there isn't reallya simple way to join an existing account to a framily
False. I was under that impression myself as well, but my brother in law walked into a store and they did it no problem. I figured its worth a shot, I walked into a store, said I wanted to join this ID #'s plan, and within 15 minutes I walked out on their plan (I've been a Sprint customer since 07).
They didn't seem to have any trouble doing it at all!
And if you're switching over from Sprint you have to get a new phone...
Also false. If you have a Sprint phone already, use it! All the people I told about this plan so far have switched from Sprint and are continuing to use their current phones. I'm looking for a cheap replacement on ebay for mine because it is breaking.