Best family cell phone plan in 2020

The best family cell phone plan should offer unlimited data. Fortunately, families have a lot of options on that front, as the major wireless carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon — feature multiple unlimited data plans for families.

The question, then, is which unlimited data plan should families choose? That’s especially tricky, because each carrier offers different variations on unlimited data, with each plan offering specific perks and benefits. That means the cheapest option isn’t always the best one, as some unlimited plans for families pack in more value for the money.

The best family cell phone plans from the major carriers feature escalating discounts as you add more lines. Families of four can expect to pay between $120 to $220 a month for four lines. If that seems like a wide range, that’s because benefits can increase on higher-priced plans. The average plan costs between $160 and $180 for four lines of data, with the best option hinging upon which carrier offers the best coverage in your area and which features best fit your wireless needs.

Here’s a closer look at the best family cell phone plans depending on your needs.

What are the best family cell phone plans?

The best choice for most families comes down to T-Mobile. The Uncarrier offers a compelling mix of unlimited data at an affordable price, provided you’re willing to live with restrictions on video streaming.

The major wireless carriers now offer different tiers of unlimited plans, with perks escalating the more you pay. T-Mobile’s Essentials plan is usually the cheapest at $120 a month for four lines of unlimited data, but it carries a lot of restrictions and doesn’t fold taxes and fees into that cost. The T-Mobile Magenta plan (regularly $160 a month for four lines) offers much better value to families by covering the cost of your Netflix subscription, adding attractive perks for travelers and keeping the same rate each month by absorbing taxes and fees. T-Mobile Magenta is best family cell phone plan out there.

As for the remaining carriers, the best version of Verizon’s unlimited plan costs more for a family of four than what you’d pay at those other two carriers, but Verizon also lets you mix and match its different tiers of unlimited data for each line of your family plan. Verizon includes a Disney streaming services bundle through its Play More and Get More plans, making those options more attractive. AT&T offers three tiers of its unlimited plans as well,  and like Verizon, you’re able to mix and match lines of unlimited data on a family plan.

Both AT&T and Verizon also have tiered data plans where multiple lines can draw from the same pool of data. Unless you and all your family members really don’t consume a lot of data each month, though, unlimited is the better option.

We’ve expanded our picks to include a fourth option — Visible’s Party Pay plan. While not technically a major carrier — Visible is owned by Verizon — it does offer the cheapest way for families to enjoy unlimited data.

The best family cell phone plans

T-Mobile is our choice for the best family cell phone plan, thanks to its pool of unlimited data for every member of the family and its host of extras. For families, the T-Mobile Magenta plan costs $70 for the first line if you sign up for auto-pay. The second line costs $50, while subsequent lines cost $20 each. That would mean a family of four would pay $160. Note that T-Mobile offers frequent discounts on multiple lines — it’s currently waiving the $20 charge on the third line of data for all of its unlimited plans, which cuts the cost of four lines of Magenta to $140 a month. Check T-Mobile’s website before you commit to a plan to see if any discounts or deals are on offer.

Other factors make T-Mobile Magenta attractive, such as 3GB of LTE hotspot data for Magenta subscribers. If you have two or more lines of data through T-Mobile Magenta, the carrier will cover the cost of a $9 monthly Netflix subscription (or a $4.99 monthly Quibi subscription if you prefer that streaming service). The Magenta plan’s price also takes fees and taxes into account, so the price T-Mobile advertises is the one you’ll see on your bill at the end of the month. Travelers get free texting and one hour of Wi-Fi on Gogo-enabled flights with Magenta.

That’s not the case with the cheaper T-Mobile Essentials plan. Essentials usually costs $120 a month for four lines of data, but you give up the perks listed above. T-Mobile also reserves the right to slow down data speeds on Essential Plans if its network gets congested.

Note that Magenta doesn’t include HD video streaming and LTE hotspot data; instead, video streaming is capped at 480p resolution and your unlimited hotspot data comes in at 3G speeds. For many users that won’t matter, and for the ones who do value those features, Magenta Plus offers HD video streaming and 10GB of LTE hotspot data for an extra $10 per month for each line on a family plan. (It’s $15 if you have only one line.) Magenta Plus also includes unlimited in-flight Wi-Fi through Gogo. T-Mobile is currently waiving the cost of a third line of Magenta Plus, just as it is with other unlimited plans.

There’s two ways to look at Verizon’s four different tiers of unlimited plans. On the plus side, Verizon’s given you the choice to tailor plans to your needs, especially since you can mix and match different plans for your family. On the negative side, it’s hard to keep all these options straight — and the fact that two have the exact same monthly price doesn’t help.

Those two plans — Verizon Do More and Verizon Play More — are among the best family cell phone plans from Verizon, though Play More is just a bit better now that Verizon is bundling all of Disney’s streaming services (Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus) into Play More subscriptions. That plan also gives you six months of Apple Music, and four lines cost $180 a month.

That’s the same price for four lines of the Do More plan, which offers only Disney Plus as a streaming perk. Do More subscribers also enjoy 600GB of cloud storage as part of their plan. 5G coverage is included with both Play More and Do More, which both enjoy 15GB of LTE hotspot data.

As for the other options, the cheaper Start Unlimited Plan costs $140 a month for four lines — $20 less than T-Mobile’s Magenta plan — but Verizon can throttle your speed at any time. Start Unlimited customers get nationwide 5G coverage with their plan, but access to the faster Ultra Wideband coverage costs $10 extra. (Ultra Wideband is included with Verizon’s other unlimited offerings.) 

The Get More plan ($220 a month for four lines) offers the same perks as Play More and Do More — the Disney bundle and 600GB of cloud storage — plus a free Apple Music subscription. Get More also features double the hotspot data of Play More and Do More plans.

Play More, Do More and Get More let you use 50GB a month of data before Verizon can slow down your speeds.

Meanwhile, a Just Kids plan provides another option for parents who want a little more control over their children’s cell phone use. Just Kids lines feature 5GB of LTE data, and unlimited talk and text for 20 contacts. Safety Mode prevents data overages by slowing speeds once your child uses all 5GB, and parental controls let you monitor screen time and set content filters. Just Kids plans require at least one line of unlimited data, with pricing dropping the more lines you add. 

The Unlimited Elite plan isn’t the cheapest option for families at AT&T. But it’s the unlimited plan that stands out, thanks to the inclusion of the HBO Max streaming service. If you can’t go without your Westworld fix, this is the plan for families to get, as it also includes free 5G service, 30GB of LTE hotspot data and HD video streaming, among other perks. AT&T also won’t slow your speeds unless you consume more than 100GB of data in a month. 

Otherwise, Unlimited Extra is the more sensible option, costing a family of four $160 a month. (Unlimited Elite costs a sky-high $200 for four lines.) There’s no HBO Max here, but you do get 5G coverage when you have a compatible phone, along with 15GB of hotspot data.

The budget Unlimited Starter plan has no such perks, and AT&T can slow your data at any time if its network is congested. But families will pay a lower monthly rate with four lines of data costing $140. Unlimited Starter now includes 5G coverage, making that cheaper plan more appealing. AT&T also lets you mix-and-match the different plans, so one person could opt for one of the more expensive tiers, while other lines get the Unlimited Starter option to save money on your overall bill.

Visible already offers a compelling unlimited data plan, charging just $40 for unlimited talk, text and data. But the offering becomes even more attractive when you add more people to your plan. Thanks to escalating discounts through Visible Party Pay, the cost of each line of data goes down when a new line is added. You’ll pay $35 a line for two lines of unlimited data, while four people pay $25 — a total of $100 each month.

Best of all, you don’t necessarily need to be members of the same family to take advantage of Party Pay. Everyone who signs up has their own account and receives their own bill.

There are few perks for Visible’s unlimited plan, compared to family offerings from more established carriers. You get unlimited hotspot data (with speeds capped at 5 Mbps), and that’s about it. 5G service isn’t available right now, but it’s coming soon, using the network of Visible’s parent company Verizon. And the fact that Visible uses Verizon’s towers is another mark in this service’s favor, as you can expect extensive coverage and reasonable speeds.

How to choose the best family cell phone plan for you

Picking the right cell phone plan comes down to balancing the costs of multiple lines of data with the perks each carrier offers. If you do a lot of video streaming, for example, you’ll want to pick a plan that not only throws in a streaming service as a perk (Netflix and Quibi with T-Mobile, a year of Disney Plus with Verizon or HBO Max with AT&T’s priciest plan) but also doesn’t slow your data if you consume a lot of data in a given month.

Because the thing about unlimited data is that it’s not truly unlimited. AT&T’s Unlimited Elite customers will enjoy a 100GB cap, while Verizon’s ceiling is now 50 for three of its four plans. That’s the same as T-Mobile, which has a 50GB threshold before throttling may kick in. The lowest-priced plans at Verizon (Start Unlimited) and AT&T (Unlimited Starter) allow your data speeds to be slowed whenever there’s network congestion. As for Visible, we’ve noted that its speeds don’t always match Verizon’s in the same away, as traffic can be slowed when the Verizon network is congested; however, Visible no longer caps data speeds outside of hotspot usage, which is a welcome change.

We’ve focused on unlimited plans, but both AT&T and Verizon offer tiered data options, too. AT&T offers 3GB and 9GB plans, while Verizon lets you choose between 5GB and 10GB tiers. Families draw from the same pool of data at both carriers. Unless you’re only adding two lines and don’t need a lot of data, the costs savings from unlimited data plans aren’t really substantial. For example, four lines of Verizon’s 10GB data plan will cost you $140 a month, which is the same amount as four lines of the carrier’s Start Unlimited plan.