Mobile phones are an essential part of modern living allowing us to communicate with friends and family whilst on the move, but as your family grows costs can get prohibitive. We want our children to have access to a phone, if only for emergencies, but the cost of all those contracts can soon mount up. As they grow into their teens, you can guarantee they will be attached 24/7 to their Smartphone, texting and using social media sites. Finding tariff’s that are best suited to all of the different members of your family can be a time consuming exercise. Could there be value in bringing all of your families mobile phone use under one roof? What might the other advantages be of such a solution?
All of the UK’s major mobile providers offer packages and bolt-ons that can be made to work for the modern family. You may have an existing relationship, or perhaps the signal is stronger in your region with a certain provider. Either way all of the big mobile phone companies have mobile phone deals that can see you saving straight away. Don’t worry if the deal that attracts you most is with a network you are new to; porting your number to a new carrier is a very simple task.
Orange.
Orange offer a family plan scheme called Your Group. Each member must have a separate contract, but costs are shared via a single itemized bill and calls between members are free. The key account holder must be automatically top up a given amount, but all the other accounts can be cheap pay as you go. Orange also offer an emergency call service when a users credit has run out; one 60 second call and two 30 second calls –very good to know.
O2.
O2’s Bolt On’s can be made to work very well for a family. The key contract holder must pay a £7.62 monthly fee and they can then choose four other O2 customers to form a group. Within this group texting and calls are free. O2 also provides shared calendars with text-based reminders that can be a real time saver for busy families.
Vodafone.
The relevant Vodafone package is called Vodafone Family. One user pays £7/month that grants free calls for a group of up to six people. Unfortunately this package does not include text messages.
T Mobile.
T-Mobile offer Family Booster that allows a group of up to five people to talk and text for free. The fee in £5.10/month, which is paid by the main account holder. A fair usage policy is applied to the free calls, but the allowance is generous and more than adequate for family usage.
Combining your phone tariffs like this with a single provider can be a great way for modern family to save money. You will know that your children will always have a phone for emergencies and you can fix this cost more effectively allowing better monthly budgeting.
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