How to Lower Your Verizon Bill (Easy Ideas!)

When it comes to monthly expenses, your cell phone bill may be one of the easiest places to cut costs. Learn several creative ways to lower your Verizon bill – as well as another option for saving even more money on cell service!

Choose a Prepaid Phone Plan Instead of a Regular Plan

Yes, Verizon offers prepaid phone plans, and they’re much cheaper than their regular plans! 

At the time of publish, current regular Verizon plans run around $65 to $90 per line – but prepaid phone plans run $40-$75/month to start.

If you stick with the prepaid plan, you also earn a loyalty bonus over time. After 4 months, you’ll get a $5/month discount, and after 10 months, that goes up to $10/month discount.

There’s also a $5/month autopay discount starting the 2nd month.

In other words, after 10 months, on autopay, you’d only be paying $25/month for the cheapest prepaid phone plan on Verizon (which includes 5 GB data).

(You’ll need a phone to use with the prepaid plan, so this option won’t work if you don’t have an eligible phone or don’t have the funds to pay upfront for one).

Use the Corporate Employer Discount Program

Verizon offers a monthly discount for certain corporate, government, and education employees.

For corporate employees, you can visit the main discount page. If you’re already a verizon customer, you can follow the prompts for current customers. If not, you can follow the prompts to enter your work email to check if your company is eligible for discounts.

Specific employer discount programs may vary. When we used this on our plan, I believe it was a 15% discount.

Be sure to check your employer, as well as your spouse’s employer (if applicable). In fact, even if your spouse is on a separate phone plan with another company, you may be able to make them an “account manager” of your plan and then become eligible for the discount that way.

(This is what we did when I had Verizon service. However, I will note that verification each year for the employer discount was a huge pain in the butt, likely because my husband’s paystub was in his name and not mine – despite him being an account manager. We were able to get it done each year but it required manually calling in, sometimes multiple times).

Are you a Teacher, Nurse, First Responder, or Military? You’re Eligible for a Discount.

For these specific professions, there are dedicated discount pages: 

• Verizon Teacher Discount 
• Verizon Nurses Discount 
• Verizon Military Discount  
• Verizon First Responders Discount

For all these plans, the current discount at time of publish is listed as: Save $10 with 1 line, $25 with 2-3 lines, or $20 with 4 lines on Welcome Unlimited, 5G Do More, 5G Play More, 5G Get More, and One Unlimited for iPhone plans.

Use your student status for a discount

Are you taking college classes? Whether you’re a full time student or part time student, in undergrad or graduate school – you’re likely eligible for Verizon’s Student Discount. This is one of the best ways young adults can save money on their Verizon bill if they want to stick with their standard (non-prepaid) service plans.

With this discount, you can save $10 with 1 line or $25 with 2 lines on 5G Do More, 5G Play More and 5G Get More plans. Plus taxes and fees. (You can also save up to $10/month on Fios internet plans if you’re looking for internet for your apartment).

Note that this discount only applies to those with up to 2 smartphones or basic phones on a qualifying Verizon monthly unlimited plan. Accounts with 3 or more phone lines are not eligible. 

Sign up for Autopay and Paper-Free Billing

Currently, Verizon offers a discount if you sign up for both autopay and paperless billing. This is noted in their support section.

My guess is that this particular discount may disappear over time as autopay and paperless billing continues to become more commonplace.

But for now, they mention you can get a $10/month discount for each line that has one of these plans: 5G Get More, 5G Do More, 5G Play More, 5G Start, Welcome Unlimited, One Unlimited for iPhone. Use it while you can!

Stick with the Same Phone

If you can swing it, stick with the same phone as long as possible. Often, the largest part of the Verizon wireless bill comes from a monthly payment for a new phone. These payments often stretch out over two years and sometimes lock you into a contract (or else you pay a high fee to terminate).

If you’re able to use a paid-off phone for a while, you’ll save money.

Mobile + Home Rewards Used to Provide Discounts – But Not Right Now

Verizon has a program called Mobile + Home Rewards, which gave a discount if you bundled together cell service and internet service. This led to up to $20/month in total discounts – or if you were brand new to both services, it was possible to get up to $30/month off.

However, as of June 2022, Verizon announced that the program is closed to new enrollments. It’s unclear if they will revive it at some point, or are permanently sunsetting it.

Want to save even more? Switch to Mint Mobile.

*This section contains a referral link.

I was insanely hesitant about switching to Mint Mobile. After all, I had Verizon for more than 15 years, so I was comfortable with their service and knew the coverage was very good almost anywhere that I traveled.

But after seeing tons of ads for Mint, I decided to give it a try. And I am hooked!

It is such a great deal – I was paying about $80/month on Verizon (with the employer discount!), but switching to Mint cost just $15/month (paid up front at $180/year) for the same data amount (4 GB).

Now, I work from home most of the time and am on wifi there, so I may use less data compared to someone commuting into an office for the day. But even the 15 GB plan only runs $25/month; still considerably cheaper than Verizon.

I’ve had this for almost a year, and have rarely run into coverage issues. In fact, the only times my phone has not had service were a) in the center of a big convention center (no problem with wifi), b) at Zion National Park (unsurprising), and c) in half the rooms at my dad’s house in NY (random, but easy enough to move to the living room). 

Otherwise, I’ve had great Mint coverage in all other locations, including when I traveled to Bermuda this past summer!

The Bottom Line

Switching to a low cost carrier will save you the most on your cell phone bill, but it’s understandable that might not be the best choice for you and your family. Verizon’s prepaid phone service will get you the closest to a low cost carrier, but other discounts exist if you need to stick with the standard service while lowering your bill. Good luck saving those dollars!