By Steve Jackson
Telstreet

Many families have experienced one of the drawbacks of having everybody equipped with a wireless phone: the stack of bills that has to be paid each month.

The paperwork can get to be daunting if just Mom and Dad have phones. If the kids have phones as well, the pile of bills can begin to look like a mountain.

The good news is that it's not necessary to pay a separate bill for each phone. In fact, many wireless carriers allow you to add an additional phone to a single service plan.

Under these arrangements, called "Add a phone" or something similar, two people can share a single service plan. For instance, if your plan gives you 500 free minutes a month, you can split those minutes between two phones in whatever manner you see fit: 250 minutes for each phone, or 300 minutes for one phone and 200 for another, or however you want.

Under an add-a-phone plan, each phone has its own unique phone number and operates just as any other wireless phone would. The only difference is that each month, one bill arrives for multiple phones.

Keep in mind that most carriers will charge you an extra fee to share a single service plan with multiple phones, and the option may not be available for every service plan. However, the cost of the service plan and add-a-phone fee is usually less than it would be if you bought a separate plan for each phone. And you don't have to pay two bills every month.

If you're interested in an add-a-phone discount, be sure to contact your carrier