MetroPCS 's Family Plan Rocks

It seems as though unlimited carriers are getting in on the family plan bandwagon. Granted, there's no minute sharing (try dividing by zero if you think that this is possible), but it's easier to bill two, three, four or five customers together instead of separately, especially if they're all on your service, hence the discounts Pocket, CricKet and now MetroPCS are handing out to customers for setting up multiple lines of service as a "family plan" on their network.

The spotlight is on MetroPCS because their family plan is just plain sweet, especially when you get four or five people on it.

Granted, local + long distance + text messaging + calling features (Caller ID, Call Waiting, Voicemail) for $40 per month may seem a bit high if you're spoiled by Pocket, or CricKet competing with Pocket, but the story changes when you add lines to the mix. You don't just get a discount on the additional line...for the second, third and fourth lines on a plan, each line takes $5 off the tab for ALL lines. So two lines are $35 apiece, or $70 total. Three lines add up to $90, four for $100, five for $125. When I saw the 4-lines-for-$100-per-month pitch I thought there had to have been a typo somewhere; even Pocket would charge $35 per month for that sort of plan, though Pocket comes with picture messaging. Their family plan, though admittedly higher-spec than MetroPCS's, gets you three lines for $100, not four.

So the effective cost for the second line on the plan is $30, the third line $20 and the fourth line a crazy-low $10, the price of an add-a-line feature on contract plans, where minutes have to be shared. Apologies for overreacting, but that's just insane if you can get four people on one bill, or a whole family using the service.