For any of you who might qualify for AT&T’s military discount, I highly recommend it. Our 4 cellphones plus the one remaining ipad (mine) with unlimited data, with all taxes and junk fees for the total 5 lines is $151 .
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We’ve kept the kids on our plan. I think D1’s husband is on his parents. Maybe once they have kids and need to get their kids phones, we will kick them off :).
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Just to clarify in case anyone is confused, T Mobile 55+ has three levels. The cheapest, Essentials, allows no more than two lines, but both Magenta and Magenta Max allow up to four lines.
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We are a six line family so we stick with the kids. Best deal this way.
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Must be a regional thing. Here’s the first line of the terms and conditions here:
As for saving money, that’s not the point. When do you let or even require a child to be independent? He’s 25, maxes his 401k, maxes his Roth, maxes his HSA, invests in a taxable account and still has enough money to consume all the physical and experiential things he wants. There are LOTS of things I could pay for, but he deserves to live his life.
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I think they just neglected to change the tiny print when they made changes to their plans last February.
That’s new! 
Still, in my opinion, there’s a point in a person’s life where they need to carry their own weight no matter the deal.
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For us at this point it’s about taking steps in every way to preserve family money. If we had a kid who was slacking in life or unable to support themselves that would be one thing. But we’ve got one who is pulling extra shifts on a COVID ward to help out her fellow nurses. . If we needed money ourselves we’d ask for reimbursement but would still made the decision to pool costs to save money for all.
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I just kept my (adult) D on my plan (and she’s still on it). It doesn’t cost that much, and I don’t mind. I try to kick in where I can to ease her financial load. She’s still paying down student loans from 12 years ago, and that $52 a month goes a long way for her.
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One compromise here (which we did for a while) is to keep kids on your plan and have them reimburse for the extra cost. Or divide evenly if you want parents to get a bit of the savings too.
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Another CC thread where opinions and situations will abound - no one “right”, many “right” for many reasons.
Some families have the resources to keep their offspring on their plan without worry. Others don’t and freeing up that portion of $$ each month makes a difference for the parents.
Some offspring at age 25 are working a job that allows them the comfort of paying for all their needs and then some. Others (often because salaries for professions sadly so widely range) can really benefit from gradually getting all their bills paid or staying on parent’s account but paying their portion.
Really no harm in any situation - as long as both ends - parents/offspring - are good with the arrangement. If a parent is bitter about still paying, then it’s time for an honest conversation.
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We decided to pay down our child’s student loans and they were responsible for their cell phones, car insurance and Netflix.
Our daughter’s boyfriend, his parents pay for the phone and car insurance and other incidentals. But he has lots of school loans. That he pays on.
Personally I feel when my kids are taking better vacations and living in a more expensive house, maxing out their 401k and make more money in their household, then they should be ok paying their portion of their phone.
But like I say, it’s up to each individual family what they do. I want to go on nice vacations now that husband is retired. Like the ones my kids go on. 
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Our kids are still on our cell phone plans – I think removing them would cost them a lot more than it would save us. They also are on our Netflix and probably use Amazon Prime. Both are pretty well paid but are also living in SF. I have not worried about billing them.
If we incur other expenses on behalf of the kids, we have an easy way of solving it. Each kid has one account over which I have signing authority. So, we can have their account transfer some money to mine (which I let them know about in advance). ShawD’s credit card wouldn’t work for some dental work and I was looking to spend a certain amount on a card for Elite status, so I paid for it and then we will transfer the money back to me. ShawSon’s Costco card somehow is charged to our account, so every few months, we just transfer that.
I am just not going to worry about the phone plans etc.
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They are on their own plans for years now.
I just don’t feel like worrying about nickels and dimes. And I loathe dealing with cell phone and cable companies, so I’m not in a hurry to switch.
He’s pretty much independent otherwise. He’s still on our dental insurance. I already am paying for the high plan with the same company and would be whether he was on it or not. His health was far superior with a better company so he’s on his own there…he pays for all car, rental, etc
He does use our Amazon prime but we use his Hulu. He offered us Disney but we already had it
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We aren’t worrying about the $$$$. S bought a lot of items for our house and wouldn’t let us reimburse any of them—food while we he was staying with us, new desk for me, desk & chair and daybed for D, plastic containers to organize everything , and more.
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Since my kid has such a good rate…maybe I should ask to be on the kid’s plan🤣
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H, D, S, and I were on a family plan (Sprint) from 2004-2017. Before 2004, D and I shared a cell phone with 100 minutes. That was going to be impossible when she was going to college 1400 miles away. 
In 2015, when SIL joined our family, he also joined our family plan. In 2017, D and SIL were not getting good service in the hospital, so they were ready to switch carriers. Now H, S, and I are on their (Verizon) family plan. I have offered to pay D, but she has refused. She says that I paid for her phone and auto insurance for so many years that we will probably never be ‘even’.
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One D is on my T Mobile plan. Other D is on her in-laws T mobile family plan. S and his wife share a plan. I carried my three for a long while on AT&T and am so glad for unlimited data on T Mobile at reasonable cost. But what is Magenta?
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Magenta is just what T Mobile calls its signature unlimited plan. I think they used to just have one unlimited plan, but now they have three: Essentials, Magenta and Magenta Max, for both regular and 55+. It’s good to review their plans periodically on their website to see what might have changed. For example, if you’re 55+ but still on a regular plan, you should call or visit a store to get that changed. Only one needs to be 55+ and it could save you a lot of money. Several months ago, I discovered that I should be able to get free Netflix but wasn’t able to do it online. So I called and discovered I had to switch to the Magenta plan from what I was on (same price, coverage and everything, but it was an old plan). Now I have free Netflix, and also have Apple TV+ free for a year from an email I received, but not sure if that is still being offered.