Cell Phone Family Plans for Professionals

When you think of family plans, it's probably in terms of adding cell phones for the kids. But these economic times, a family plan might mean the difference between two professionals each having their own cell phone and having to share a phone. Share a phone? That doesn't work so well for business. Let's take a closer look at those family plans.

The name "family plan" is probably why you haven't considered this option for professional use. These service arrangements should more properly be called shared minutes plans. But family plan is the name that has stuck, so we'll use that.

The first thing you should know is that sharing a plan does not mean sharing a handset or sharing a line. It's only the minutes that are being shared. You each have your own phone and phone number. But you get only one bill per month and it can be a lot less expensive than two completely separate cell phone bills.

Some people use all the minutes they can get. But what if 900 minutes a month are more than you actually use. In fact, what if 900 minutes is more than you and your significant other both need in a month? That is a likely case if one of you is a light duty user while the other is a heavy user of wireless minutes.

Of course, if you need more minutes you can always upgrade to a larger service plan. The price you'll pay will be less than having two identical service plans and two cellular bills each month. With a rollover plan you may find that even if you have a heavy usage month you'll still have plenty of minutes available on a shared basis.

There are family service plans available for all the major carriers and many, many cell phones available free or at a big discount. Some even offer cash back rebates even though don't pay for the phone in the first place. You don't have to get two identical phones. Each of you can select the model phone you want. You just need to be on the same family plan with the same carrier. Check out the special offers and variety of plans available at Cell Phone Plans Finder now.

Here's another way to save on your monthly phone expenses. Do you make calls to other countries? The extra charges from your cellular carrier for this may be considerable. But by using a pre-paid international calling service you can call anywhere in the world from your cell phone at rates from just a couple of cents per minute.

Also, consider a toll free number if you have clients calling you from outside your area code. They're pretty cheap and offer their own voice mail to email and fax to email reception. That's very handy for professionals on the go.