Our Walmart Family Mobile Plan Review and Experience

When I learned about the Walmart Family Mobile plan I had no clue what it was, well other than it was a cell phone plan, so off we went to our local Walmart store to find out for myself. Once I found the Family Mobile kiosk I asked the Walmart employee what the difference was between this plan and a contract plan.

I learned the difference between a contract phone and a non-contract phone. We have always “rented” cell phones because we have a contract with another cell phone provider so it was quite an eye-opener for me.

Contract Cell Phone Service

Instead of purchasing the phone you sign a one- or two-year contract with a cell phone provider. Thus what I call “renting” a cell phone. You own it eventually but it might take one or two years. The cell phone provider absorbs some of the cost of the phone and you pay a minimal charge. Some phones can be 1 cent while others can cost you $199 but it’s still a fraction of the actual cost of the phone if you bought it. Then you purchase a monthly plan. You can’t cancel whenever you want. You have to wait until your contract runs out or pay an early cancellation fee of usually $175.

Non-Contract Cell Phone Service

Basically, you purchase the phone and then pay for the monthly plan. You can cancel anytime without penalties. You do have the pay for a full month of service I believe, although it could be pro-rated for the time you use when you cancel it. You can also purchase “minutes” on cards at Walmart if you don’t want to sign up for a Family plan.

With the Walmart Family Mobile plan there are a group of affordable phones to choose from right at the store and you can also use an existing phone you already own.

Even though our kids are grown, two of them and our daughter-in-law are on our existing cell phone Family plan with another cell phone provider. When your kids grow up and are on their own they still like to save money and having a family plan is great for everyone because it saves money. We don’t mind having them on their plan as long as they pay their bill. They are very good at that and it saves everyone money.

So, right now we have 5 people on our family plan. Each person pays around $70 each month to get unlimited plan that includes unlimited talk, text, and Web.

To test out the Walmart Family Mobile plan we purchased the LG Leon LTE phone because we wanted the web capabilities and a phone that would take better photos. This phone was around $79 so it was quite affordable. I also saw cheaper phones for $20 like the ZTE Zinger or the Alcatel Evolve 2 at $34 that would be perfect for a tween or teen just starting out with a cell phone of their own. If you have your own phone you can just use it as well.

What do you get with the Walmart Family Mobile Plan?

The Walmart Family Mobile plan allows you to have up to five lines on the same account. You will need to buy a Starter kit for each phone you want to activate. The Starter Kit has the SIM card you need to put in the phone and costs $25.

The Walmart Family Mobile plan has two prices: $29.98 OR $39.98. Each plan comes with unlimited talk, text, and data. The $29.98 plan gives you 1G of LTE (4G) data to use for email, video, photo sharing, Twitter, Facebook, and more and the $39.98 plan gives you 3G of LTE (4G) data. If you want to add another line to the account the cost is even cheaper at $24.98 for each additional line

After comparing our existing cell phone Family plan to the Walmart Family plan, I see the potential savings is huge – $30 a month per person!

Activating the Walmart Family Mobile Plan

Activating the phone is super easy. I went to the Walmart Family Mobile website located at myfamilymobile.com and activated it. You can also activate it through a toll-free number they give you in the Starter Kit. Online it only took about 5 minutes to setup. Once you activate the phone you are given a number and a temporary password are sent to the phone by text message. From there you can just log into your account on the Walmart Family Mobile and you are good to go.

One thing I already like about the Walmart Family Mobile plan is how easy it is to use their site and how you can also pay your bill through your phone or at the kiosks at Walmart stores.

The test will come over the next month as I use the phone and see how good the service is. The Walmart Family Mobile is on T-Mobile network. Before you even decide to get this plan they give you a brochure that shows the coverage in your area. For us, the coverage is good.

Walmart Family Mobile Plan One Month Update

We’ve been using the Walmart Family Mobile plan for about a month and I wanted to follow up and share with you our experience

Signing up for the Walmart Family Mobile plan was super easy. It only took about 5 minutes and I did it online through their easy-to-follow myfamilymobile.com website. I also found out that I could easily transfer my existing phone number to the Walmart Family Mobile plan.

Once I charged up the phone and turned it on, I immediately started looking through the documentation to learn how to use it. I wasn’t familiar with the Android system but it was easy enough to figure out.

I received an automated text message from the Walmart Family Mobile plan on the phone that reminded me of my phone number.

Setting up the phone number was easy. Getting the Internet to work took a little bit more time and I struggled with it for about 2 hours. I could never get it to connect and I wasn’t sure who to call to get help so I visited the Walmart site. I learned that I go into any Walmart store or call 1-877-760-8760 to get help but I decided to utilize their website to see if I could troubleshoot the problem myself.

Their online tutorials and troubleshooting section is great but for this problem it took me awhile to pinpoint exactly what I need to type in the search on their site to solve my problem. Eventually I found what I was looking for and once I went through the steps my Internet started working immediately. It hasn’t had any problems since I set it up.

In case you have the same problem connecting to the Internet using the Walmart Family Mobile plan, here are step-by-step instructions from their website to help you solve the problem.

Verify and update the APN settings:

• From the Home screen, press the Menu key.
• Tap Settings.
• Tap Wireless & Networks or Wireless Controls.
  Note: Depends on software version.
• Tap Mobile Networks.
• Tap Access Point Names or APNs.
• If there is a T-Mobile APN, touch it. If not, press the Menu key, and tap New APN.
• Verify and update the following settings for the Data APN:
  • Name: T-Mobile
  • APN: web.omwtoday.com
  • Proxy: < Not set >
  • Port: < Not set >
  • Username: < Not set >
  • Password: < Not set >
  • Server: < Not set >
  • MMSC: http://wirelessfour.mmsmvno.com/mms/wapenc
  • MMS proxy: < Not set >
  • MMS port: < Not set >
  • MMS protocol: WAP 2.0 (Most phones do not have this field)
  • MCC: 310
  • MNC: 260
  • Authentication type: <Not set>
  • APN type: <Not set> OR Internet+MMS (depending on software version)
• Press the Menu key.
• Tap Save.
• In the list of APNs, delete all others that appear.
  Exception: Do not delete the FOTA APN.
  To delete an APN, follow these steps:
  • Taph the APN you want to delete.
  • Press the Menu key.
  • Tap Delete APN.
• Verify there is a circle next to the remaining APN to indicate it is activated.
• Perform a soft reset.
• Test the data connection and access the web to verify it is working correctly

Once I got the Internet to work I started using the smartphone to do all kinds of things. I downloaded the Twitter, Instagram, Dropbox and even Words with Friends app. It was easy to download apps using the Google Play market. All you need is an existing Google account. Log in with that and start downloading apps. If you don’t have a Google account you can create one for free through your Android-based phone.

Paying the Bill: When my bill was due I received an email to let me know that I could pay it online. They notified me a couple of weeks ahead of time so I knew it was coming. I also received a text with the exact amount I owed – which was pro-rated since it had not been a complete month since I signed up – and it also told me I could pay by texting my account number to 611 through the phone itself. That is really convenient!

Connection Speeds: I found that I was able to connect to 4G a lot of the time and when it wasn’t connecting to 4G it would connect to 3G. I have this same experience with my other cell phone provider so it is comparable. Walmart uses the T-Mobile backbone so it is a reliable option.

When I setup my phone number on the Walmart Family Mobile website I also created an account. Now I just log in to pay the bill and I can also see how many minutes and how much data I have used.

Overall I am happy with the Walmart Family plan so far. Have you used the Walmart Mobile Family plan before? Share your experiences below.