Another iphone question, do you have insurance on your iphone?

[team weasel]

I bought my iPhone 5s through Virgin Mobile and I went with AppleCare+. With Apple products, they guarantee the performance of the device for a year, but AP+ extends it to two years and covers up to two "oopses."

I think I paid $99 out of pocket and the deductible is $79 per incident (should I have one). I hope I never have to use it, but I like the peace of mind it gives me. Especially given how much Virgin Mobile phones cost up front.

After the two years are over, I will probably go without insurance.

 

[Brewersprts]

I don't. I have a case and the find my iPhone app in case I lose it or it's stolen.

I also try to not talk on the phone and do other things like carry groceries or whatever. I am clumsy and drop it enough as it is, I don't need to make things worse.

 

[disneychrista]

it was in a case (a really cute mickey one)!

That is the problem. The cute cases do nothing to protect your phone. They only make it look cute. I wish Otterbox would come out with CUTE cases too.

 

[hops&dreams]

my phone is provided through work (iphone) and they pay for the insurance. I have recently been put in charge of tending our wireless account and found out we spend over $300/month on insurance.

It's $10/month for an iphone (or $8 for any non-apple device) and when you need to make a claim adn replace a phone, a new iphone is $160ish, ON TOP of the insurance I've been paying into for over a year. So... I'm looking at alternatives.

Another thread was discussing the same thing and a PP on that thread said that their credit card covers the phone since it was purchased on the credit card??? I'm looking into our corporate cc to see if that's an option. Because I work for a construction company and over 30 phones are out in the field. I've heard it all... it fell out of my pocket and an excavator ran it over - we couldn't find it in the mud. (I know this is true because the vice president saw it happen) It fell out of my pocket and into the port-o-let. here it is (hands over blue phone with a very blue hand). EW! It's down in a sewer vault, and I aint gettin it back. gross!

So yeah... some people NEED the insurance

 

[RitaE]

We never buy cell phone insurance. We purchase with a credit card that doubles the manufacturer warranty.

If somebody breaks a phone we sell the carcass on EBAY for parts. I've gotten $80 or so for even really, really broken phones. That, plus the amount we save by not buying the insurance (and likely a deductible), plus the fact that we usually purchase lower cost refurbished phone outright to begin with keeps the cost lower.

When the kids were teens I always told them that if they broke their phones, they had to buy the replacements themselves or use one of the old clamshell phones from the junk drawer until it was time for new phones again.

It made them more careful … for the most part.

 

[raven69david]

This thread has got me thinking...I just upgraded both myself & DS13 to an iPhone 4S because it was a free upgrade. I planned on getting the insurance on each at $11/month - but we still have our old Rumor Reflex phones....so we'd be able to just switch back to those if one of the iPhones broke/got lost correct? I'd be fine doing that, then just waiting for the next upgrade for free....instead of shelling out $22/month I think that sounds like a plan!

Now DS16 has his own iPhone 5 that he bought himself, and we do have the insurance on it (he pays it). It's already paid for itself, he broke it twice in the 1st year he had it & they replaced it for free.

Put the iphones in an Otterbox Armor case. Best case made by Otterbox and the price just went from $130 to $25 at tanga. I have 5 iPhones and all are in otterboxes.

iphone 5

iphone 4 and 4s

 

[HM]

We bought it through Best Buy for my son's iPhone for 2 years. 1 1/2 yrs have passed without a problem, knock on wood.

 

[TaraPA]

Put the iphones in an Otterbox Armor case. Best case made by Otterbox and the price just went from $130 to $25 at tanga. I have 5 iPhones and all are in otterboxes.

iphone 5

iphone 4 and 4s

THANKS! I already ordered an Otterbox defender for myself from WalMart for $36...but am getting both kids this Armour one for $25 on Tanga for Easter! Great deal thanks for the heads up!

 

[descovy]

This thread has got me thinking...I just upgraded both myself & DS13 to an iPhone 4S because it was a free upgrade. I planned on getting the insurance on each at $11/month - but we still have our old Rumor Reflex phones....so we'd be able to just switch back to those if one of the iPhones broke/got lost correct? I'd be fine doing that, then just waiting for the next upgrade for free....instead of shelling out $22/month I think that sounds like a plan!

Now DS16 has his own iPhone 5 that he bought himself, and we do have the insurance on it (he pays it). It's already paid for itself, he broke it twice in the 1st year he had it & they replaced it for free.

This is exactly what we do. Our "insurance" is an old slider phone in the junk drawer. You ruin your iphone? You carry that until you can pay for/upgrade to a new one.

My kids are not perfectly careful. Age 12 & 14 they each have an iphone 4 in a Otterbox commuter case (not even a defender!). I carry my iPhone 5s in a nice slim spigen case (I don't enjoy a bulky otter box). Going on 2 yrs since we started carrying iPhones and no trouble.

All that money spent to insure 3 iPhones for 2 years would be a losing proposition. You can buy a used iphone on Amazon for $100 these days. Let that be your "insurance"

 

[OKW Lover]

No, we don't buy insurance. We've had 3 iPhones over the course of perhaps 6 years (upgrades every 2 years) and never had a problem. I figure I've saved the cost of an iPhone buy not buying the insurance so I'll be ahead of the game if something does happen.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

What about now that AT&T is dinging you if you upgrade and incentivizing customers to keep their phones versus trading in. No insurance makes sense if you really only need to hang on a couple more months until the next upgrade but with the new cheaper plan I don't want to upgrade so hopefully my insurance will keep my phone working as long as I want to keep it....

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[descovy]

What about now that AT&T is dinging you if you upgrade and incentivizing customers to keep their phones versus trading in. No insurance makes sense if you really only need to hang on a couple more months until the next upgrade but with the new cheaper plan I don't want to upgrade so hopefully my insurance will keep my phone working as long as I want to keep it....

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Actually AT&T isn't dinging you. You are given the choice of paying a little more per month to subsidize a new phone... Or pay a little less if you bring your own phone (or hold onto your phone beyond the subsidized period)

In which case you buy a $100 iphone on amazon, or use your old phone, or even buy a go phone. All scenerios cheaper than insurance IMO.

In fact ATT is a better deal now than before. Old way you'd be paying subsidized prices to use your old phone. At least now you'd pay less if your replacement phone wasn't a subsidy.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We bought SquareTrade warranties on our iPhones rather than get the Verizon insurance. I think it's a $0 deductible.

 

[uromac]

My vote and my family's vote goes to Applecare - no doubt about it - no questions asked - well worth the money compared to other cellular phone insurance IMHO - especially if you live near an apple store - hassle free compared to all the questions and exceptions in the small print with the insurance from any phone carriers!!!!!

 

[disneymom2003]

I bought my iPhone 5s through Virgin Mobile and I went with AppleCare+. With Apple products, they guarantee the performance of the device for a year, but AP+ extends it to two years and covers up to two "oopses."

I think I paid $99 out of pocket and the deductible is $79 per incident (should I have one). I hope I never have to use it, but I like the peace of mind it gives me. Especially given how much Virgin Mobile phones cost up front.

After the two years are over, I will probably go without insurance.

Yes this is what I have. I want to be able to replace my phone if I need to. It is much cheaper to buy AppleCare Plus. It's $99 for 24 months so about $4 a month. Worth it to me.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Actually AT&T isn't dinging you. You are given the choice of paying a little more per month to subsidize a new phone... Or pay a little less if you bring your own phone (or hold onto your phone beyond the subsidized period)

In which case you buy a $100 iphone on amazon, or use your old phone, or even buy a go phone. All scenerios cheaper than insurance IMO.

In fact ATT is a better deal now than before. Old way you'd be paying subsidized prices to use your old phone. At least now you'd pay less if your replacement phone wasn't a subsidy.

That wasn't the point, at all. The point is that most people not buying insurance stated they were basically making due until upgrade time. I have a deductible smaller than 100.00 for insurance so why would I pay 100.00 for a phone used by someone else now that I have a good reason to hang on to my old phone and not upgrade. Insurance seems more valuable now that phones are being expected to last longer.

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