The pitch: Sign up for an all-you-can-yak plan and never worry about paying over-limit charges again.
The truth: We’re paying almost $20 a month more for our cell plans today than we did five years ago, but we’re not talking that much more. The average family only uses 735 minutes of talk time a month, which is pretty close to a typical family plan threshold of 700 minutes. Even if you live with a bunch of motormouths, you might be better off asking if your carrier lets you pay for extra minutes on an a la carte basis (many do) rather than signing up for a more expensive unlimited plan.
The exception: If you’ve tallied up your usage over a period of months and find that you do gab more each month than other plans cover.