in -- $100 is 4 lines, including taxes. If you control the whole party, you're good to go. I know they say everyone pays their own bill, so you aren't responsible for other non-family members, but I am still a little uneasy about the price changing if someone bails out. I'd sooner just put my 5th line on some other plan.
Total Wireless is also Verizon-based, so that's another option at 4 lines for $95 with auto-pay, but I think there is tax on top of that.
Why yes, that is a bag phone
some prepaid brands such as Metro, cricket and boost offer family plan discounts for 5 or more lines but don't recently advertise more than 4 and do limit the number of free or discounts handsets to four.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
If T-Mobile's coverage is good where you live then you can get unlimited talk & text and 8GB per month for $20 on Mint Mobile. If you got a Mint line for each person it would be $100 total.
It's not a "family plan" per se, but the sum of the individual lines looks like more or less what you need.
(The 8GB is a soft cap, it doesn't shut off after 8GB, you get unlimited slow speed after that. There's also a 3GB option for $15, 12GB for $25, or unlimited for $30.)
They currently have a buy 3 months get 3 months free promotion, so now might be a good time to try it.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
Hello Mobile is $85 per month for 5 lines with a 20GB soft cap per line.
My screen is bigger than yours
I have been on Visible for my home internet for 2 months now and it has worked well for me. I am in a party and we lost a member not long ago however another person filled in within 3 hours of losing the former member. Depending on usages for $25/person has many options on many carriers. The main downside is that for most there is a long term commintment to get that rate.
Currently I have the Visible as my home internet (Verizon will not allow me to port my numbers to them, nor have coverage at our work places).
I also have 3 Red Pocket annual plans bought off eBay when they were on sale last month for $299/yr for 20GB/Month, and $199 for 7GB/Month if you do the prepay for a year be prepared to lay out $200-300/line up front.
With the holidays coming up you might find some good deals as well.
Keep us posted on what you end up with.
Sent from my F1 using Tapatalk
My screen is bigger than yours
I have a blue tooth
Cricket 5 lines for $125
Sent from my iPhone using HoFo
I've got more phones than fingers
How are they so much cheaper?Originally Posted by VisionsDivine
$85/month for 5 lines
2nd Month FREE
4G LTE/5G Data
UNLIMITED international calling to select countries
FREE SIM Card Kit
NO hidden fees, activation fees and taxes are included
Connect automatically to 10 million Wi-Fi locations
I've got more phones than fingers
If they aren't in a group of 4 the costs are higher aren't they? So they'd need to group 4 for $100 and find a home for the 5th line with someone else's group. If they grouped 3 and then 2 separately the cost would be higher than $25 a line.
Post Machine
That's not accurate.
The Party Pay groups are completely anonymous, and easily joined/filled using the thread on here or Reddit or other forums. It's VERY easy to pay only $25/mo for any number of lines on Visible.
My son is the only one we know using Visible, but he filled his Party Pay group in under an hour in March, 2020, and has only ever paid $25/mo all inclusive (it was also $25 for the 1st month when he signed up). He also got $100 for porting in.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
I suspect they cut costs by not paying to have well trained customer service. It's hot garbage from all the horror stories I've read about them. I would rank hello even far below carlo slim companies in terms of horrible customer support. I would never recommend this company to anyone, unless they understand upfront about the potential headache(s) that could occur
Phone Collector
I am trying out Hello Mobile as a possible provider. I received the SIM card today and activated it, and went I went online to make sure the account was set up, it showed I had already used 15 minutes of airtime. Now it is unlimited minutes so I am not concerned about an overage, but I was curious about the dozen plus calls that were "received" by my number while the SIM card was in transit.
Their "support" is conducted via Facebook Messenger. I messaged with a support person, who told me that the numerous calls were to "test and validate" the SIM card. When I questioned that, it was repeated. Draw your own conclusions about the quality of support when that's the kind of answer you get.
Separately, it has only been a few hours, but the service seems solid and data speeds are respectable so far. Since we are on wifi most of the time, this may be the route we go. I had never heard of Hello Mobile before, so thanks (so far) to the poster who suggested it.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks