How To Lower Your AT&T Cell Phone Bill

There are a few extremely easy ways to lower your AT&T bill. They include downgrading your plan, skipping a new phone trade-in, getting rid of add-on perks, and signing up for autopay (that’s a $10 monthly discount, just like that).

Other ways to lower your AT&T bill include taking advantage of bundle discounts, family plans, discounts for various jobs, Lifeline program eligibility, as well as the good ol’ threaten to cancel trick.

Finally, switching mobile providers is never out of the question. Popular MVNOs are competitive and could cut your monthly price by a lot.

However, be aware that while AT&T does not lock you into contracts, you might have to pay an early termination fee if you purchase a device through them.

In a nutshell, here are eight tips to lower your AT&T cell phone bill:

• Pay less with an MVNO: Pay half the price for the same coverage.
• Downgrade and simplify: Downgrade your plan, don’t trade in for new phones, rethink add-ons, and sign up for autopay.
• Bundle with internet service: Connect your AT&T Wireless plan to an AT&T Fiber internet plan for 20% off the monthly price (save over $245/yr).
• Take advantage of employer, organization, and student discounts: Don’t miss out on discounts for different jobs, students, seniors, and affiliations.
• Add a line or more: Family plan discounts make your wireless plan cheaper. You could pay $25/mo. per line for 4 lines.
• Use Lifeline discounts: If you’re already participating in a government assistance program, AT&T could lower your cell phone bill.
• Ask for the retention/loyalty department: Threaten to cancel or ask to extend a promo.
• Cancel and return: Come back as a new customer to take advantage of new-customer promo pricing.

A common move for AT&T mobile customers is to switch to Mint Mobile, a competitive and very likeable MVNO (two words: Ryan Reynolds).

Here are the best things you get with Mint Mobile:

• T-Mobile’s network, which has some of the most fantastic 5G and 4G LTE coverage
• Option to bring your own phone
• Unlimited talk and text
• No overage fees
• Mobile hotspot feature at no extra charge
• 7-day money-back guarantee for all purchases

Mint Mobile plans start at $15 to $35 per month for a range of three to twelve months, and data from 5GB to unlimited data plans.

AT&T mobile plans start at $50.99 to $85.99 per month and offer unlimited data on all plans.

However, both Mint Mobile and AT&T slow speeds if you go over your data usage or during high-traffic hours. So take the feature of unlimited data with a grain of salt.

How else can you shave off some dollars from your AT&T plan?

We’ve got a list of questions and answers to help you.

• Question: Are you paying for the most expensive plan with the biggest data allotment?
• Answer: You probably don’t need to. Consider downgrading your plan to pay less per month. Read our article about how much cell phone data you need.

• Question: Are you looking to trade in your phone for something new and shiny?
• Answer: Don’t. That’s going to add dollars onto your wireless bill and it might cost you an early termination fee if you try to switch to a different provider before you complete your payment plan.

• Question: Do you really need those AT&T add-ons?
• Answer: Probably not. Pass on the AT&T HomeTech Protection, car Wi-Fi, international plans, and Asurion accident protection. Unless there is a specific reason you need to pay extra for these features, keep that money in your pocket for now.

• Question: Are you signed up for autopay and paperless billing?
• Answer: Please do it right now. When customers sign up for autopay and paperless billing, a $10 monthly discount is applied to your bill.

When you connect your AT&T Wireless plan to your AT&T Fiber internet plan, you receive a 20% discount off your monthly price (that saves you over $245/yr.). AT&T Fiber internet is one of the top internet providers out there. If you happen to have it, or if you’d like to sign up for it, you’re in for a big discount.

AT&T Fiber internet plans come with their own perks as well, so there could be ways to snag even more perks than just that 20% monthly discount. Read our honest AT&T internet review to learn more.

AT&T has a major list of discounts for different jobs, students, affiliations, and seniors.

These people can save $10 per month per line with AT&T Unlimited Premium PL plan:

• Business employees (eligibility depends on where you work)
• AARP members
• Union members
• College students
• Military, veterans (also receive a 25% discount on the best unlimited plans with the Appreciation Offer discount)
• First responders (also receive a 25% discount on the best unlimited plans with the Appreciation Offer discount)
• Nurses and physicians (also receive a 25% discount on the best unlimited plans with the Appreciation Offer discount)
• Teachers (also receive a 25% discount on the best unlimited plans with the Appreciation Offer discount)

The AT&T Unlimited 55+ plan offers one line for $40 or two lines for $35.

Here’s what you get:

• Unlimited talk, text, and data in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada
• AT&T ActiveArmor mobile security
• 5G access
• Unlimited text from the U.S. to 150+ countries

For every line you add, the cheaper your AT&T cell phone plan gets. Family plans are the way to go.

New customer promo: Bring your own phone and purchase the family plan with four lines for $25 per month per line for 36 months (a total of $100 per month).

For existing AT&T customers, the AT&T Unlimited Premium PL plan (arguably AT&T’s best wireless plan) gets cheaper with each line. This plan gives you:

• Unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data that doesn’t slow down based on how much you use (BIG DEAL!!)
• AT&T ActiveArmor advanced security
• 60GB hotspot data per line per month
• No extra cost for unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data in 20 Latin American countries
• 4K UHD streaming available
• Option to save up to $10 a month extra through your work or organization

So grab your brother, sister, mom, dad, husband, or wife.

Grab your (trusty) roommates.

Grab the people that are basically family.

The more, the merrier with AT&T Wireless plans.

Life is expensive lately. And it’s not going to suddenly NOT be expensive.

If your income is limited, AT&T honors the discounts offered by the Lifeline Program to reduce your bill.

Lifeline is a federal program that lowers the monthly cost of wireless phone or internet services for qualifying customers.

Here are the discounts you can get with Lifeline:

• $5.25/mo. (starting) discount on your bill
• $25/mo. discount for qualifying customers on federally recognized Tribal lands

Customers could qualify for Lifeline based solely on income.

You could also qualify if you or someone in the same household participates in the following federal assistance programs:

• SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps)
• Medicaid
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Federal Public Housing Assistance (FPHA)
• Veterans Pension and Survivors Benefit
• Tribal Programs (and live on federally recognized Tribal lands)

AT&T also offers unique assistance to domestic abuse survivors through the Safe Connections Act (SCA) to help survivors separate their phone line(s) from their alleged abuser. Through the Lifeline program, survivors experiencing financial hardship can also qualify for an emergency communications benefit of $9.25 for six months.

The moment has come to discuss The Phone Call. It’s time to talk to a real human over the phone.

Sometimes, all it takes is calling up AT&T’s retention or loyalty department and trying either of these two angles:

• Let them know you want to cancel your service … unless they can lower your bill
• Ask them to extend your promo pricing

Either way, it’s good to know your mobile service options since you can use it as leverage. If you find other plans that are actually cheaper or have great intro rates, you should bring that up to an AT&T rep. The fact is, you don’t need to be paying an arm and a leg for your cell phone bill. Nowadays, there are cell phone plans for under $20.

AT&T also has a strong presence on Reddit. You could try sending a PM at https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=atthelp

On AT&T’s policy, there is no specific time frame that outlines when you can return to AT&T as a new customer. It’s probably a good practice to cancel and try again within a month, though some sources cite as much as 24 months.

Pro tip: If you sign up in your wife or husband’s name, then technically, the plans are for a new customer.

MVNO stands for mobile virtual network operator. Some cell companies rent access to networks from T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. These tend to offer much cheaper cell phone plans than the major providers while giving customers access to the same high-quality network. However, MVNOs typically have lower network priority than the main network providers. At times of congestion, this may result in slower speeds.

There are endless MVNOs to choose from. And they are the secret weapon for paying less on your cell phone bill.

Whether you are looking for best rural coverage, best performance, best value, or just the cheapest plans you can find, an MVNO is your golden ticket.