If credit cards have supplementary cardholders who can share the credit limit, cellular phone plans also offer shared plans more commonly known as family plans. This type of plan offers the sweet promise of value for money for as small an amount as $10 to $20 more per month that a single subscriber is used to shell out.

The value lies in providing two lines of cellular service combined with the newest cellular phone deals usually offered for free. Other freebies include cellular phone accessories such as belt clip, hands free headset, in-car chargers and more. Cash back rebate incentive programs are also offered. Since these usually have to be claimed by a specific date, it is always advised to review the rebate information.

Basically, the allotted minute allowances are shared between the subscribers. However, modifications on this notion have been introduced by companies. This is the reason why it is important to read the details of the family plans offered very carefully.

There are five leading cellular companies that offer family plans, namely, Verizon's Family Share, Cingular's FamilyTalk, Sprint's PCS Family, T-Mobile's Family Time and Nextel's Team Share.

Verizon has the unlimited Night and Weekend home airtime minutes when calling a cellular phone that is also on the Verizon Wireless Network. Night hours start at 9:01 PM to 5:59 AM on Weekdays. On Weekends, it starts at 12:00AM Saturday to 11:59PM Sunday.

Cingular offers Rollover Minutes. This refers to the buildup of unused minutes which can be used on the following months. This expires after a year. This is a great deal because it is often difficult to track the number of minutes consumed in a month. Rollover minutes will certainly maximize the value of money spent because the unused time can still be consumed within a year.

Sprint has the capability to take advantage of its nationwide fiber optic network through the PCS Fair & Flexible America. Long distance calls are free when the calls are made on its nationwide PCS network. It is always a drawback on the budget to incur long distance charges. This offer is very convenient for business people who are always traveling.

T-Mobile has the Nationwide Digital Roaming. This prevents the consumer from obtaining expensive roaming charges on calls within its national coverage network. Calls between T-Mobile to T-Mobile have unlimited minutes and doesn't consume the family monthly allotted minutes. This is a very sweet offer because on top of the monthly minutes that can be made on calls on other networks, one can certainly take advantage of the unlimited minutes for calls that need more time for idle talk without being pressured to cut talk time because of expenses.

Nextel also offers Free Nights and Weekends. This corresponds to Mondays to Fridays at 9:00 PM to 6:59 AM and Fridays at 9:00 PM until Monday at 6:59 AM. The Group Connect service links a group of up to 25 people on a single call without consuming the allotted cellular allowance for the month. This is similar to having a conference real-time without expending the allotted time.

It is always wise to review the details of the plans offered by such companies before availing of one. The only setback of such plans, especially those that offer rebates and free cellular units, is that one may be tied up to a year or two contracts which are difficult to disregard as easily.