Consumer Reports is one of my favorite personal-finance magazines, and for a variety of reasons. Not only does it help readers find quality products at great prices, but it also gives tips for saving money by changing behavior. Even the CR letter column is great!
For example, in the most recent issue (March 2009), there's a letter from Richard Guibilo that offers a tip for saving money on cell phones:
Your January report “Best Cell-Phone Service” should have advised readers to ask about discounts based on the company they work for. Most cell-phone carriers offer a cooperative discount to employees of a variety of companies. When I discovered this, I switched carriers and got a 20 percent discount on my calling plan and a deal on two cell phones, all without having to mail in any rebates.
Intrigued by this tip, I searched the websites of five major U.S. cellular carriers to find their corporate discount programs:
- Alltel employee and school affiliation discount program
- AT&T premier program
- Sprint employer discounts program
- T-Mobile corporate discount program
- Verizon employee discount program
To verify eligibility, these websites will ask you to enter your e-mail address. If your employer (or school, in some cases) qualifies, you may receive discounted plans or equipment. It's a quick and easy way to reduce recurring montly costs!
Author: J.D. Roth
In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money — and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals.
Wow, this is the first time I have heard of this.
This can save a lot of money for a lot of people!
Yup. When I graduated and moved I got a new cell phone and the guy at the store I went to was aware of this. He noticed the logo of my new employer on my T-shirt and mentioned the discount. It saves us about $20 per month plus quite a bit on accessories.
It is one of the things I mention to new people when they hire in. Our newest guy has a plan he shares with his parents and siblings. He saves >$50 per month just by putting his name first instead of his parents.
You know, I’m usually very, very nervous about doing anything with my cell phone account, for fear it will extend my contract or something even worse.
But, I put in my school email address for Verizon. I’m only a student, but apparently their system doesn’t know that or care. I got the 15% state employee discount.
I’ll take it.
I just found out about this recently as well. I now get an 8% discount with verizon because of my company. It isn’t much, but every little bit helps right now.
I set this up about a year ago and get a 6% discount off my Alltel bill just for working at a hospital. My company doesn’t actually participate in Alltel’s corporate discount (we have a corporate discount with Sprint), so I assume an employee of ANY hospital would get the Alltel discount.
this is awesome! i had no idea. i already have the cheapest plan and the free phone from att, but i can get more than $5 off/ month b/c of my school affiliation. it’ll be perfect for when i re-up in May. they charge an $18 re-up fee before my 2 year contract is up, which ends up being more than the savings of 3 months, but starting in May it will be excellent. Thanks!
AT&T also gives AAA (American Automobile Association) members an 8% discount on their monthly bill.
Actually, i’m amending what i said earlier. i talked to an customer service rep at ATT and there is an $18 ATT upgrade fee no matter what for this service. So it’ll save money, but you have to shell out $18 before that happens.
I work for a small non-profit. How would they go about contacting AT&T to sign us up?
This was posted nearly a month ago, I saved 20% : http://consumerist.com/5125567/get-an-employer-discount-with-any-cellphone-company
I assume discounts aren’t cumulative (employer + AAA for example) but has anyone asked?
@Shara – Nope. They are not cumulative. Asked them this while getting a new cell. Only one discount at a time. Get a list of all the discounts you are eligible for and choose the highest one (which is what I did).
Even if you employer doesn’t offer a discount, chances are your bank will.
Bank of America has an entire site called “Add it Up”. If you shop online or order a service online and go through the BofA portal, you get a certain % off or as cash back in your BofA account.
Here is the link:
https://additup.bankofamerica.com/jsp/04-homepage.jsp
I’ve used it before, and it helps. If you are already spending the money, you might as well get some cash back from the purchase.
http://missmoneypenny.squarespace.com
@Mike Panic
No fair! That’s cheating. Consumerist was recently purchased by Consumer Reports, so now they’re going to get all the good stuff first. :)
I didn’t see that at Consumerist, but as soon as I saw it in this month’s issue of the magazine, I knew I had to share.
I get 15% off for being a federal government employee, and another 8% off (i think) for having USAA insurance. I have Sprint
hey, the discount for my university went up to 15%! thanks for posting this, i was only getting 10% before!
My husband noticed this in the benefits stuff for work a few months ago and we switched carriers to get what ended up being a much better rate. We actually got a good deal on a new a car a few years ago using an employee referral program (his employer had a deal with Mazda) too. His company is a sponsor of the state zoo where we live too so we got a discount on an annual membership there too. And we routinely get discounts on tickets to theme parks, water parks and other family museum type places by going through his work. If you work for a company of any size I highly recommend looking into this kind of stuff. The admin that we go through to get the discounted tickets to things says that very few people ever take advantage of those deals. And, yes, they are generally better than the AAA or other group discount.
Like Krista, I’m a federal employee and receive a %15 discount. Mine, however, is from Verizon. It’s not much, but over several years it really adds up!
I save 20% through my company and it’s a decent amount for three of us. When I first found out about it, all I had to do was call and tell them I was an employee … no extended contract requirement or anything like that.
(The company has several other discount arrangements, too, that have worked out well for others after they reserched them thoroughly; e.g., appliance purchases, gym memberships.)
Shirley
Anyone using Verizon notice the discount only applies to “plans” over $39.99? So only the main line on the family plan gets the discount – not the $5 text plans or the $10 second line. Weak. The phone rep blamed the FCC, but Sprint gave me a discount on the voice minutes, texts, everything.
Has anyone else run in to this?
I get a 9% discount through my company for my AT&T plan. stephanie, next time they want to charge you an activation fee of $18, just call and ask if they’ll waive it. I was prepared to get myself a new phone for $10 from the website, but when I called and asked, I got the same phone for both myself and my wife at no charge (saving $20) and asked them to waive the activation fee for both, which they did (saving an addtional $36). This was independent of my employee discount (ok, I did call and say I wanted to cancel first). The 9% discount only saves us about $7 a month, but every bit helps!
We also get the 15% discount from Sprint for being active duty military, but we no longer get the USAA discount. They took that away when we got the bigger discount. Can Krista confirm for me that she’s still getting both?
I love my cell phone discount – 20% is great.
I wrote about other ways to save money on your cell phone bill. Feel free to click on my name and check the site out.
This is a pretty good think. Being informed is our best card. :)
Open a checking account thats linked to your savings. Deposit money into your savings so your savings can benefit from it by earning interest. When bill time comes (at least 10 days before due date transfer the money from your savings into checkings account) be careful though some banks only allow up to 3 free transfers from savings to checking. Any more advice feel free to send me an email.For financial help just visit at http://my-bailoutcash.com/
I still get a 10% discount from a company I worked at five years ago . . .
My brother in law had an excellent money saving tip for his staff in a very poor reception area, he just bought a load of walkie-talkies with no airtime costs. Once the initial captial costs was taken care of communication for free (other than eletricithy to charge up)
waldo:
Yes, I have a family plan with Verizon, and the discount only applies to the “core plan,” which is the $59.99 part. The $9 add-a-line and all taxes/fees are not subject to the discount.
I can verify I get both my USAA Affinity discount along with my employer’s discount with Sprint. It is only 12% for employer and 4% for USAA, but it is still better than a sharp stick to the eye!
My husband and I get 20% off our joint Verizon bill because he works for Staples.
My company also offers discounts from AT&T and Verizon. The best thing is not the discount, but the customer service for ‘businesses’. One time I had to call AT&T to dispute a charge, and I was VERY surprised to hear: “Thank you for calling AT&T Customer Services for Businesses” (or something to that extent). No wait, got someone domestically who speaks English perfectly and got my issue resolved in 3 minutes. It was a wonderful experience.
I haven’t had a cellphone for a few years now… obviously, while you save most that way, it’s not practical for everybody. Does your country have phonebooth everywhere like mine? Do you need a cellphone for your work? In many cases, just like with not having a car, it’s just not possible.
But being frugal isn’t about renouncing everything, either. Even if you don’t /need/ it, you’re allowed to /want/ it, if you can afford it.
So I’m glad to see a deal like this one. It looks like it could be useful to a lot of people.
No, we do not have phone booths available here (suburbs) and old booths in the towns/cities have mostly been taken down. Even if they came back one cannot realistically work or raise a family without a phone #. (necessary for work, school, doctors, etc.)
I got ~23% off when I worked at Kinko’s when I signed up with Cingular (tells you how long ago that was). Vonage works fine for me now, but it’s the main reason I signed up for a cell phone back then.
Pay as you go (T-Mobile) is the best deal I’ve found–if you don’t need any bells and whistles. Just pay $50, get 400 minutes and it last me around 6 months. So, that is < $10 a month and includes phone and texting. You can buy the phone from the company you use or via ebay or cellular phone website that offers tri or quad band unlocked phones.
I can’t find the Sprint deal on the USAA website anywhere. Is it still available?
Great post! It’s always good to save a few bucks!
I haven’t been a student for years, and my employer is a small startup company. I tried submitting my work email to Verizon, but it didn’t qualify for a discount. I also called my bank and my insurance companies, no dice there either.
Anything else I can try?
For some reason, I never thought to do this. Looked it up and I get 15%! Thanks for a great tip.
FYI. Just got a confirm from Sprint for a 19% redux on my bill.. Once again, GREAT POST!
Okay, this is funny to me, but at my small non-profit, we’ve signed up for a family plan.
It’s the exact opposite of this deal (being a “family” and sharing minutes is cheaper for us than a regular plan), and it just goes to show that you should investigate every option out there.
Verizon offers a discount to volunteers with certain organizations. I don’t remember the specifics – whether or not it had to be a certain type of organization or what. I just remember there is one.
okay, i work at a university in boston, and i only get 2% off with AT&T. seriously. two percent. i didn’t even notice a difference on my phonebill. i called and asked, and they told me that it was two percent, and that it was a standard discount.
i’m not one to turn down free money ever, and i appreciate the fact that i’m saving money, but honestly? two percent? what gives. i talked to my HR rep but they’re useless so i guess it is what it is.
Our company has a work/life benefits website where you can see all of the discounts you can get. It does save us money — usually covers the tax/fees that are added onto cell service.
I just upgraded my phone today and the guy asked me where I worked. I told him and got a 19% discount off my monthly bill- Woo hoo!!
For Sprint discounts, email me at am[email protected] and I can show you what to do where you 1) do not have to sit on the phone for an hour with customer service and 2) you can get a free gas card by setting up your discount….
3) you can apply the discount for up to 5 lines!!!!!
Every penny counts these days, doesn’t it….
I just wanted to add another comment in light of reading others’ posts – for the one guy who complained about the 2% discount…it IS ridiculous, isn’t it? The problem is that your specific company’s HR department can do nothing…you have to talk to ATT/VZW/Sprint or whatever carrier and generally they must negotiate a better discount directly with the company…so it’s kind of sticky…and right now I doubt carriers will really be into negotiating discounts…but then again, who knows?
I did this and I litterally cut my cell phone bill IN HALF!!! By doing this I saved 500$ a year!!! And to top it off I gota better plan then I did before switching to my employee plan!
To see if you qualify for a discount with AT&T Wireless enter your email in this link:
https://www.wireless.att.com/business/authenticate/index.jsp