It’s a fact; kids love mobile phones and tablets. According to research conducted by Childwise in 2018, 91% of children aged 11 have their own mobile phones. With more and more children wanting the latest smartphones to play games, use social media and text their friends, bills are steadily increasing for parents. Fortunately, networks have cottoned on to this new generation of mobile phone users.  So several now offer plans to help keep costs low. Here’s a guide to family plans and how they might be of use to you. 

What Are Family Plans? 

Family plans, also referred to as shared plans or family sim deals by some networks, are phone contracts designed to help you manage – and afford – mobile phones for the whole family. Family plans offer financial savings by consolidating multiple tariffs or providing other benefits. They also allow the account holder better control over all the phones in the plan with features like parental controls or data caps.   

Why Get a Family Plan? 

The primary advantage of a family plan is financial. It is often much cheaper to sign up for one shared plan than it is to buy individual phone contracts for every family member. If you have more than two people with a mobile phone, you will certainly save money. But there is another benefit too. 

Only one person (the main account holder) needs to sign for a family plan contract. This can be really helpful if one parent has a low credit score, or if you want a monthly tariff for any under 18s in the house.  

The Types of Family Plans Available 

There are two types of family or sharing plans available. 

The first is a discounted family SIM plan. On this type of plan you sign up for one contract with one SIM card and any additional SIMs will be discounted. For example, the first SIM in the plan might cost £18 a month, but the second will only cost £16 a month, the third £14 a month and so on. Generally, the more SIMS you add, the greater the discount. 

With a discounted family plan, everyone has their own allowance of data, minutes and texts and you’ll save a lot of money each month. HOWEVER, every member of the plan will need to be on the same tariff, which won’t work if one of you needs lots of data and the rest need very little (or none at all).  

The second type of plan available is a shared plan. Everyone has their own SIM with a usually unlimited allowance of texts and calls. Data, however, is shared between all phones in the plan. The data allowance is usually quite huge so there should be enough to go around. 

This type of plan is great if you have some family members who use more data than others. These plans are often more expensive than discounted plans but you will still be making savings compared to buying individual contracts. To ensure the data pool is fairly shared, you may wish to put some casual house rules in place or limit screen time for younger users.  

BT’s Family Plan 

BT’s Family Plan is widely considered the best family sim deal of its type on the market. For straight-up discounts it can’t be beaten – especially if you already have BT broadband installed at home. 

The BT plan is cheap and convenient. You start with one contract at the regular price. You can choose a 12-month SIM only plan or a 24-month phone contract and receive a handset too. Once that first phone is set-up, you can either immediately add extra SIMS or wait until later. There is usually a 20% discount for extra SIMs (though this does vary). Additional SIMs are on a 30-day rolling contract so you can add or get rid of them with ease.  

There are a few disadvantages to the BT family plan. One, everyone must be on the exact same plan. And two, the discounts are for SIM-only; you will not receive discounts on phones.  

Family plans are also offered by 02, EE, Three, Vodafone and Tesco Mobile. The savings and benefits vary widely between networks, but it’s worth checking out each offer to find the one that best suits you and your family.