The Cheapest Cellphone Provider for 3-Line Plans

Making sure everyone in the family has a reliable phone can offer a lot of peace of mind. (And, let's face it, it's also important for keeping everyone entertained on long car rides or in doctor's office waiting rooms.)

Adding more lines often means significant jumps in cost -- but not as much as you might think. The per-line cost can actually go down as you add on family members, especially with the right provider. Here are some of the cheapest three-line family plans I could find.

Cheapest three-line unlimited family plans

T-Mobile is surprisingly competitive when it comes to three-line plans thanks to its ongoing "3rd line free" promotion. But you can get comparable deals from some prepaid carriers, too.

T-Mobile Essentials

Price: $90 a month ($30 per line)

Includes: Unlimited talk and text, plus up to 50GB of high-speed data each (then unlimited data at a lower speed). Unlimited 3G hotspot data included, but no high-speed mobile hotspot data. Also includes unlimited talk, text, data (up to 128 kbps) to and in Canada and Mexico.

Details: This is a postpaid plan that you pay monthly. Requires setting up autopay. Taxes and fees are extra.

Cricket Unlimited

Price: $90 a month ($30 per line)

Includes: Unlimited talk, text, and data. No mobile hotspot data included. Also includes unlimited talk, text, data (up to 2G speeds) to and in Canada and Mexico.

Details: This is a prepaid plan that you pay monthly. Taxes are already included in the price.

Mint Mobile Unlimited 12-Month Plan

Price: $1,080 paid annually ($90 a month, or $30 per line)

Includes: Unlimited talk and text, plus up to 40GB of high-speed data each (then unlimited data at a lower speed). Also includes up to 5GB of mobile hotspot data, as well as free calls to Canada and Mexico.

Details: This is a prepaid plan that you pay annually. Taxes and fees are extra. You'll need to activate each Family Plan line separately, then connect them in your Mint Mobile account.

Save on lower-data prepaid plans

If you don't mind sacrificing the unlimited data, you can find some less-expensive plans that have lower data caps. Specifically, Mint Mobile has some interesting options based on how frequently you pay:

• 5GB 3-Month Plan (for three lines): $225 every three months, which works out to $25 per month per line.
• 5GB 6-Month Plan (for three lines): $360 every six months, which works out to $20 per month per line.
• 5GB 12-Month Plan (for three lines): $540 every year, which works out to $15 per month per line.

Don't forget your cellphone insurance

You can save a good deal of money with a well-chosen cellphone plan. But what about the phone itself? These things are expensive. And so easy to break!

Give yourself (and your finances) peace of mind by paying your family's cellphone bill with a credit card that offers cellphone insurance. All you need to do is pay your bill with your eligible credit card each month and you can get reimbursed if your phone is lost or damaged.

Here are some of my favorite cards with cellphone insurance:

• Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card (see rates and fees)
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees)
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (see rates and fees)
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (see rates and fees)
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (see rates and fees)

Some of these cards carry fairly substantial annual fees, so they're not good picks solely for cellphone insurance. Choose a rewards card that also offers you value in other ways. For instance, some of these are travel rewards cards that come with lots of great perks. The small business cards also offer bonus rewards in useful business categories.

Most of us can't imagine life without our phones. Our budgets may sometimes disagree. Ideally, these examples show you that there are some affordable plans out there for the whole family.