The sad (and funny) thing is you'll often get better deals with a preferred employer discount than the people who actually work at the cellphone companies...

i.e. I get more off my bill than my friend does who works at AT&T.

I'm a student employee at my state college. Does anyone know if I would qualify for any of these discounts??

Verizon acts like I get a discount - get a free phone with a 2 year contract activation. The free phones are the same free phones anyone can get if they get a 2 year contract.

I am getting a 27% employee discount with Sprint for a company I haven't worked for in two years.

Is there a way you can find out whether you'd get a discount if you were to switch to that provider? I'm thinking of switching to AT&T and there would be more incentive to switch if I knew I'd be getting a discount. Alas, their page asks for an AT&T phone number.

@superhalo: I know that Verizon offers discounts to State of California government employees, which I'm eligible for with my .edu address. It's only 15%, but certainly better than nothing. Give your cell phone company a try -- it doesn't hurt to try.

@superhalo:
It's definitely worth checking, but at many places (I also work at a university as a regular employee) you have to be on the regular permanent payroll, not a limited-duration or student employee, to qualify for such benefits. Doesn't hurt to ask!

@superhalo: I heard that if you use consumerist and are a student employee at a state college, then all airtime is free.

I am a lying bastard.

@superhalo:
I'm not an employee of my university - I'm just a student - and I get a discount with T-mobile. Definitely worth checking out.

I suppose that could be true for some companies. I have heard some cellphone companies give their employees free cell service. @RurouniX:

One other one you guys missed:

[www.uscellular.com]

Basically if the corporation you work for has a business account through US Cellular, you may qualify for additional discounts.

@ckaught78: 27%? I thought 25% (which I'm getting) was the max...

Mine company finally mentioned this to me 3 years after I started. Now I get 8% off my VZW wireless bill.

I got the T-mobile Gov't discount rate last year when I called them up asked for it. they did have me fillout a form, but that was no biggie.. And now I'm on a month-to-month basis instead of being on a contract..

@PandaWatch: Yes you definitely can have them check. They will do it over the phone if you call a nearby store and explain the situation to them.

So how do we get the CU rate?

Just tried the ATT&T link with my grad student email account, and it says I am eligible for a discount, which will take effect in "1-2 billing cycles."

What about Alltel? Aren't they a major carrier, along with the likes of Verizon and AT&T? I'd love to see any discounts they may have.

I bet this phone won't get repaired when they open it up and find the kitty indicator sticker has changed color.

@PandaWatch: Easiest way I've found is to walk in to a store and ask the clerk.
It helps that my company is just up the street from the AT&T store, but the person working the desk there knew exactly what discounts they offered for our company.

@CES.GitEmSteveDave: AKA the Nom sticker

Nom nom nom!

@bonzombiekitty: oops. Didn't notice they send the discount to your e-mail address. It saves me 8%.

@zentex: Nope,it's 27%. I just double checked my last statement. The line item is:

Employee Discount Sprint 27%.......... -$18.90

I work at Chase and we get discounts at all the major carriers. Including 22% at Verizon and special discounts on new phones and such. There is also a glitch where I get a new every 2 phone discount about every 9 months. Ive got 4 phones in the last 2 years for all under 100$ including the LG Dare delivered a week before it dropped for 100$. I also got a flier for a Blackberry Storm for 100$ the week it dropped.

I work for ATT but my phone is under Tmobile. I should call them anyways to see if I get a discount.

@ckaught78: genius! I was disappointed my company e-mail didn't work, but did for my old college e-mail!

If you have AT&T, simply plug in your work or school email address (you just have to be able to check it) here:

[www.wireless.att.com]

They will send you an email at that address, you just click the link inside to verify the email works, and then you (hopefully) qualify for the discount.

I can get a 25% employee discount for Sprint - but even after the discount, we're not talking more than maybe $5-10 cheaper per month than the Verizon plan I already have. Still, I called Verizon to see if they would match, but no dice - but they did give me a credit for a few hundred minutes, so it doesn't hurt to ask!

My family gets a discount from my father's work. We also changed our plan when the contract expired to a cheaper plan with less minutes, but we're on ATT and everyone we call is on ATT, and we racked up around 6k of roll-over minutes that we tried to use but couldn't. So my father also got an iPhone with that obligated data plan, and we pay as much as we did before we changed our plans, so it's like we didn't really lose anything. Anyways, these things are really great if you calculate things out. For us, it's like we didn't do anything, but it "feels" like we got a really nice phone with it's data plan for free because of the discount.

SD has a link on their site today that shows how anyone can get a 25% discount on their Sprint bill. I already get 23% off through my work...

@corinthos: Now that would be awesome. If I were T-Mo, I would give you like 75% off.

I'm less then impressed with my VZW gvt discount.

I was looking at the bill the other day and noticed its only applied to the access charge on the main line. The extra lines, the text plans, web plans, etc aren't included in the discount. Sure the access charge on the main line it the main expense but it seems like a cop out to say that the $10 for the extra lines isn't also an "access charge" not to mention the extras that add up that also aren't covered by the VZW government discount.
I know, bad bad consumer on my part, I should of checked earlier.

@superhalo: I go to the University of Phoenix, and I get a 15% discount with At&t using my University of Phoenix email address...

I get 18% off from ATT -- but only for the 'primary' phone. I get nothing off the three additional lines. Oh, this discount is via my employer two-jobs ago.

I recently chatted with an ATT National Account Manager who told me that Coca-Cola gets the biggest discount: a full 50%!!!

CK - meeeee tooooo

Viva la Sprint!

I used to get around 20% off with Verizon, but I cancelled that service once I got an even better discount from my company..

They provided me with a free blackberry w/ unlimited service :-)

Best. Discount. Ever.

@noone1569: Then whip that into a clever marketing scheme!

Even ATT employees prefer T-Mobile!!!

@ckaught78: My company only has an 18% discount with Sprint...yet we have a 25% discount with Nextel.

Its the same freaking company! *tears out hair*

@cynical_bastard:

Correction "Even FORMER ATT employees . . ."

I was getting 20% of my $40 VZW plan, but last year I switched to the unlimited plan and they won't apply the discount to that plan.... too bad, 20 bucks off a month would be nice. I can't really challenge it because I don't actually work at the place anymore (a university), just still have the .edu address

My mom signed my family plan up for her work email at AT&T. I just found out my college gets a better deal. Is there a way to change the discount from her work to my school? I hope this makes sense. Thanks

SD@chipslave:

What's SD? Sorry if I don't know this.

@Robert Jason Cervantes:

Oh sorry... its SlickDeals.net

City of Albuquerque, NM or
Bernalillo County

T-Mobile will give you the Corporate Discount...

Thanks for the tip!

Freelancers! You can take advantage of this too, Freelancers Union offers discounts etc for being a member.
T-Mobile :
Receive 10% off monthly recurring fees, equipment discounts on new activations, and more.

[www.freelancersunion.org]

@corinthos: I'm an AT&T management employee and I get a 50% discount.. look for email talking about the EMO plan (Employee Mobility Offer, I think, and you don't have to dress in all black to qualify). If you can't find it, I'm bw2002.

and for T-Mobile customers, you can go to
www.t-mobile.com/corpdiscount.

Search for your employer and see what discounts are available to you.

Got the same message when I signed up. If you log into your account and check your plan info it should reflect your new rate. I'm saving an extra $8 a month now. @Mary.Westmacott says I-L-L:

Yup, every company I have worked for for the past 10 years has gotten some kind of discount. Always good to check.