T-Mobile FamilyTime Plus

The FamilyTime Plus plan from T-Mobile is a plan that can be shared between 2 and 5 phone lines on a single account. The plan costs $99.99 for the first two lines and $9.99 for each additional line. You get 2000 minutes that can be used during daytime hours, which run from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM Monday through Friday. The plan includes unlimited night and weekend minutes, unlimited calls to other T-Mobile customers, caller ID, conference calling, call waiting and voicemail. You also get free long distance and roaming. Additional minutes cost .35 cents each.

This plan's closest competitors are Sprint's Power Pack Family Plan with 1400 minutes, AT&T's Nation 1400 FamilyTalk with Rollover plan and Verizon's America's Choice Family SharePlan with 1400 minutes. These plans all come in at 6.4 cents per minute, compared to T-Mobile's cost of 5 cents per minute. As you can see from the chart above, T-Mobile plans tend to be cheaper per minutes than competitors offerings.

Amongst T-Mobile plans you can spend $30 per month more to get the FamilyTime Ultra plan, which comes with 3000 minutes and costs 4.3 cents per minute. You shouldn't necessarily pay too much attention to cost per minute however, as total cost is just as important. It does you no good to pay more money for minutes you will never use.

You can also take a look at T-Mobile's myFaves for Families 2000 plan. For $10 more you get the same number of minutes and  the opportunity to make unlimited calls to 5 phone numbers. Each line can choose their own five. You give up unlimited calls to other T-Mobile customers. You may want to consider this plan if you find yourself making most of your calls to the same small circle of people most of whom are out of the T-Mobile network.

The FamilyTime Plus plan from T-Mobile with 2000 minutes is a good choice for a family that has a couple of moderate to high users or several low to moderate users.