<p>I am an international student and Ive checking out mobile plans and that stuff. How do family plans work? for example there is a plan on att, it says:" Family cellphone plan, Monthly cost (first two lines) $59.99, shared minutes 550".</p>
<p>Does that mean that if I share those 550 minutes with someone else we would be paying $30 dlls each? Is there a way to set up those 225 minutes per line? or are those 550 minutes available for both and whoever calls the most will spend the most?</p>
<p>According to the [Plan</a> Terms](<a href=“http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/wireless-terms.jsp]Plan”>Terms of Service - Legal Policy Center - AT&T), those 550 minutes are shared between both lines, with no limit on the individual lines. How you split up the cost is up to you. Also note that AT&T adds additional charges to the monthly plan cost: those add up to 20% of the plan cost in my state ¶ plus a $36/line activation fee.</p>
<p>A few providers do allow “family control” that lets you put a limit on the individual lines, but I am not aware of any of the big providers doing that.</p>
<p>FYI, Virgin Mobile (operating on the Sprint network) offers a monthly plan for $35 with 300 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data. If you are interested in texts or web, this plan might be the better option since the AT&T plan does not include texts or data. Virgin Mobile also adds fewer fees: there’s no activation fee and I only get billed a $1.50 extra surcharge, not 20%.</p>