Everything To Know About T-Mobile's Family Plans Before You Sign Up

T-Mobile has a lot to offer for new and existing customers as America's most awarded 5G network. It also offers some of the most affordable family plans on the market, with a range of added perks and benefits. With so many plans available, however, it can be hard to decide which plan is best suited for your family.

There are many reasons why now is a good time to consider joining the mobile giant. T-Mobile has recently enhanced its 5G data coverage in certain towns with the introduction of its Ultra Capacity 5G technology. There are also several discounts and perks available in T-Mobile's Magenta plan, among other plans with three or more lines.

Every family plan offered by T-Mobile provides different benefits, from high-speed data usage to varying mobile hotspot speeds. With many families requiring top data speeds for mobile gaming, streaming, and everything in between, it's important to choose a plan that fits your requirements and budget. Here's everything to know about T-Mobile's Family Plan offerings before you sign up.

T-Mobile's Essentials is a great budget-friendly option for cutting costs on your family's phone bills. The Essentials plan, priced at $90 for three phone lines (excluding taxes and fees) offers everything you need keep your family connected, including unlimited talk, text, and 4G and 5G LTE data. New T-Mobile customers can also get a 3rd line free of charge.

Despite this being the cheapest option, it does come with a few limitations. Mobile hotspot speeds are limited to 3G (or 2G if you're in Mexico or Canada). You may also experience lower speeds if using more than 50GB of data per month. T-Mobile offers "premium data" allotments per billing cycle, which offers consistent data speeds even under congestion. T-Mobile Essentials customers can enjoy 50GB of premium data per billing cycle. 

It's important to note this plan doesn't offer any of T-Mobile's add-on services such as Scam Shield or T-Mobile Family Mode. However, you can add an extra line for an additional $10 per month with T-Mobile's Essentials 4 Line Offer. Overall, T-Mobile's Essentials Plan is a low-cost option that's one of the cheapest family plans on the market.

If 50GB of high-speed data isn't enough for your family, you can double it in T-Mobile's Magenta plan. The plan comes with the same unlimited text, talk, and data as the Essentials Plan, but Magenta customers can enjoy 100GB of premium data to stream and watch content uninterrupted.

The Magenta plan costs $140 per month for 3 lines or $160 for 4 lines. If 100GB of high-speed data isn't enough, users can enjoy unlimited premium data with Magenta MAX for $170 per month (for 3 lines) or $200 per month (for 4 lines). This plan also offers 40GB of high-speed mobile hotspot data if you're using any of your devices as a hotspot. Unlike T-Mobile Essentials, taxes are included in these plans.

The Magenta plan also offers many entertainment perks, with an included Netflix Standard subscription and six months of Apple TV+ for free. For families that demand fast data speeds, the Magenta plan is a strong choice.

One thing that makes T-Mobile's Magenta plan family-friendly is Family Allowances. The add-on, free of charge for Magenta customers, allows you to monitor your children's mobile usage and enable schedules of when they can use their devices. You can manage Family Allowances at any time by logging into your T-Mobile account online. By default, the parent line is the primary account holder, which can manage schedules and set usage limits on all lines.

To make sure homework gets done, you can choose to limit talk time and texts on certain phone lines. Plus, with "Always Allowed" numbers, you can make sure that your child always has access to important contacts during restricted periods. Another parental control is the Current Allowance tool, which lets you set limits for game and app purchases on the Play Store or App Store.

If you want to keep track of your children when they're not at home, T-Mobile offers the FamilyWhere app to primary account holders for an extra $10 per month. The app works similarly to Samsung's Find My Mobile app, except it doesn't rely on internet connectivity — it instead uses data from the T-Mobile network. The FamilyWhere app is currently available to Android users only.