Cell Phone Package

another thought -- decide what you will do about the texting charges -- pay the unlimited up front or per text?

D.,
Our family uses T-Mobile. My husband checked them out and they had the cheapest plan. We have 4 lines and added texting to our teenager's phone.

Occasionally we experience dropped calls, and some areas we don't get reception inside a house (have to go outside to make a call while visiting grandmother or my sister in Colorado), but it's not too inconvenient because we only visit them for a short time.

keep us posted about what you choose and why!

A.

I havent had any problems with my Metro PCS service and it is unlimited minutes which became a must with teens. My mom had $100's of dollars of overages until she got it for my 16 year old sister.

My husband and I have been with Cingular for years. It is free to call anyone with a Cingular phone, which all of our friends and family do. Plus they have roll over minutes, what minutes you do not use from that month roll over to the next month. But, there are a lot of packages and plans out there.

I have a T-Mobile plan that uses the 5 FAVS. The 5 numbers you call the most are unlimited, they don't count against your regular minutes. So even though I have 600 minutes a month, I don't used nearly that many because the five numbers I use the most are "free". My 600 minutes a month is 49.99 or you can get 300 for 39.99. We've even cut off our land line, we thought it was wasteful to have both - has worked out great so far.

My husband and I too have t-mobile. While I have found that they have been the cheapest whe have decided they are "the network with the most dropped calls" We have 1000 anytime minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile and our bill is 64 and change a month. This month will be the first time that we have gone over but it was because our home phone was out and I was on the cell phone FOREVER to get it fixed. Vonage SUCKS!

Hi D.,
We do the Sprint Family Plan. We can talk to each other-or any other Sprint customers- free at any time. Plus our nights start at 7 PM. You get the 2 lines for $60/ month. I have had Sprint for almost 10 years, and had great coverage and customer service.

D.

I recently moved here and my husband and I purchased Metro PCS phones, do NOT use them. The service is terrible.
The best service provider that I have found is Cingular, their prices are very reasonable, and they have a huge calling network, so alot of your calls are free. You may get your daughter to check around and see who all of her friends are with, that way she will not run up the bill. Overall, cingular is my top pick.

I have metro pcs with unlimited minutes & i would get it for my 13 year old, too. She has a plan that her dad pays for right now...but if it was ever my dime, I'd put her with metro pcs, too. She is constantly costing my ex-husband hundreds of dollars because she goes over her minutes or download too many songs or games. With metro pcs, you pay them a certain amount to be put into a special account that will be used only for downloads. Once the money (I'd recommend $20 or so) is gone, no more downloads. It really helps to alleviate headaches! Good luck!

I'd recommend T-Mobile. The rest of my family has Cingular and hates it and I've been with Sprint before and they are outrageously expensive and not pleasant to talk to if you ever need to call Customer Service. T-Mobile cannot be beat in price and minutes. The 5 Faves is a good idea if everyone else you know has a different service, but the regular family plan is good too. I have the 1000 anytime minutes. It's $69.99 for two lines and it has unlimited nights/weekends. You would pay that same amount at Cingular for 700 minutes. And I've never had any problem with T-Mobile. As a matter of fact, when my son was born, he was in the NICU so I was on the phone alot with concerned relatives and had a $600 phone bill...they actually wrote off some of the charges because of my situation. I know they did this too with my cousin, when her father died. They've also been voted #1 in Customer Service out of all the cell providers. Just try and stay away from Sprint. I had nothing but problems with them. They actually renewed my contract without my signature or permission and tried to charge me the $500 cancellation fee when I switched to T-Mobile and the only way I got them off my back was to file a Better Business Bureau complaint.

hi! i have a 15 yo daughter as well. the first plan i got her was thru t mobile, it was 300 anytime minutes and free weekends for 29.99. i added unlimited text messaging for 14.99. it worked ok for a while, then tmobile offered me 3000 anytime minutes for 49.99. i also added unlimited texting to that package and now i never have to worry about expensive overages whether its talking or texting. with tax and everything it is around 70 bucks. hope that helps! L.