Hey Cell Phone Plan Gurus

I know there is at least one person on here that is very well-versed in cell phone plans. I'm hoping for some input.
My wife and I currently have Sprint and have been happy for 13+ years. Now though, the in-laws want us to switch to Verizon and let them tag on to the plan. They can't go sprint because they live in a valley, and there is NO cell coverage there except Verizon.
So, to be clear, I'm looking to have 4 phones, all sharing data and such. What good deals are out there, and how do we go about sifting through the sea of info out there?

Since they live somewhere that Verizon would otherwise be their only option I'm going to throw this out there.

If you're looking at a light use data situation and aren't super attached to iPhones look up ProjectFi.

20 dollars for one line and 15 dollars for each subsequent line. Data is 10 dollars a gig anywhere in the world and it will route phonecalls and text through your home wifi connection. Billing is ultra transparent compared to AT&T and Verizon.

When out and about it uses T-Mobile and Sprints networks as well as several others for signal.

I average about 50 dollars a month for my wife and I and it was super useful when I was travelling all the time.

Republic wireless works like Project Fi, and has been on the market for 4+ years? I've had my phone with them for 2 1/2...

DrBoost wrote: They can't go sprint because they live in a valley, and there is NO cell coverage there except Verizon. So, to be clear, I'm looking to have 4 phones, all sharing data and such. What good deals are out there, and how do we go about sifting through the sea of info out there?

Are you referring to their house, specifically, that is in a valley? Or is everywhere that they normally go also in said valley? If the latter, I'm not sure that you have options other than Verizon itself and any prepaid carrier it sells airtime to.

T-Mobile can be an option if they're willing to use WiFi calling when at home and don't necessarily need to use the phone much while they're in the valley. I'd check the coverage map for T-Mobile, but if it looks OK make sure you get a phone that supports Band 12, because a lot of the longer-range LTE uses that band.

IIRC Walmart's pre-paid cell plans can use Verizon depending on your phone, but that's prepay and not a "plan".

Personally I'm not a big fan of Verizon simply due to the cost - we went from a 2 line plan with 5GB data (aka "unlimited but we'll throttle you at 5GB") on Verizon for $160-ish to three lines on T-Mobile including "unlimited" hotspot and cheap/free calls to certain countries abroad for $165. And most of the time we get discounts on the bill because two of the lines stay below 2GB data/month.

I refuse to go to Verizon. Granted I've had tmo since 2001 (yes, my first phone actually said voice stream on it, and Catherine zeta Jones left me a voice mail welcoming me to tmo) but Verizon, no. Jist....no. I went shopping for potentially a new plan when I moved to florida. Verizon guy was super hot on that he could beat tmo. And then.....he found out just what kind of customer I am. I said unlimited data, 3 lines 3 new phones. He didn't get unlimited data. He's like I have a 10gb......no motherberkeleyer I said unlimited. You know that top 1% that might get throttled because they exceed a 30gb cap? Yeah, that's me. 50gb/mo on average. Even tmo can't match what I have now (same data since 2014, reps are like, I've never seen one like this) . However- tmo has consistently had the best prices and overall service for my ideals. I'm never far from Wi-Fi, so even in a dead zone I have phone.

DrBoost wrote: I know there is at least one person on here that is very well-versed in cell phone plans. I'm hoping for some input. My wife and I currently have Sprint and have been happy for 13+ years. Now though, the in-laws want us to switch to Verizon and let them tag on to the plan. They can't go sprint because they live in a valley, and there is NO cell coverage there except Verizon. So, to be clear, I'm looking to have 4 phones, all sharing data and such. What good deals are out there, and how do we go about sifting through the sea of info out there?

Why don't they just get Verizon? I have found that tag along's on my service does not really save anyone anything and it just makes my cell bill bigger.

I implemented the "cut the cord" policy with my cell plan. In short, I now tell everyone to get your own plan to fit your needs instead of me having to make my plan fit the needs of everyone else.

Cell phone service is like underwear you really should not share it.

If you want all of the latest deals: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/

Lots of great info there on plans and how to get the best deal on the network you want.

Boom Mobile is a reseller and has some decent deals on VZW. It would be worth looking to see if you could go through them and have a group plan with phones on different networks.

<--- another Project Fi user. I've had it a bit over a year. Wife just joined this month. Avg. bill was ~$32 all in for me, will probably be around $50 with her on the plan as well.

Home calls can go through wifi so signal strength is a non issue. You can also call & text straight from your Gmail on other devices.

Data prices when roaming abroad are really good too.

I'm not sure why they want to tag onto someone else's plan, but I don't think we're going to do it. We have sprint, it's been very good for us for the last 11 of the 13 years. It will cost us more money to switch to Verizon, and there's another family member already on Verizon. I'm all for helping out, but when it'll cost me more money EVERY MONTH, and there's another option, well, that's the way to go.

Thanks for the input, I'll pass it along to them.

I have nothing to add except that when I had my parents on my plan, my 60 year old mother managed to use more minutes and send more texta than me, my wife and my dad combined. Luckily it was unlimited.

logdog wrote: I have nothing to add except that when I had my parents on my plan, my 60 year old mother managed to use more minutes and send more texta than me, my wife and my dad combined. Luckily it was unlimited.

With sprint, the plan originator can divvy up and limit the data for each line. I don't know if Verizon does that, but that would have been a deal breaker if they don't do that.

"Good deal" + Verizon does not compute. Sorry.

I'm a big fan of Cricket, but that is ATT network, not VZ.