@hstraf wrote:
I am playing just over $300/month (not including tax) for our family plan. It includes unlimited text/voice and 20gb of data, which I can split however I want with up to 8 phones registered in the plan. (It was previously only allowed 4 phones, but I got them to change it to 8 when I called them a few years ago and said I would switch to another provider if they didn't give me a few extras.)
I switched another phone I have for work (not in our family plan) over to Public Mobile last year, just to test things out... and things have been very good. Solid reception and no problems. So now I am considering to switch all of us over. Some of the kids don't need much, so I'm thinking the $10 or $15 plans would be good.. which would allow a bit of $$ to be saved.)
It really sucks about not being able to manage everything from one account control panel, however. 😞
Those shared data plans are a marketing scheme of the past. If they work for you, then stay where you are. In any event, managing 8 separate accounts with Public Mobile can be a handful until you get used to it. I run 5 myself, so I know a little bit about juggling many balls in the air so to speak.
In any event, your average cost per line right now is $37.50 per user. With Public Mobile I definitely see a savings opportunity. If all member in the family were to take the $40/5GB plan, you would pretty much break even with auto pay. The savings comes from getting plans with less data for those who do not need 5GB per month. The flexibility of Public Mobile is that you can switch plans each renewal, so you are not locked into something that is not suitable.
The one difficulty I see with managing so many lines is with setting up auto payment. If all lines were renewing on the same night and 8 separate requests for payment were to come from the same merchant, the credit card company would most definitely locked down the credit card on suspicions of fraud. A discussion with the credit card company about this may be required or use different credit cards/stagger payment due dates. In my own case, I have 5 different renewal dates for the accounts.
Long story short, the savings potential is there, but some work is needed to achieve it.
