As smartphones become more widespread and popular for business purposes and enjoyment alike, phone companies are considering family plans to keep all charges on a single bill.

We’ve heard some rumors that Verizon Wireless may be the first wireless company to adopt a family plan-based pricing strategy for data. For an additional $9.99 a month per additional line, smartphones may be able to take advantage of a lower cost combined date plan.

Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo commented, “We need to make sure it’s a win-win for customers and for us,” he said. “So we will continue to work on that. But it’s important to note that we are a premium priced service in the market. And we will continue with that strategy, and we’ll continue to win.”

Ralph de la Vega, AT&T’s head of wireless, has mentioned working on a shared plan as well, but has not commented on a potential launch date for the service offering.

A family data plan could help households save money on their overall cell phone costs, similar to the way they can already save by sharing minutes and text plans on all major carriers in the United States.

This type of plan could also benefit consumers who would like to use more than one device with a single data plan. For example, many people now have a smartphone and a tablet computer (or Mi-Fi device).

Currently, many plans allow subscribers to use their smartphones with “tethering services.” This mean they can use their smartphone as a Mi-Fi device and connect up to five devices to the wireless hot spot.

It’d hard to say what the cost of these new plans will be, as phone companies have a recent history of raising prices on data plans as a method of boosting revenue.If nothing else, consumers can hope for the convenience of a single bill for all of their wireless data plan costs.

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