DEAL: Make $125 in AT&T referral credits

Now that you've qualified for the AT&T premiere discount plan, gotten your 200 free monthly minutes, and gotten your 200 free SMS messages, you must feel pretty smug. You've milked AT&T dry with all your slick deals, huh?

Oh no you haven't.

AT&T offers a $25 AT&T gift card for every person you refer to AT&T. Have a friend that wants to get an iPhone?? Great. If you serve as their referral, not only do you get a $25 AT&T gift card but your friend also gets a $25 gift card. You can do this up to 5 times per year, yielding $125 total in gift cards.

What the heck can you do with AT&T gift cards? You apply them to your monthly bill! They work for anything on the AT&T website including monthly phone bills. You can even buy an iPhone.

Ok well what about you poor souls with no friends?? Well you still have some options. You see, there are other places where people have no friends and want AT&T referrals.

• MacRumors forum
• HowardForums
  

Basically, you register for these forums and post a message requesting referrals. Then, it's up to luck whether someone actually messages you.

How to get started with earning AT&T referral money

1. Register on the AT&T referral site
   
2. Find a willing referral (this is the hard part)
3. Login to the referral site
4. Submit referral name and email address. This generates a referral link that will be emailed to your referral.
   
5. Referral must sign up for a new AT&T wireless account using the generated email.
6. Go back to step 2 (up to 4 more times).
   
7. Wait 90 days or so to receive your gift card. You can track the status of these credits on the website.
   

I've already received and spent my $125 already. 6 more months and I'll be able to do it again. Pretty nice, huh? Read more!

DEAL: AT&T Deal Summary

Once you've gotten a great deal on that iPhone, you want to optimize the value of your monthly plan.

There are many promotions of AT&T that aren't really publicized. But I'd like to tell you all about them.

The following will work with any AT&T wireless plan (including iPhone 3G)

1. Reduce your monthly bill by up to 28%
   
2. Add 200 free minutes
   
3. Add 200 free SMS messages
4. Get $125 off your yearly bill
5. Pay with Amex SimplyCash credit card for 5% cashback
   

There you go. Cellular plans can be quite expensive over the years. But these tips should help with your bills. Read more!

DEAL: AT&T Monthly Bill Discount, Part II

This post is for those unable to qualify for the AT&T FAN discount I previously discussed.

Let's say you REALLY want that AT&T Monthly Bill discount. You won't be able to get the free 200 minutes or free 200 SMS without it.

Here is what you can do. Many people are members of those big warehouse stores such as Costco or Sam's Club. If you are a Costco member, you may be able to qualify for a 15% discount off your AT&T monthly bill.

This requires some more work than the other deal.

1. Go to the real AT&T store (can't do this online)
2. Say that you are a Costco member and would like to receive the company discount
3. Show your Costco Card
4. AT&T rep will (hopefully) apply the 15% discount to your wireless account
5. If unsuccessful, repeat step 1 at a different store
   

Technically, this shouldn't work since you are a Costco member, NOT an employee. But a lot of AT&T employees don't know the difference. You may have to try this at different AT&T stores if initially unsuccessful.
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Pro: 15% discount off monthly AT&T bill
Con: Need to go to AT&T Store and be a Costco member. Taking advantage of AT&T since you aren't an employee. Be prepared to be shot down as this is not guaranteed.

Please post your experience with this in the comments Read more!

DEAL: AT&T 200 Free SMS messages per month

If you are a heavy user of SMS, then boy do I have some good news for you.

I previously described how you can get 200 extra free minutes per month. Did you know you can get 200 free SMS messages per month, too?

The steps are the same as the other deal. But the code is different. This time the code is CLL2. If course, if you want to do both deals, just mention both codes in the conversation.

Here are the steps again to take advantage

1. Sign up for AT&T Premiere Discount. THIS STEP IS NECESSARY
2. Call AT&T customer service at 1-800-331-0500
3. Hit the option to cancel service (this won't cancel your service but instead will transfer you to a real person)
4. Lie through your teeth with conviction: "My corporate manager said there is a feature that can be added to my account for 200 bonus minutes"
5. When asked for the code, say "CLL2". If CSR is clueless, say "The code is something like CLL2"
6. If unsuccessful, hang up and go back to step 2. But this time be nice and try to flirt!!

You may need to have a certain type of FAN account to get this so YMMV. It's harmless to try for it though.

EDIT 12/28/08: There's a chance that the code might only work for certain FAN accounts so YMMV.
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Pro: 200 free AT&T SMS messages per month
Con: Requires lying. Need to spend some time on the phone.

Please post your experience with this in the comments Read more!

DEAL: AT&T 200 Free Minutes per month

It sucks when you go over over your allotted cell phone minutes. And it sucks even more when you get that dreaded cell phone bill at the end of the month.

Well. if you were able to take advantage of the AT&T premiere monthly discount, then this should definitely help.

Here's how you can get an extra 200 minutes every month.

Once you get a AT&T business account, there are actually codes that can be added to your account to activate certain features.

Steps to get discount:

1. Sign up for AT&T Premiere Discount if you haven't already. THIS STEP IS NECESSARY
2. Call AT&T customer service at 1-800-331-0500
3. Hit the option to cancel service (this won't cancel your service but instead will transfer you to a real person)
4. Lie through your teeth with conviction: "My corporate manager said there is a feature that can be added to my account for 200 bonus minutes"
5. When asked for the code, say "U200". If CSR is clueless, say "The code is something like U200"
6. If unsuccessful, hang up and go back to step 2. But his time be nice and try to flirt!!

Wallah! 200 free minutes!

You may have to try several times before achieving success. This definitely works though.

EDIT 12/28/08: There's a chance that the code might only work for certain FAN accounts so YMMV.
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Pro: 200 free AT&T wireless minutes per month
Con: Requires lying. Need to spend some time on the phone.

Please post your experience with this in the comments Read more!

DEAL: iPhone 3G part II (25% off)

If you don't want to do the Walmart iPhone deal I talked about before, there is now an alternative deal.

AT&T has recently allowed iPhone 3G activation at home. Previously you had to go to a real store to activate it in person. What this now means is that you can order the iPhone online at the AT&T website.

And for the cherry on top, it just so happens that live.com is offering 25% cashback on purchases.

Steps for iPhone deal

1. Go to live.com. Search for "ATT" or "ATT Wireless" and then look for the 25% cashback link. If you don't see it initially, keep hitting refresh. If confused, click here for more specific instructions.
   
2. Click on 25% cashback link. At this point, you have to enter your existing live.com account or create your own live.com account
3. Purchase the iPhone. Note: you won't see confirmation that the rebate is applied during the checkout process.
4. Wait for email confirmation of the 25% cashback.

Live.com rebates are legit. I've received several hundred dollars in rebates through it.

Order before 4 pm CST and you'll get free overnight shipping to receive it the next day!

Once you get your fancy new iPhone, you can save even more money on that expensive monthly plan. These promotions can be applied after you purchase the phone and get your account set up.

Please post your experience with this in the comments Read more!

DEAL: New Apple Headphones

The new Apple headphones are out after a long delay!

It's tough to find them in stock but Amazon has them right now with a special promotion. $79 but you will save on tax compared to the Apple store.

Plus if you purchase before 12/25, you will get a $5 credit for the Amazon MP3 store.

Preliminary reviews indicate that they are a big step up from the stock headphones. A little short on bass but good mid-range.

Reviews

• Gizmodo
• Engadget
• AppleInsider
• iLounge
• MyDigitalLife
  
• Apple Store user reviews

It WILL work with your iPhone just like the stock ones do. However, the volume control will NOT work. You'd have to adjust the volume using the iPhone controls.

Pro:

• Save on sales tax
• $5 in free Amazon MP3 (these are DRM free)

Con: May have to wait to receive it


Read more!

DEAL: iPhone 3G (up to $80 off)

I love Apple products.

The problem is that you definitely pay a premium for them. Plus, Apple has such tight control over the market and resellers that the Apple stuff rarely has any discounts.

Here's how you can get a discount.

Walmart is definitely getting the iPhone on 12/28/2008. This has been confirmed on various forums and through Walmart employees.

$299 for the 16gb phone, and then the cheapest plan is like $70 (without fees/taxes). Not cheap!

What to do? Well use the current Amex Walmart promotion!

1. Use 4 american express cards to buy $320 in gift cards, thus receiving $80 statement credit
2. Register your account as an AT&T premiere account

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Pro: iPhone and plan with discount which is hard to come by
Con: Need 4 Amex cards. Wait until Walmart stocks iPhone (12/28/2008) Read more!

DEAL: AT&T Monthly Bill Discount

I don't know anyone that doesn't have a cell phone anymore.

Those bills (especially iPhone) can get pretty hefty especially if you go over your minutes. It seems too that there are a lot of bogus fees and taxes added on.

But there may be a way to decrease that monthly bill.

You may qualify for some GREAT discounts through AT&T business.

• Fedex 22%
• Costco 15%
• Mayo Clinic 24%
• Brown University 15%
• HP 27%
• Office Depot 15%

If you qualify, you apply the discount to your existing plan. No need for any new sign up. Your contract is NOT extended if you apply for this discount.

AT&T determines your eligibility through your email address. The thing is, you can try your school address (*.edu) which likely qualifies!

Here is what to do

1. Submit your email address that might qualify (try corporate and school addresses to see which is better). Look to the right on the web page.
2. If you qualify, they will send you a link to the discount site
3. On the site, register your existing account to apply the discounts

If you are NOT eligible by your email address, try this alternative.

I get a 24% savings on my phone bill every month!!

After doing this, don't forget to get your free 200 minutes and free 200 SMS messages.
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Pros: Can get from 5 - 28% savings off your monthly bill
Cons: Not everyone eligible

Please post your experience with this in the comments Read more!