• June 16, 2008

Following a similar move by T-Mobile, Sprint is retooling its family plans to woo customers. As of June 15, Sprint began offering a calling plan offering 700 minutes for two phone lines for $69.99 a month.

It also unveiled unlimited voice and data family plans of 1,500 and 3,000 minutes, respectively, for $129.99 and $169.99 a month.

PALI Research analyst Walter Picky estimated the new plans could save a family that uses a lot of minutes $45 over Sprint's old plan, $60 over a similar plan offered by Verizon and $45 over a similar AT&T plan.

Earlier this month, T-Mobile began offering nationwide calling, text, picture and instant messaging for a flat rate. The first line is $99.99 per month, and each additional one is $49.99.

The new family plans extend the price war that kicked off earlier this year when the major wireless carriers began offering $99.99 flat-rate unlimited plans for individual subscribers.

--Mark Walsh