How to score a discount on your monthly cellular bill

Many consumers don't realize that they might qualify for a monthly discount of up to 25% on their cellular bill through an employer or educational discount. The discount is good for your personal account; you don't have to have your phone through work, for example. You can certainly check with your carrier at one of their retail stores, but a quick and easy way is to just check eligibility online. Here's some links to get you started, depending on your carrier:

• AT&T offers discounts to customers affiliated with certain employers, government agencies and educational institutions. You'll need to enter your work or school e-mail address to verify eligibility.
• Verizon Wireless appears to only give discounts through employers. Again, you'll need to enter your e-mail address so VZW can check for a discount.
• T-Mobile USA offers discounts up to 15% for employees that qualify.
• Sprint SERO is something we've covered before, but it's worth another mention. You can save on handset purchases as well as monthly plans here. This may actually be open to just about everyone at this point, but the link I have asks for the e-mail address of a Sprint employee that referred you. A Google search for Sprint SERO ought to help you out here.

Comments

[Rodfather]

My work qualifies for discounts at Sprint. I didn't see any contracts mentioned which may be one difference with the SERO plan (req 2 years). If I didn't get a discount, I'd already be ordering the Franklin CDU-680 EVDO USB modem.
http://rodfathermobile.com/2007/09/21/franklin-cdu-680-review-by-evdoinfocom/
I'm hoping it shows up on the Sprint site soon.

[Jamie Poster]

Wow! That actually worked! I have no idea what my ATT "service discount" will be, but I'll take anything. Thanks for posting this, Kevin. Oh, and in case people are curious, I work for the University of Wisconsin and I'm an existing ATT customer.

[bluespapa]

Yeah, Sprint offers discounts to employees of my wife's company, and possibly mine (but not both). I wouldn't have known to ask, but one time one person at the Sprint store thought of it, and checked.

[***]

No, Michigan State University gets a 15% discount on service and equipment discounts

[***]

Sorry, that is on VZW and it is for students and faculty/staff

[ES]

Firefighters get a discount with AT&T/Cingular.

[Exek]

A couple members of Howard Forums posted a master list of most employee discounts for VZW http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1139413&highlight=master+list
also if you don't have an email account you can still show up at a corp store and show them your work ID and they will make a copy and add the discount to your acct. or you can call and they will fax you the form for you to mail or fax back with the copy of the employee id to get the discount.

[GA]

I am a student at the University of Louisiana and I have a plan with AT&T. When i registered my existing plan with the premium service, they said I qualified for a discount - I am yet to find out how much. But i'll take anything. Thats pretty cool. Thanks for posting this man.

[James]

want a discount? - here is the secret: CANCEL your account - they will do almost anything to keep you - when they offer you something halfway, say "no thanks I will cancel since I can get a better deal through work" (lie) and they will somehow find a new deal that works for you. Been there, done that.

[E.R.]

Hah! I don't qualify but I entered a friend's school e-mail address (he has AT&T and is at LSU) and he does qualifies, however, the information went via e-mail to him so I have no idea what the actual discount is or will be. Sorry! Good luck!

Cheers ~

[Kevin]

Cingular gave me a 5% discount for being a member of an AFL-CIO labor union. I think it continues on AT&T, though I haven't checked the bill for it specifically.

[Amy Alkon]

Here, for union discounts (they make you sign up for a two-year contract, and you have to download a coupon and take it into a store).

http://www.cwa-1062.org/tidbit.htm#AT&T%20Offering%2010%%20Union%20Member%20Discount%20on%20Wireless

[BL]

Indiana University Students get 8% off with ATT/Cingular

[Steven Hughes]

List of 1996 Telecommunications Act discounts and how to get them in this podcast and shownotes:

http://www.mobilityguys.com/2006/04/28/mobility-guys-podcast-1/

[John Moneda]

I just got back from a business trip in Vegas and I found out about a 15% discount for Sprint. It works on every voice plan so you arent limited by SERO. The discount is available to family, friends, employees and dealers of Luxottica (aka Lenscrafters) this is a good discount and saved me over $ 40 a month.

The code is good for existing Sprint customers you can get the discount by calling 866-853-4931 for Sprint or 800-390-9545 for Nextel. The code is Sprint: 0583325597 or Nextel NLUUI_ZZZ

They also have a website to get the discount on new phones.
www.Sprint.com/Luxottica

[The Professional Development Institute]

We are a real estate continuing education provider and must say that your tips here are probably quite useful to our students. As a result we listed a link to this article on our 5 weekly links that our blog readers should check out. Thanks again for posting such a useful article.

[Danielle]

Anyone happen to know if there's a code for New York City Employees to get a Sprint discount?

[Alec]

Fresh coupons and deals related to cell phone & wireless accessories are available here at AT&T Wireless store through Couponalbum.com....!

[Don Arcadio]

What about The Carriers from TExas?
Like Cricket and Pocket?
i pay like 30 dolars unlimited but I'm very poor ;) and i need my discount too.