How to Receive a Corporate Cell Phone Discount

A few minutes could save you big money on your monthly bill

By
Adam Fendelman
Adam Fendelman
Writer
  • University of Missouri-Columbia
Adam Fendelman is a syndicated technology writer and senior web designer whose focus was on web analytics and web design among other things.
lifewire's editorial guidelines
Updated on June 23, 2022
Woman selling cell phones in a store
Sean Gallup / Staff/Getty Images

What to Know

  • Call your carrier to see if discounts are available through your employer, then ask for it to be applied.
  • Roadblocks: Company too small, may take 1 to 2 months to begin, some small carriers don't have discounts.

This article explains how to reduce your monthly cell phone bill with a corporate discount.

While there are no catches to obtain a cell phone discount, there are two requirements: You must be employed, and your employer must be on your carrier’s corporate discount list. Or, as a more time-consuming process, you must receive carrier approval to add your employer.

How To Get a Corporate Discount

The easiest way to learn your immediate corporate cell phone discount is to simply call your carrier and ask for it.

Corporate cell phone discounts typically range from 15 percent to 25 percent on each monthly bill. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless offer similar corporate cell phone discounts. You just have to be employed and you just have to ask for it. Even if the phone you're using is an Android phone (no matter who made it: Samsung, Google, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc.), you can still take advantage of these discounts.

Potential Roadblocks

While getting your corporate discount can be as simple as calling your carrier and asking for it, you could run into some problems.

If your company is too small, you might not be on your carrier’s discount list. This discount is usually only offered by larger companies. Even if you work for a well-known company, your carrier still might not have an established discount.

Also, even if you get immediately approved for a discount, you might have to wait for one or two billing cycles for the savings to go into effect. In addition, smaller cell phone carriers and some prepaid wireless carriers may not offer corporate cell phone discounts.

Cell phone carriers are supposed to verify your employment. However, this job verification isn’t always properly conducted. Sometimes you’re just taken for your word.

Reason for the Corporate Cell Phone Discount

Why would cell phone carriers award such large discounts to users who are employed by certain companies?

The major cell phone carriers have business agreements with many larger companies for discounted wireless service. The corporate discount is designed to motivate many employees of a company to either sign up on their own or through a group plan at work.

Was this page helpful?