Ask Slashdot: Best Protection Plan For Your Phone?

First time accepted submitter nastav writes "Now that I'm eagerly awaiting the delivery of my new shiny iPhone 5, I'm faced with a dilemma — SquareTrade, Applecare Plus, or some other insurance option? I have used SquareTrade in the past for my iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 (I skipped iPhone 4S). It provided Accidental Damage Handling (ADH) for the iPhone before Apple introduced its own version of ADH. I've had the opportunity to file claims with SquareTrade multiple times, and they handled it quickly and professionally each time. Now that there is a product from Apple itself, I'm not sure which one to get. They are priced similarly (~$100 for a two-year plan, $50 deductible for each ADH incident) Apple limits the number of ADH claims to two, whereas SquareTrade (AFAIK) limits the number of claims to the 'value of the product,' which translates to approx. 600 USD in coverage (or about 4 ADH claims). I've tried reading many comparison articles on the internet without definitive answers. I'm hoping that the tech-savvy folks on Slashdot would help out with a discussion on pros and cons of each, and perhaps add other options into the mix."

Comments

The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Take good care of your phone and be careful when handling it!

Re:The best plan

[realityimpaired]

Don't even have to be *that* careful. I've owned several smartphones since the G1 (well, Canadian version, which was called the HTC Dream), and have never managed to break the screen, despite some serious abuses... the worst of which involved an LG Shine Plus falling from a 2nd floor balcony, winging off the edge of a swimming pool and into the drink. Remove the battery, let the phone dry out, and it worked fine without having broken the screen (though it was a bit squirrelly for the next year that I used it before replacing it). I'm currently using a One V, and have dropped it a few times without breaking it.

And there's your answer to the insurance question... don't buy a $700 phone. Buy a $200 phone which will give you the same experience as last year's $700 phone, and then you won't be too worried when you drop it, because it's not going to cost you that much to replace, and it'll be cheaper than the insurance on the $700 phone... especially if you plan on replacing it in a year when they come out with the upgraded version anyway. You can probably afford to get it without a contract, and that'll save you money in the long run, too.

Re:The best plan

[DJRumpy]

Although I'm sure this was a little toungue in cheek, if you follow minor precautions, I've never really had a need for these plans for the last 3 phones.

A decent case for drop protection, leave your keys in a separate pocket so they don't scratch the touchscreen, etc.

Unless you're typically clumsy, the cost of the protection plan is probably not worth it (other than piece of mind). If you are clumsy and constantly dropping your phone though, I would probably just go with the AppleCare plan.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Jeez, what an asshole.

Re:The best plan

[obarthelemy]

Actually i think I saw a study that said it wasn't keys that scratched the screen in pockets, but sand.

I do agree that protection plans are way to expensive. Don't buy something you can't afford to replace.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

The price of insuring an iphone for a year the UK can be 20% or more of the value of the phone. I haven't insured my phone for 5 years, which means I've saved the value of 1 phone already considering I haven't had to replace it in that time. I can now afford to replace a phone at cost if necessary and consider that the cost of the phone is now saved up in my own personal insurance fund.

Re:The best plan

[N1AK]

The AC has a fair point. Insurance will, collectively, cost more than not insuring (that's how they pay for admin and profits). Consider your use. Are you a higher risk than average (but aren't being charged as such) and can you afford to comfortably replace the device if you don't insure it? If you are more likely to break the phone than average or can't afford to replace the device then insurance is probably worth getting; if not, then you're likely to be better off without it. My household insurance included phone cover (I didn't buy it for that reason) so my phone is insured; however I wouldn't have bought a separate policy if it wasn't.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

If insurance on any consumer electronic device was a good deal for the consumer, they wouldn't sell. Trust that actuaries understand the probabilities of the thing better than you ever will and it's priced so that it's a good deal for them. There is something like a 99% chance you will end up losing money in the long term if you repeatedly buy these bs "protection" plans. Be smart and save your money.

Re:The best plan

[Mithent]

Also my strategy. I got a new Galaxy S III recently, and as usual was offered insurance... at the prices the mobile phone operators are asking, you'd be paying around 50% of the cost of buying a new phone SIM-free over a 24-month contract. This means that the chances of me losing or breaking my phone in any 24-month period needs to be above 50% for it to be worthwhile. I've had three previous smartphones over 5 years and haven't lost or broken one yet, so insurance doesn't make any economic sense for me if I'm paying the cost of a new phone every 4 years to insure them but the interval between my insurance claims is >4 years (based on the trend to date). I'd have to need to claim twice in the next 3 years just to break even.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

"Don't buy an iPhone, buy a Samsung, they are the same anyway"

That's funny! - So, you buy things for looks alone, not functionality! Because I can pretty much guarantee you that they do NOT have similar functionality, unless the Samsung can run iOS6. Hint - it can't!

Re:The best plan

[wed128]

It'll run Android 4.1. Which is better.

Re:The best plan

[tompaulco]

I can pretty much guarantee you that they do NOT have similar functionality, unless the Samsung can run iOS6. Hint - it can't!
Quiet! if the judge hears this, Apple will have to drop the lawsuit!

Re:The best plan

[azav]

Of course, my friend just showed me his dropped iPhone with the cracked screen yesterday.

Also, I've owned 24,000 bucks worth of cameras and never broken one in 4 years.

Just bought a new D800, put it in a bag, walking into my house and the bag strap breaks one step from my stairs. It fell 1 foot and is off to the repair shop now, right after I spent three thousand bucks on it.

Re:The best plan

[jellomizer]

Exactly, Protection plans are not worth it.

Most of them do not cover your most normal causes of damage. So why pay the money for the random fluke.

Re:The best plan

[John Bresnahan]

The same argument could be used to argue against getting health insurance, life insurance, auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, etc. Sometimes, the cost of misfortune is far higher than the cost of protecting against misfortune.

Re:The best plan

[dna_(c)(tm)(r)]

Actually i think I saw a study that said it wasn't keys that scratched the screen in pockets, but sand.

I do agree that protection plans are way to expensive. Don't buy something you can't afford to replace.

Pro tip: don't put your recently purchased phone in the same pocket as your recently acquired fine concrete granulate.

Re:The best plan

[Sporkinum]

POCKET SAND! - YouTube

Re:The best plan

[HornWumpus]

Just like the GP I have saved more then the cost of a new car (as new as I would buy anyhow, I'm not moron, I pay cash for cars) by not carrying full coverage.

Save some money, a brand new car is unlikely to get you laid. If it does, you will want to think twice about screwing a woman who would fuck you because of the car you drive. Four ply that bitch.

Insurance is a generally bad deal that should only be purchased for loses that you can't cover out of cash flow. Any such loses that can be avoided (e.g. buying the brand new hybrid) should be.

Re:The best plan

[Gr8Apes]

Buying a car that you can replace, thus saving the value of full coverage may work for you. In my case, full coverage is less than 20% of my insurance bill, and the cars are worth far more than 10 years of insurance payments (the full payments, not just the 20% full coverage addition). Then again, I haven't filed a claim in at least 10 years with my insurance, although the 3 that hit me were filed against, naturally, one for over 15K when everything was considered. Insurance is that thing you hope you never use, but are darn glad is there when you need it.

So that covers things you can replace. Health insurance is different. Do you let someone die? If not, someone has to pay. The current system answer "no" to the first question, and shoves the payment onto the remaining insured and some to the taxpayers, which is radically unfair. Since the answer isn't going to change, Ron Paul not withstanding, the only way to make it fair is to have everyone pay into the pot, ie, universal coverage.

Re:The best plan

[darkmeridian]

I have to disagree with this. Just because insurance companies are making money doesn't mean that the consumer is not obtaining value from getting the insurance. That's like saying the iPhone is a rip-off because Apple makes a profit.

A good insurance plan is worth it unless you have the money to self-insure. For most people, paying $50 (or whatever) is worth avoiding a potential payment of $600. Of course, there are bad insurance plans out there but that doesn't mean that they are all bad because they make a profit on it.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Insurance will, collectively, cost more than not insuring

I'm not quite sure what you mean here, but personally, I would say that on an individual rather than a collective basis, insuring will end up costing more than not insuring. IE, an individual person is statistically more likely to not need insurance than they are to need insurance. But insurance doesn't work if only high risk people purchase it. If the insurance company is paying out to, say, 90% of its population instead of 10%, premiums will be so high that even those who file claims would be better off by not having the insurance in the first place.

And just because I think someone (not you, but someone) might take this the wrong way, I am not saying that iPhone insurance should be mandated by the government. All I am doing is explaining how insurance works.

Re:The best plan

[dskzero]

This. I don't know why people spend so much for protection for their phones instead of being careful.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Insurance plans are a loss in general because it's a game of odds, and they are never in your favor. Buying a service or a product is a different matter. The supplier has some way of doing X more efficiently than you. You two agree on a price and everyone wins. As someone else said, only get insurance when you think your cash flow/reserves won't cover the expenses.

Re:The best plan

[Chrontius]

Carrier insurance sucks.

AppleCare+ is $100 for a 2-year term, to cover an $850 phone.

So that's one broken device every 17 years to break even. I've dropped my phone causing significant damage about once every 3-7 years, so it's looking like quite a deal to me.

Also, it gets you some of the best phone support I've ever had the -- well, it wasn't a pleasure except by comparison, I suppose -- but you can escalate to talking to an engineer within an hour if need be. Finding someone who can talk you through an obscure Unix CLI problem without ever looking at the device is hard enough as it is, and most other methods will involve paying a consulting rate.

Re:The best plan

[Solandri]

My household insurance included phone cover (I didn't buy it for that reason) so my phone is insured; however I wouldn't have bought a separate policy if it wasn't.

The same thing came up in the photo forums when people pointed out that many homeowners' insurance policies also covered camera gear. But then others pointed out the drawback: Do you really want to risk having your home's insurance renewal be denied because you made a claim for a broken lens?

Your home insurance policy is for covering something you cannot possibly afford to replace if it burns down or is otherwise destroyed. Don't put it at risk over something whose cost is so trivial you can fix it by not eating out a few times. If you want to protect your trinkets with insurance, get a separate policy.

Re:The best plan

[HornWumpus]

Where do you get full coverage (for a car worth more then 10 years insurance) for a 20% additional cost?

Is that 20% additional above your car insurance or all of your insurance?

IIRC full coverage on an 25K car was about $200/month, liability is less then $50 (no accidents or tickets in decades, USA N. Cal, low granola region). Granting CA has about the worst insurance code in the nation if you are a good driver.

I figure that at full coverage costing 400% more then just liability. I'd pay $30K for 10 years to cover a $25K car (assuming I could find a car that had constant value).

BTW. If you are uninsured they will stabilize you then discharge you. Eventually they _will_ let you die. Your argument falls apart in the face of this fact.

Re:The best plan

[stymy]

Actually, IAAA (I Am An Actuary) and for most home and car insurance plans, the company basically breaks even. The overheads and profits come from investing the money.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had various cell phones for over 15 years. I've never had to call for technical support for a phone once ever and to be honest, I don't know anyone personally that ever has. What are you doing that you are using paid support for? I've called for service issues but that's a carrier issue and because I am an active paying customer, they help regardless of my phones age or warranty status.

Re:The best plan

[realityimpaired]

I'm not arguing with that, because I simply don't know enough about the industry to argue with it. But I think the point being made was that insurance (in the form of extended warranties) on consumer electronics are not generally a good deal. Depending on what you're buying, I've been quoted extended warranties on consumer electronics that were more than the original purchase price. (that was for 2yr NBD Onsite warranty on a $400 business laptop... not getting NBD Onsite was not an option, because the base warranty was 1yr NBD Onsite)

Now... the cost of writing off a $400 laptop is a completely different from writing off a $25,000 car. I've got an easier time believing that the insurance itself is less profitable in that respect. By the same token, however, the insurance industry is posting record profits, and you're making the argument that these profits come from investing capital... in *this* economy?

Re:The best plan

[realityimpaired]

Where do you get full coverage (for a car worth more then 10 years insurance) for a 20% additional cost?

Pretty much any insurance company? Things may be different in the states, but around here it's pretty much a bog standard option from all of them.

I happen to have my insurance policy in my hands as I type this... I needed it for a trip to the bank this afternoon. My total insurance is $904/year (CAD): that's $2m liability, $300 comprehensive deductible, $500 collision deductible, transportation replacement (rental car), and new vehicle protection option. This is insurance against the depreciation cost of my car because I bought it new (2011 MY, bought in Feb. 2011), and it means that if I write the car off within the first 5 years that I own it, I will get the original purchase price back instead of the depreciated value. Of the $904/year that I pay for insurance, $96 is the new vehicle protection. That's closer to 12% of my insurance bill. The lion's share of my insurance bill is the liability coverage, followed by collision, accident benefits and direct compensation in equal measure. The comprehensive is the same cost as the new vehicle protection, and the only line item that's cheaper is the worry free/no-fault insurance. This is for a 31-year old female non-smoker with a perfect driving record, driving a car that the insurance industry considers un-stealable: a Subaru Impreza, and I'm getting a corporate rate because the company I work for insures a fleet of 30,000 vehicles through them. (without the corporate rate, I'd be paying $1400/year give or take, but the percentage breakdown would be about the same).

When you consider that this is a $30,000 car (not the base model), an extra $100/year for the first 5 years is nothing.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Insurance makes sense in those circumstances as the lost utility due to illness/liability for damage to other cars/lack of somewhere to live etc. is much more than the lost utility due to a regular payment. It's a good risk mitigating strategy, replacing an unknown and not very limited harm with a known and limited one.

A phone is something you can afford to buy outright. You are not majorly put out in most circumstances if you have to replace it with a $30 dumbphone, and the cost due to damaging it is capped at the price of a new phone.

Re:The best plan

[pete6677]

Actually, IAAA (I Am An Actuary) and for most home and car insurance plans, the company basically breaks even. The overheads and profits come from investing the money.

I've heard this before, and I can't see how it could possibly be true. Where is the motivation for running an insurance company if there is no operational profit? If the objective is to make money from investing, then why not just run a hedge fund?

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Well theoretically, this is true. Insurance is sold to make money, which usually means that (monetarily, at least), it's a bad deal for the consumer. It might be a good deal because you get peace of mind, too. Some insurance, though, is well worth it, even from a financial perspective.

For example, my Epson scan/print/fax unit broke last weekend. I paid over $300 for it, and it still goes for over $120 new, or about $70 used. The insurance that would have covered it? About $7.00.

Why so cheap? Could be a few reasons:
1. Not every printer breaks within the 5 year coverage offered for that $7.00 (and the first year is covered either way, so anything that breaks within the first year or after the 5th year they don't have to pay).
2. Not everyone who's printer breaks will actually claim it. People forget they have coverage, lose the paperwork, decide it's not worth the hassle, or just buy a new model.

I think #2 is probably the bigger of the two, especially here in Japan where there is a new model fashion fetish - but either way 730 yen to protect a 36000 yen printer/scanner for 5 years is actually a pretty good price.

Rates for phones are probably higher because the risk is higher. I know *2* people who dropped their phones in the toilet! I know one who fell into the ocean with his smartphone. Waterproof models are reasonably popular here in Japan, but I haven't even seen them overseas. (I assume the overseas Sony Xperia Acro S is waterproof?) I have also seen numerous people with cracked screens.

The point is, I didn't *do* anything to kill my printer, it just up and died. I'm basically insuring against bad luck in the manufacturing process.
Most people who need their phones replaced dropped them or dunked them in water, so they are insuring against their own personal stupidity - which is apparently much more likely ;)

Re:The best plan

[guruevi]

They do but the capital has to come from somewhere. In the instance of insurance companies, their customers provide the capital to put in investments and hedge funds.

Re:The best plan

[HornWumpus]

You pay unbelievably high rates for liability and low rates for comprehensive.

As I said, I'd pay $2400/year for full coverage on a $25K car. That would go down as the car depreciated. (Male 40s, decades clean record).

You can't get 'pay for a new car' coverage here. Morons would wreck their car on purpose one day before it lapsed. I do know of a spoiled child who wrecked his brand new car because he thought it wasn't good enough.

BTW they steal Evos all the time. Nobody wants the others. ;-) There is no unstealable car.

Re:The best plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Just bought a new D800, put it in a bag, walking into my house and the bag strap breaks one step from my stairs. It fell 1 foot and is off to the repair shop now, right after I spent three thousand bucks on it.

Hopefully you either had it insured or bought it with one of those credit cards with product protection coverage.

Re:The best plan

[Gr8Apes]

Like the other guy, I could grab my detailed records, but that would involved digging. Needless to say - 2 vehicles, even when brand new, $1800/year full coverage. Cost of vehicles new - roughly $80K. 2 drivers (yes yes, married /. poster - gasp!).

The math is simple, even 10 years of full coverage (if it didn't go down with the value of the cars, and it did) that would work out to $18K, which is still a fraction of their combined value today, and that is not considering that collision and comprehensive is a small fraction of that total, less than 25% for both, IIRC. I looked at dropping collision last year, under the misconception that collision was "expensive", looked at its savings vs the cost of the vehicles and basically went "why bother"? I will note I don't have an exact number handy, it could be 18%, it could be 25%, or even 28%, if you bare boned your insurance coverage. For the small incremental savings vs potential losses, it falls into the "who cares" pile for me.

Re:The best plan

[Gr8Apes]

I pay about $900/year for full coverage of a $40K new car near a major metro area. You're getting ripped off.

They're all scams anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're naive enough to spend a fortune on a status symbol, you should easily be able to afford a replacement.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[MightyYar]

$600 is a fortune?

Sorry.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, if you have enough money to jump on the overpriced apple bandwagon, you should go out and find the most expensive insurance plan regardless of the coverage so that you will have a nice match. According to the president spending money foolishly will stimulate the economy so you will also be patriotic.

Overpriced? As opposed to what, Android devices? Last time I checked a Samsung S3 Android phone cost about the same as an iPhone 4 with similar specs. AT&T is flogging 16gb versions of both for $199.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[swalve]

It is if someone is willing to buy an insurance policy to replace it.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

For a phone? Fuck yes. I make high six figures and I couldn't see myself spending that much on a box I talk into a couple times a day. I have a $40 feature phone and if I drop it or lose it, I can just buy another fucking $40 phone.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[HornWumpus]

$500 and a 2 year contract.

Call it a very small fortune.

Old joke: Q: How do you make a small fortune using apple products? A: step 1. start with a large fortune...

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[parkinglot777]

Please don't gauge yourself as the standard. Not everyone is at your financial level. If one can afford it, that's fine; otherwise, it is a fortune.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed, buy a $25 phone if you want to keep in contact with people. You can email and SMS too, even web browse at a push.
It's unlikely you'll ever be mugged for it.
Even if you do, who gives crap? $25 is not going to break the bank.

Still, it's your life, and your money, do what you want.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[MightyYar]

Best Buy will sell you an insurance policy on a $30 cable that is really worth $2.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[MightyYar]

I've never purchased a $600 phone, nor do I want to. But 600 bucks is a brake job at state inspection time, not a "fortune". At least, not by any standard of the 1st world.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[MightyYar]

$500 or a 2-year contract. I've never seen a phone that was $500 with a 2-year contract. Highest I've seen is $200 with contract.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[TXOgre]

A $600 brake job? Is it really that much? I have the tools, time, and knowledge to do this small job, so I've always done it myself. I'm not sure what it would normally cost, but even working all 4 wheels with replacement rotors comes in at under $200 when I do it. I want to be your brake guy.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[MightyYar]

If you are doing the $100 state inspection anyway, getting all four disk brake pads and the rotors cut can easily approach $600. If you don't need the rotor cut then the job will be cheaper. Last time I had just the fronts done during inspection and it was over $250. I don't think I'm that far off. Throw in the oil and filter and I bet you get to the $600 mark.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody cuts rotors anymore. They are relatively cheap and on average much smaller and lighter to achieve higher gas mileage than the ones on cars cars made 15 or so years ago. They are now considered throw away. A pad slap costs under $40 as a DIY unless you insist on having some ultra performance expensive pads because you think more expensive pads means better and safer brakes. Hint, there is no relationship of price to stopping distance. Maybe pedal feel, dust, noise, but not stopping distance.

Where do live that a state inspection is $100? That is definitely the exception.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[pete6677]

A $600 brake job is a steal, unless you do it yourself. Even a discount mechanic will charge at least this much. Having the dealership do your brakes will set you back $2000 easily.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[MightyYar]

Pennsylvania. Technically you can have it done more inexpensively. Cheapest I have ever seen is about $45. I always get my oil and filter done at the same time, which tacks on another $25-30. It might "only" be $80-90 after taxes, but I go to the dealer since I have a service contract. They find a lot less wrong with my car during inspection when they can't charge me to fix it...

Still, this strategy dies when they find my brakes are too low to pass. Then I have to pay dealer prices or come back again after getting it done elsewhere. Some of the cheap places make you pay again, but the dealer will let you come back one more time to check the failed item. Yes, they replace the rotors more frequently now, but you can still cut them once or twice. Then they warp and your brakes pulse even worse then they did originally and you get them replaced. :)

In any case, we're getting pretty far from my original point, which is that $600 falls within the amount of money you need to have on hand for car repairs (even if "on hand" means "room on your credit card") - not a fortune. Make it a water pump or a head gasket if you don't like the brakes getting changed out. Hell, the stupid cabin air filters are $40 now.

Re:They're all scams anyway.

[TXOgre]

I just saw a sign today, $99 for front brakes up the street (install pads and turn the rotors). I can't imagine it jumping up that much for rear brakes, unless we're talking about replacing calipers, changing brake fluid, or replacing lines, I just can't see it costing that much. I may be in the wrong business.

why bother?

[Anonymous Coward]

you'll be buying the iPhone 6 in a years time.

sent from my Samsung Galaxy S

Re:why bother?

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly my thought fellow coward!

It will be the 3rd iphone device that the submitter buys over a span of four years.
Which means that a. he/she probably can afford its loss, b. the expected lifetime of the device is 2 years.

Insuring a device with a lifetime of less than two years?
What is next? Insuring your shoes?

Best Protection

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't get a fragile phone.

take the risk and Genius Bar

[alen]

$199 if you bring them a damaged iphone that was your fault and they will replace it on the spot.

I'll take the possible risk of paying some money over paying up front in case of an accident any day

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[vlm]

I'll take the possible risk of paying some money over paying up front in case of an accident any day

The mystifying part is a contract smartphone is still like $100/month bill, right? So $200 is pocket change to a smartphone contract victim, its like 2 months service.

I buy insurance for my car because I can't afford a possible million dollar liability settlement out of pocket. Buying $100 of insurance for a $200 loss seems as dumb as buying "oil change insurance" where I could pay only $15/month to avoid the immense expense of paying $30 every quarter for an oil change.

The other part that mystifies be about the story is

I've had the opportunity to file claims with SquareTrade multiple times

My god man, what are you doing? Using your phone as a carpentry hammer? Or the screen as a glass kitchen cutting board? In 15 years I've killed precisely one cellphone, by leaving it in a pants cargo pocket and running it thru the wash. That's $20 down the drain having to buy another new virgin mobile phone.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[P-niiice]

It's probably "youth". My son breaks phones. Routinely. I'm pretty sure he'll grow out of it. Young people don't have full control of their arms yet or something.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

It's probably "youth". My son breaks phones. Routinely. I'm pretty sure he'll grow out of it. Young people don't have full control of their arms yet or something.

No. Young people don't pay their own bills yet. As soon as they are the ones forking out their own hard earned $500 for a replacement or doing without the phone completely, they become very protective and careful.

When Dad pays for it; it's an unreasonable imposition to have to wait until tomorrow for a replacement because they threw it on the table, it skated off the edge and shattered. There's usually talk about how someone should sue Apple for making the phones so fragile...

The problem isn't spastic teens; it's stupid and enabling parents. I'll bet Mom says some bullshit about not having a choice for safety's sake.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[alen]

only if you're single. i'm on a 4 line family plan with 2 iphones and its $138 for me and my wife. her parents kick in $50. total bill is $186.

if i go to the mobile share plan with 10GB it's going to be $216 or so for 4 smart phones including my FAN/Premier discount

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[obarthelemy]

My brother did the "phone in the washer" thing with a Windows 7 Samsung. The thing still works, except the USB port's data connection.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[obarthelemy]

Young people don't pay for what they break ^^

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[dintech]

If you fell down and broke something, it's definitely not going to be your skull...

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[obarthelemy]

The mobile phone situation in North America boggles the mind. I'm on an "unlimited" contract (voice, texts, data though throttled after 3GB) for $20/month. that includes free international calls to 100 countries, and 10 countries' mobiles.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone actually bought a "Windows Phone"?!

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm mystified by the fact that though you don't know even the most basic pieces of information required to make a reasoned recommendation, you felt compelled to reply anyway.

A) regardless of what euphemism you would apply to the sum of $200, replacing the phone associated with a contract is a cost over and above the already sunk cost of the contract. In any way other than that its cost is irrelevant to the insurance consideration.

B) the loss would not be $200. A replacement telephone would be $600 as no contract subsidy would be available on its purchase.

C) I, like OP, have broken cell phone screens at the rate of ~1 per year. Some of us go outside. Novel concept, sure, but the rewards are great. Regardless of the experience of you or me, OP breaks phones and would likely benefit financially from insurance as compared with none.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[jkflying]

BS. I have a friend who has gone through about 7 phones in the last 5 years. He buys the replacements. How has he damaged them? He leads an active lifestyle - rock climbing, hiking, rides a motorbike. He also got mugged twice.

So I would say that old people don't engage in activities which could result in a phone breaking because they are... well... old.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[jkflying]

Dunno - one of my friends won one in a competition, but that's all I've seen.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone actually bought a "Windows Phone"?!

But then he washed it because he always felt dirty when using it. :-)

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

In which country do you live?

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Colonel Korn]

I'll take the possible risk of paying some money over paying up front in case of an accident any day

The mystifying part is a contract smartphone is still like $100/month bill, right? So $200 is pocket change to a smartphone contract victim, its like 2 months service.

I buy insurance for my car because I can't afford a possible million dollar liability settlement out of pocket. Buying $100 of insurance for a $200 loss seems as dumb as buying "oil change insurance" where I could pay only $15/month to avoid the immense expense of paying $30 every quarter for an oil change.

The other part that mystifies be about the story is

I've had the opportunity to file claims with SquareTrade multiple times

My god man, what are you doing? Using your phone as a carpentry hammer? Or the screen as a glass kitchen cutting board? In 15 years I've killed precisely one cellphone, by leaving it in a pants cargo pocket and running it thru the wash. That's $20 down the drain having to buy another new virgin mobile phone.

I think you don't expect broken phones because you don't use iPhones. iPhones break pretty readily because of all the glass and aluminum - a one foot drop onto a hard surface has a solid chance of causing serious damage. They also have issues with heat and humidity that I haven't seen with other phones. A 90 degree F, 90% humid day killed one of mine without any direct sunlight exposure, possibly because of undetected preexisting damage that allowed wet air to get to a bad place and condense when the temperature dropped.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[erice]

BS. I have a friend who has gone through about 7 phones in the last 5 years. He buys the replacements. How has he damaged them? He leads an active lifestyle - rock climbing, hiking, rides a motorbike. He also got mugged twice.

So I would say that old people don't engage in activities which could result in a phone breaking because they are... well... old.

No. Responsible people make sure their phone are secure. I'm an inline speed skater. I've crashed countless times while carrying my phone and have the scars to prove it. I've damaged my phone this way exacdtly 0 times. I attribute this to not throwing the phone into any ol' pocket and going.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[tompaulco]

A 90 degree F, 90% humid day killed one of mine without any direct sunlight exposure, possibly because of undetected preexisting damage that allowed wet air to get to a bad place and condense when the temperature dropped.
That is barely within the operating parameters of the iphone. It is a little surprising how tight the parameters are. Here is for the iphone 4:

Operating temperature: 32 to 95 F (0 to 35 C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4 to 113 F (-20 to 45 C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

This means that you should not be having your iphone on outdoors during most of a typical midwestern winter, or most of a typical midwestern summer, or when it is foggy or raining. In fact, if you want by these requirements, you would not have your iphone on outdoors 50% of the time.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

Buying $100 of insurance for a $200 loss seems as dumb as buying "oil change insurance" where I could pay only $15/month to avoid the immense expense of paying $30 every quarter for an oil change.

That's true. The bonus of Apple's program is that it isn't just a 2 year ADH policy, the program extends the manufacturer warranty for that entire time. So it's less "get coverage in case you break it in two years" and more "get coverage in case you break it or some component fails in two years".

With the amount we manhandle these things, I'd bet component failure for most folks within two years is common, at least amongst the buttons.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

Indeed, im a mountainbiker and take my N900 with me, it has suffered through a crash and a lot of general abuse on the track and is still going fine. I carry it on my back usually with a wallet in front of it.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

If he's rock climbing how does he break his phone? Why is he even carrying it in an easy to damage location - his hands presumably would be occupied.. climbing. Same with a motor bike. He doesn't wear his good clothes while participating in these activities does he? So he does take precautions with somethings, just not his phone. Either he is as careless with his expensive gadget as a teenager, or his phone isn't that valuable to him. If its an expensive phone, he is what drives up the cost of these plans for the rest of us.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[uiucgrad]

This only works if you believe that children and teenagers can adequately appreciate the consequences of their actions well enough not to throw the phone across the table regardless of who bought it. I would argue that by their very definition teenagers can not adequately appreciate the consequences of their actions.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Hatta]

Which is exactly why they should learn those consequences by having to pay for their phone from their own pocket. Teenagers have the brain capacity to appreciate the consequences of their actions. All they need is to be taught by experience.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

LEAVE IT IN THE CAR!

WTF ARE YOU DOING?

WHO ARE YOU PLANNING TO CALL WHILE ROCK CLIMBING?

WHAT E-MAIL DO YOU NEED TO CHECK FROM THE MOUNTAIN?

WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GETTING MUGGED EVERY TWO YEARS?

(Writing words in non-caps in order to avoid the filter that says that I am yelling. I am, but I want to get it through the filter.)

On a more serious note, please reconsider the purchase of insurance for your risky activities. I lead an active lifestyle that involves rock climbing, kayaking, caving, frequent runs, ultimate frisbee, etc. I do not, however, undertake activities that are likely to break my phone/mp3 player while it is in my pocket. If you are planning to do something retarded (I can't climb this mountain without my deathmetal music!), then you need to buy a cheaper device, or a stand-in replacement (you can get a cheap MP3 player for $20). It isn't like the 'active lifestyle' activities catch you unprepared - leave it in the car.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[TACD]

The mystifying part is a contract smartphone is still like $100/month bill, right? So $200 is pocket change to a smartphone contract victim, its like 2 months service.

If you're in the USA, sure. I live in the UK and pay £10/month for unlimited data, texts, and a small number of minutes which I don't use. (GiffGaff - Affiliate link.) It's astounding how deeply Americans get ripped off for phone service, and when I was living over there, shopping for mobile phones was one of the few times I felt genuinely, truly insulted as a customer. There's a lot of industries with shoddy customer service but getting a mobile phone in the US really feels like paying somebody to spit in your face.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Chrontius]

There's only three months or so in Florida that's not guaranteed to be outside of those parameters.

I'm of the opinion my gadgets ought to be at least as durable as I am, but no manufacturers are taking me up on it.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Dixie_Flatline]

Bull. Or at least, in the general sense, what you're saying is basically BS.

I readily accept that this thing that you say happened to your friend, but anecdotal evidence isn't terribly significant.

Do iPhones regularly fail in humid conditions for no other reason than it's hot and humid? I suspect not, or we'd hear about a lot of broken phones that Apple has to replace. It gets into the 90s here, with 90+% humidity on some days. It's not that common, but it happens. I've been out cycling with my phone on days like those, where I'm sweating and my phone is in my jersey pocket. Granted, it has a leather case on it, but it's hardly air or water tight.

I've also been rained on while riding with my phone. No problem. Cold (Montreal winters)? Still no problems.

So my anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that the phone is relatively rugged in tough conditions, cancelling out your friend's evidence.

Like I said, if the iPhone were really as breakable and fragile as people seem to claim, we'd be looking at a much sadder Apple community, lower Apple stock price, and probably massive class-action lawsuits.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

I have under my name:
* Softbank iPhone (My main phone)
* Softbank 3G iPad Pre-paid.
* Docomo Sony Xperia Acro HD (New main phone as iPhone will be phased out soon since the contract is over and Softbank sucks)
* E-Mobile LTE Wi-Fi Hot-Spot Router (This is my only internet connection)
* E-Mobile feature phone (they gave this to me free, it's like $5 per month if I don't use it, and free unlimited calls to other E-mobile users anyway).
* E-Mobile Sony Mini Android phone w/unlimited internet (also used only as a router for my girlfriend's internet)

I pay less than $200 overall per month despite having multiple toys and paying two people's computer internet, and soon it will be about $70 less since I am cancelling the iPhone and the iPad will be paid off.

Re:take the risk and Genius Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

Weid. Despite climbing, running, jumping, banging into things, and riding a motorcycle to and from work - fairly agressively - on a daily basis for well over a decade of cell phone use, I've *never* broken a cell phone. Your friend has probably been hospitalized as a result of some of these "adventurous" activities too, right?

The problem is not your young friend's active lifestyle, it's his inactive brain.

Working way or Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

To me, this sounds like a decision of "Should I use a professional service that worked for me in the past or go with Apple?". Why ask this question when you are happy with the current service, I do not even know. Sounds a tiny bit like the Apple fanboy inside of you is revolting.

Re:Working way or Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like an advertisement to me (and from the best-of-class department indeed). "I've had all the iPhones except one. I've now preordered the new shiny one, and now they even have this service I've previously bought from outside (and it is really useful too)"

Re:Working way or Apple

[gsgriffin]

I don't believe this question is genuine. This is obviously a fanboy who is doing what they are programmed to do...show off their new shiny toy they overpaid for as a way of helping their conscience reason the waste of money. I would tell the fanboy to stick with Apple since the love affair is not over yet. You'll pay more and get less with their service, but what else is new.

Re:Working way or Apple

[Anonymous Coward]

If you've got an Apple fanboy 'inside of you' you had better get an AIDS test.

Save your money

[Anonymous Coward]

The insurance is roughly 1/3 the cost of a replacement. Do you really think the odds of loss are so high that you need to pay that premium?

Re:Save your money

[Miamicanes]

Assuming, of course, that the iPhone 5 can be meaningfully repaired by anyone, let alone end users. Apple seems to have a new fetish for assembling devices with glue instead of screws, and designing them to be thin-at-all-costs instead of... well... repairable for common forms of damage.

Re:Save your money

[Tx]

This. I've never broken a phone, even though I've never used cases or screen protectors, so while I can't be bothered to work out exactly how much I might have saved by not insuring them over the years, I'm pretty sure that even if my luck changes for the worse, I'll have to write off a fair few before I come out negative

Re:Save your money

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah i've never broken a phone either (that wasn't well past its use by date), but then again i don't use phones that would be easily damaged.

Re:Save your money

[Robert Zenz]

Unless you have catastrophic damage where you drop your phone into a running industrial shredder, repair it yourself.

Imagine that: You walk up to a store clerk at an Apple Shop with a plastic bag full of shredded pieces: "Hello, I'd like to claim the warranty of my phone...or at least, I'd like to know how much the repair costs."

Re:Save your money

[Anonymous Coward]

iPhones are actually easy to repair. At least the fourth one was. There's like a million youtube videos that teach you how to replace everything and spare parts are abundant in e-shops all over the globe.

Re:Save your money

[james_pb]

The insurance is roughly 1/3 the cost of a replacement. Do you really think the odds of loss are so high that you need to pay that premium?

The original post was pretty clear about this: yes, they intend to destroy the phone multiple times. Remember that part about the OP submitting multiple claims previously?

"Insurance" is a great buy if you're paying less than 100% of the value of the item - if you _know_ you're going to use it. You're just buying n phones for something like $(1.3n).

Re:Save your money

[Anonymous Coward]

I heard this same 'assumption' for the original iPhone, iPhone 3, 3S, 4, and 4S. Each of those in turn has turned out be the most user repairable smartphone available anywhere.

Maybe, just maybe, your dreams will come true for 5. But history is not on your side.

Re:Save your money

[schlachter]

Self insure....if you can handle $200 in unexpected costs when the phone breaks.
If you can't, what are you doing buying an iPhone?

Re:Save your money

[rwv]

I'll have to write off a fair few before I come out negative

But the OP is a cell phone liability. He or she admits to breaking numerous phones and to-my-knowledge "replacement phones" don't get the same "low-cost-subsidy" as the phones you'd get for doing a new contract. I don't know the deals that Verizon or AT&T are offering for the current iPhone5, but I assume 2 million people aren't paying $500-700 each. More likely, most are getting the phones with a $200-300 "new contract" discount because that's how the business is run in the states.

All that aside... a few years back I put my college aged brother on my family plan with a Motorola Droid. I opted for the insurance on his phone. He eventually managed to drop it into water and it stopped working. I think the crux of the issue isn't "which insurance to go with" but what level of insurance is needed (and that's a *very* individualized question that isn't appropriate for Ask Slashdot). Another post mentioned being mugged and extreme sports as reasons why phone insurance might be necessary. My guess is that the OP is somewhat of a klutz and buys the insurance because it's a good value for him or her. Just because it isn't a good value for *most* people, doesn't mean the OP should avoid it. That said... this is not a good question for the stingy, risk-adverse Slashdot crowd who -- I believe -- avoids paying extra for things like cell phone insurance.

Re:Save your money

[wed128]

"How else am I supposed to look cool while i wait in line for food stamps?"

I've seen this at my local store. It sickens me.

Re:Save your money

[tompaulco]

My guess is that the OP is somewhat of a klutz and buys the insurance because it's a good value for him or her. Just because it isn't a good value for *most* people, doesn't mean the OP should avoid it.
But if careful people like you and I don't buy the insurance, then eventually, this poor klutzy person will have to pay more for his insurance then he would to just buy new phones (because the insurance company has to cover the cost of administration, plus profit). That wouldn't be fair that a klutzy person should have to pay the full price of their klutziness! This is America! We need to make everyone mandatorily participate n cell phone insurance so that everyone, not matter how careful or how clumsy, pays exactly the same rate for their insurance.

Re:Save your money

[cdrudge]

If it can't be repaired, how do the repair shops repair them for the price of the plan and deductible?

Re:Save your money

[dgatwood]

The insurance is roughly 1/3 the cost of a replacement.

No, the insurance is roughly half the cost of the repair bill from a single drop (although the repair is performed by replacing the device with a refurbished device that someone else dropped previously). A true replacement of the device (the cost of buying one without a contract), assuming the contract-free cost is similar to that of the iPhone 4S, is almost seven times the insurance cost. The difference in cost is because the expensive guts rarely break.

Re:Save your money

[Bigby]

Better question. If you need insurance to mitigate the risk of damaging a few hundred dollar phone, should you be spending a few hundred dollars on a phone?

Re:Save your money

[Chrontius]

Seriously, where are you getting unsubsidized current-gen iPhones for $200?

I'm not sure whether I want to use that knowledge, or send the police to break up the stolen-phone ring.

Re:Save your money

[Chrontius]

Hypothetically, if I were on a 2-year American phone plan, lost my job due to a corporate takeover 2 months in, and ended up on food stamps, do I have any reason to stop using one of the few nice things I can't just give up on a whim to save money because I am bound by contract?

If you actually heard exactly that phrase that's somewhat different, but there's an awful lot of ways to have a reversal of fortunes in this day and age that's rather more sudden than the term of a smartphone contract.

Re:Save your money

[Rich0]

I'll take it a step further.

NEVER buy insurance EVER...

UNLESS...

you can't afford out-of-pocket or with only moderate hardship the expense of covering a loss.

The insurance company is making money. If they thought you'd be better off (by the numbers) with insurance they wouldn't be selling it to you.

I have homeowner's insurance, because I can't handle having a $180k bill if the house burns down while I'm away. I have auto insurance, because I can't afford a $500k liability payment in the unlikely event that I bounce off a supercar and hit some guy on a bike. I have health insurance, because if I have a heart attack I can't afford bypass surgery.

I don't pay for phone insurance, because if I break my $600 phone I just buy another $600 phone. Even if I had to pay interest for a month or two at horrible credit card rates it is WAY cheaper than insurance. Phone insurance is expensive because people with it have little incentive to check their pockets before doing the wash.

Oh, and keep in mind that what we call "health insurance" in the US is about 10% insurance, and 90% a buyer's club for health services. It is wise to buy it even if you have $50M in the bank, otherwise your nice friendly doctor will rape you on every little thing you have done.

Re:Save your money

[WillDraven]

Where exactly are you buying these $1.30 phones at? ;-)

Re:Save your money

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does it sicken you? They have very little money, but they choose to spend it on an expensive phone. You see this a lot in the ghettos with expensive sneakers and/or video games.

The reality is, a $500 phone that they got on a $200 subsidy couldn't have bought them that much groceries anyway. Now if they drive up in a new top of the line BMW...

Re:Save your money

[wed128]

yea, but the $100/mo plan that the subsidy requires could buy groceries. I am nowhere near the poverty line, and I didn't consider myself affording a smartphone until very recently...

Save your money

[cdrudge]

Unless you have catastrophic damage where you drop your phone into a running industrial shredder, repair it yourself. My phone recently had a shattered digitizer. Repair estimate was $150, similar to what your first claim essentially would cost. An OE digitizer was $12 on Amazon.

Bolt it to a wall

[JoeMerchant]

Provide a chair and sit next to it while you use it.

Those old wall mount phones never got dropped, and very rarely got wet.

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[Anonymous Coward]

My thoughts exactly. If you have a problem scratching your 600 dollar phone then you didn't really afford it in the first place.

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[mirix]

I've dropped the handset on more than one occasion, slammed it in fits of rage, etc...

Of course the old Western Electric phones didn't care... Sometimes I think the abuse made them perform better. They performed double duty as a bludgeoning tool, too, if people were hassling you while you were on the phone.

Funny how that works. When AT&T leased land phones, they made them like a brick shithouse to avoid service calls... Now if you break a (essentially) leased (mobile) phone, it prints money for them and the manufacturer.

I've never had a 'protection plan' for anything worth less than a car... the premiums for these sorts of things are terrible. Like $20k/yr car insurance.

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[Robert Zenz]

Suggesting to bolt something to the wall might be a dangerous thing, given the technical knowledge of most people. "Honey, can I borrow your nailing machine." - "Sure..." - *TUCK* - "...honey, do you know why my iPhone won't turn on again?"

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[Anonymous Coward]

there's a story on the site "computer stupidities" - during the first Gulf War, an American carrier captain ordered the crew to secure everything, a routine order so as that if they hit rough seas things wouldn't go flying everywhere and become hazardous. Afterwards, two marines called the local tech support because a PC was no longer booting up. Tech looked at it, confirmed it wouldn't boot, then tried to take the unit back with him for further investigation, but found he couldn't lift it.

The marines had "Secured" the PC by putting bolts through the PC into the table below, through things such as the motherboard and possibly the hard drive. They didn't know why it didn't work, but it sure wasn't going anywhere...

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[1u3hr]

Back in the 80s, Hong Kong gangsters ("triads") were known for carrying their brick-size, and -weight phones at all times; and using them to bludgeon people in brawls. They made very effective weapons.

Now it's all "thin, thin, thin!', they should offer a model with a retractable razor edge. Better than Mace.

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[Jeng]

Yes, but those old phones had a separate handset you could hold close to your face.

If you mount a smart phone to the wall you'll end up having to hold your head up against the wall the whole time you use it.

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[Anonymous Coward]

>slammed it in fits of rage

you're kind of a schmuck aren't you?

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[tomuo]

This problem is already solved. http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/8928/

Re:Bolt it to a wall

[Macgrrl]

Don't you mean a RAZR?

This post sponsored by Apple...

[retech]

and it's underwriters.

Don't take insurance

[Anonymous Coward]

My father always taught me: Never take insurance for things you can pay for yourself.
On general you pay more for insurance than you get out of it, because of the insurer pay check and people scamming insurance.
Only take insurance for things you can;t pay yourself (e.g. health insurance and big operations).

Don't take insurance if you can pay for the repairs yourself, otherwise it is silly/stupid to get an I-Phone.

Re:Don't take insurance

[Anonymous Coward]

This pretty much.

Even though an iPhone might cost 1000$ and last 5 years, you're better off replacing it in 5 years than the insurance replacing it with the now last-years-model.

There are things you should probably insure (health, laptops, cars, houses) but generally bestbuy and other companies push extended warranties precisely because their customers are raging idiots that shouldn't own the device in the first place.

Re:Don't take insurance

[Bigby]

This is very true. If you are afraid of losing $600 because of a broken phone, then you shouldn't be spending $600 on a phone to begin with.

Just AppleCare

[foniksonik]

Just get a decent case if you need more peace of mind. Combined with AppleCare for unexpected extreme circumstances a good case will be enough. Theft is the only thing not covered.

If you need theft protection you'll need one of the plans you listed. I've no experience with that, keep reading.

Re:Just AppleCare

[TheLink]

You could reduce the risk of theft by making your phone very very distinctive in a permanent way.

Ugly helps - example: http://www.androidauthority.com/good-guy-samsung-gives-free-custom-s3-lucky-facebook-fan-exchange-dragon-drawing-110858/

Low fence value, I bet the thief's girlfriend won't accept it either.

It's not 100% of course.

Self-Insure

[BasilBrush]

Self-insure it. An insurance company pays out much less money than it takes in. It has to be that way or it wouldn't be a worthwhile business. Thus the chances are that you will get less out than you put in. It's a form of gambling, and the odds are even worse than the casino.

So, if it's a risk that won't cripple you financially if it happens, it's not worth insuring. You have to insure the car, and you probably want to insure the house, because that would be crippling if it burned down. But for something where the risk is only a few hundred dollars or less, insurance isn't worth it.

You could literally self insure, by putting the amount they would otherwise have spent on insurance in a separate account. From which you withdraw money when a bad thing happens. But it probably is better just just do it in the old-fashioned way, and just always have enough money saved up "for a rainy day".

Re:Self-Insure

[Anonymous Coward]

You must have trouble with math,
Self insurance 1 incident 600$, 0 incidents 0$
Fancy apple plan 2 incidents 100$
Since OP had 4 incidents in 2 phones it's safe to say
The OP is a fool and is likey way better off buying both plans
Rather than self insuring.

Self insuring when you know bad stuff will
happen is about as dumb as voting for .......

Re:Self-Insure

[Anonymous Coward]

Self-Insurance starts before you buy the fancy phone, with questions like, "Do I want to increase the value of stuff at risk in my life by $600*? Are there other options? Can I afford to carry around something made of glass which I'll want to use all the the time, yet I cannot afford to break?" and then, "Am I spending less than I earn so that I'm always building a funds for a rainy with which I could self-insure?"

Original poster is correct, insurance is for catastrophic losses.

* Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone 4 but I'm lucky that my employer pays for it, so I don't have to answer these questions. If I did, I might have considered a 3GS (cheaper, only one glass surface) or just sticking with my old Nokia 3390 :)

Re:Self-Insure

[Anonymous Coward]

One small quibble - your math on why insurance doesn't work for small losses works even if the insurance company is a non-profit/cooperative model. The reason insurance works best for catastrophic losses is not related to whether or not the insurer requires a profit.

Re:Self-Insure

[bigdavex]

You have to insure the car, and you probably want to insure the house, because that would be crippling if it burned down.

You don't have to insure cars either. You have to insure against the liability of damage done with a car.

Re:Self-Insure

[WhitePanther5000]

I second this. Last year I signed a new contract and got two HTC Incredible 2's for nothing (really, they were a penny each). Instead of insurance, we bought a nice case for each of them with the understanding that if we dropped one off a boat or something, we use a shitty replacement phone until the contract ends. This has worked out pretty well. I've dropped mine on asphalt several times, and on a rock once or twice while hiking. The case ends up with a few scratches, but the phones are in great shape.

It's the same reason I don't understand people who spend $100-$200 on designer sunglasses. I've broken/lost enough pairs to know not to spend more than $10-$20 on a pair of knockoffs.

Re:Self-Insure

[Anonymous Coward]

yes because all of us can afford to just buy a new one if we crash the old one...

Consider self insurance

[JaredOfEuropa]

Unless you expect to be somewhat careless with your phone or can't afford to repair or replace your phone when it breaks, consider self insurance. Put that $100 in your savings account, that already goes a long way towards covering the repair of any one thing that can break in your iPhone (especially if you factor in your insurance deductible). Insurance companies expect to make money on this scheme, so statistically you are better of self-insuring if you can afford it. Insurance for things like these is a "tax on people who are poor at math", just like lotteries :)

Re:Consider self insurance

[CastrTroy]

I think the main problem here is that the insurance costs way too much. Consider the iPhone which costs about $600. The $100 insurance plan assumes that 1 in 6 people are going to need a total phone replacement for them to break even. Even counting in operating costs, and the fact that they will want to make a profit, let's say 1 in 20 end up needing a complete replacement over the life of the phone. This doesn't even count the fact that after about a year, the cost of the phone has come down considerably. Something like $20 may make a lot more sense for most people. A year of insurance on a house probably costs $1200, which is around 0.4% of the value of my house and possessions. Yet for some reason it costs about 20% of the value of the phone to insure it. I think it all comes down to the fact that it's way too tempting to drop/fry/submerse your phone on purpose in order to get a shiny new one. Whereas one would be crazy to try the same with their phone. Insurance fraud is illegal, but probably impossible to prove with phones.

Re:Consider self insurance

[jbolden]

It isn't coming from fraud. The life expectancy on smartphones (insured or not) is 11.5 months. Between, loss, defect and accidental damage they just don't tend to survive. Houses on the other hand do quite a bit better.

Re:Consider self insurance

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's how it works though:

$100 insurance cost for the 2 years
$50 deductible

Phone breaks the first time - let's say it's a cracked screen a half year down the road
"Sure, we'll fix your phone"
Costs them maybe a hair over the $50 deductible to fix this, they lose $20 because of the hassle, etc.

Phone breaks a second time - lets say it's water damaged, 1.5 years down the road
"Sure, we'll give you the replacement cost value - $200 after your deductible"
So they lose $220 because of the hassle

So they're down $140 for you.

Except 2 out of the 3 other people either never break it and they make $60 profit between the 3 of you.

For example:
My family has had damage protection on our phones for 8, 9? years for 4 phones at $5/mo per phone (my parents pay, I don't complain)- and the one time I thought I might file a claim (cracked screen from me dropping it), the deductible stopped me, and I decided to live with it. So it works out to $2000 dollars paid to insurance for 0 claims. At that rate, even with the whole family each utterly destroying 1 brand new phone we'd have been better off with no insurance.

Don't be a jerk with your cool new iPhone 5

[Anonymous Coward]

http://gizmodo.com/5943324/dont-be-a-jerk-with-your-cool-new-iphone-5

Or you could just...

[Anonymous Coward]

be careful with your shit.

Treat it like insurance

[cerberusss]

You should treat it like any other thing that you normally insure, in my opinion. The first question whether to insure is, can I pay for repairing myself, out of pocket?

If yes, don't insure. That's my personal policy.

Re:Treat it like insurance

[ledow]

I have to agree.

SquareTrade did a replacement of my girlfriend's Kindle once. They were very quick and very good about it. But it was £25 for three years on a £100 product with a special screen which I probably couldn't even source, let alone replace myself (guess which bit got broke!).

Other than that? Manufacturer's warranty against defects, national laws about the item being "fit for purpose", and anything else handles itself out of my wallet as and when.

To be honest, if I break something within a year or two, and haven't done something incredibly stupid like throw it on the floor, then I have to question whether I actually WANT another one of those products. If it's that easily broken, would I really want to send it back every year to have the components replaced with the same type that I originally broke? Probably not.

Above that, it's theft and accidental damage ("I was stupid and run over it"). Insuring against them is usually not worth the time and effort compared to just ensuring they don't happen in the first place (i.e. not leaving it in the car, or under the front tyre, etc.).

Insurance is a gamble as to whether you're going to break/lose something or not. Look at your own history. If you're likely to break it, won't be able to repair it yourself, or it's something small, valuable to a thief and easily stolen then maybe the insurance will pay off.

But mathematics suggests that, on average, the cost of any one person replacing/repairing their device through insurance will be more than they would have paid to just buy replacements/repairs as and when something did occur. Or else the insurance company would go bust very, very quickly.

It's not like car insurance where you might have to pay for the guy you crippled for life for 40+ years of specialist assistance. It's an iPhone. That in a couple of years you'll probably sell on anyway.

Best plan?

[Lumpy]

Otterbox case and save the $9.99 a month in a savings account, oh and being responsible and not breaking my phone or being dumb and putting it in my back pocket.

A good case is a great investment

[Tridus]

Best money I spent along with my phone was the $35 or so it cost for an Otter box. While I may have to replace the case at some point due to some nasty scratching on the screen part, the phone itself is in pristine condition despite being dropped multiple times, stepped on, and the aforementioned scratching when it fell out of a pocket and got sat on at the beach. (I admit it - I'm a klutz.)

While they won't replace the phone if it does get broken, I much prefer the idea of protecting it so it won't break in the first place since then I'm not without it. Also acts as a belt clip, so there's that too.

Re:A good case is a great investment

[Frightened_Turtle]

I'm inclined to agree with Tridus and Darkness404: buy an Otterbox or similar hardened case to protect the phone and put the saved cash into your own savings account for just in case. I've owned several Otterbox products over the years, and I've been very happy with their performance, so I feel you can have some confidence that the case will protect your iPhone 5 in all but the most extreme incidents. Plus, the money you save by putting the cash into your own savings account (and earning interest) can go towards replacing the iPhone 5 should the unmentionable occur, or buying the next best thing when it comes out in a few years.

I've had an iPhone 3Gs for years, and it managed to survive all this time. The iPhones are beautifully designed, but they are so smooth that they are downright slippery. My 3Gs has slipped out of my shirt pockets on a regular basis, it's been dropped when my hands were dry during the winter. It finally took a near-fatal blow several months ago when I was trying to answer a call too quickly and it slipped out of my hand and shattered the screen when it landed on the edge of a granite curb. I had the screen replaced ($120), but the 3Gs has been somewhat wonky ever since. With that history in mind, I've purchased an Otterbox to go with the iPhone 5 I have on order.

If an insurance plan was offered for just pennies, yeah I'd consider it. But for $10 a month? My iPhone 3Gs would easily have lasted a few years longer, had I been a bit more careful with it. In the expected lifespan of five years (expected by me), $10 a month would be better than the replacement cost of a new iPhone. Accidents are going to happen. But if you mitigate the potential damage that could happen in the event of an accident, then you can save a great deal of money with a protective case instead of insurance. If I was regularly in environments such as highly active sports or work environments where potentially catastrophic damage could occur to my iPhone 5, insurance would be a good idea. Regular everyday use, probably not.

RealityImpairedat the opening of this thread made an excellent point about saving some money and getting the previous year's model of a smart phone. For those who have not yet purchased, but are considering purchasing an iPhone, this is a valid point. The 4S can utilize all the new capabilities that the 5 can in iOS 6 and one can save up to $300 depending on what versions your are comparing.

Best of luck with your new toy! I can't wait until mine arrives, too!

Protection Racket

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll protect your phone. You wont have any troubles from any of the other scum.

Make sure to pay up, though. Otherwise they will break your phone.

Easy

[Anonymous Coward]

Stay with the company that provided you exemplary service when Apple wouldn't.

Unless this is a well designed ad - in which case you should place your faith in god instead of selling insurance.

Good case

[Darkness404]

Just get a good case (Otterbox anyone?) and save the money on insurance. Phone insurance is a good thing if, say, you are a college student, but otherwise I just don't see the point.

Too expensive

[bender647]

Quite simply, I wouldn't spend $100 + $50 insuring a $600 product. Especially one that depreciates as fast as a cell phone. Perhaps taking the 1 year agreement with your cell plan provider would work out better. It's usually not that much more, and you play the odds that you can make it out 1 year without doing something serious to your current phone.

Re:Too expensive

[Anonymous Coward]

Well if evryone that ownes an iphone is stupid enough to pay that much on insurance for it, there's little wonder....

Re:Too expensive

[Anonymous Coward]

its $399 for the most expensive product, and the iphones hold their value. For example, I sold my iphone 4s two days before the 5 was announced, got $351 for it.
The cell phone providers, as well as places like best buy black tie, and even squaretrade, take time to replace the phones. If you have applecare, one of the reasons to pay more for it, would be instant. You setup an appointment at your nearest store, walk in, and 10 mins later walk out with your working replacement phone. To some, but I know not all, that it worth the extra cost. Plus you also get the warranty, accidental breakage protection, and instant replacement, for a 3 year period.

If you need to insure it, you need a cheaper phone

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Insurance makes a degree of sense(as hard as insurers try to change this) when dealing with situations where risk is either inevitable(ie. your body, with all its potential for horrible and expensive mishaps, comes standard and you'll need one until you die) or a fairly large chunk of your net worth(most homeowning, say) or where your potential to hurt others potentially far exceeds your personal ability to compensate them and insurance is therefore mandated(car insurance on the consumer level, potentially various other flavors among venue operators and the like).

On cheap consumer devices, it just doesn't make much sense. The insurer has to make a profit in order to continue offering the insurance, so you know that(on average) purchasing the insurance is a bad deal compared to self-insuring, and you also know that the potential costs are bounded(ie. there is nothing that could happen to my cellphone that could possibly cost more than a new cellphone. There are plenty of diseases and/or accidents that could happen at any time that could run into an unpredictable but very large number that I don't even necessarily have a good way of estimating).

Just put the price of the insurance wherever you usually put money for storage, let the warranty handle any material defects/abnormal failures, and maybe buy a case if you are a bit of klutz. Unless you murder your phone both brutally and swiftly, you'll probably be able to get a refurb for the money you saved by not buying insurance, plus the deductable you would have paid, by the time your phone eventually does bite it. Worst case, a used or refurbed iphone 4/4S will cost peanuts if you kill your present one and really can't afford a replacement.

Given that, on average, buyers of insurance lose money, you should really only be buying it on things that are at the outer envelope of affordability; but that you must have for one reason or another.

Don't drop it.

[Sydin]

The best protection policy on the market.

Re:Don't drop it.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't drop my Nokia 3310, I toss it! The look of bystanders who own a smartphone is just priceless :p
Only thing that i've ever replaced was a battery, and instead of the original battery I used one of the later models which was thinner and lighter, so I'll call that an upgrade.

Re:Don't drop it.

[TheLink]

Your phone may last longer than the company that made it.

Ad for SquareTrade?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it just me or did this read less like an actual question and more like an ad for SquareTrade? On Slashdot, of late, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between a legitimate story and a slashvertisement.

Betteridge's Law of Headlines

[Schmorgluck]

According to Betteridge's Law of Headlines, the answer is no.

Re:Betteridge's Law of Headlines

[Anonymous Coward]

According to Betteridge's Law of Headlines, the answer is no.

Or, by corollary, "DO NOT WANT!!!!!"

Not a good deal

[erroneus]

Think about it. If you paid for insurance for your car and had a deductible of 8.3% but a payment rate which is about 17% the value of the phone for the predicted duration of ownership or less... guaranteed to get refurbished crap...

Sorry, but I think I'd rather roll the dice, save money and buy bumpers and simply be careful. At least when/if I break my expensive phone, I wil be able to comfort myself with a brand new perfectly shiny latest version of whatever is out there.

I have never actually broken a phone before, so I can't say if this is a good deal for other people but definitely for me it would be a loss of at least $100.

Theft Protection

[rogueippacket]

Neither Apple nor SquareTrade cover theft. If you do a lot of travel or are giving the phone to a teenager, you may want to consider someone else. In fact, most carriers won't even sell their own warranty or theft protection for Apple products anymore, not since AppleCare+ was introduced.

Re:Theft Protection

[jbeaupre]

The best theft protection is make your stuff unattractive to thieves. My car with the wood trim and the words "Ford Pinto" highlighted in chrome was a classic example of this strategy.

Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[Nidi62]

When I purchased my latest phone, my carrier offered insurance, I think it was $7 a month. If something breaks, you just take it in and the replace it. I had issues with my last phone with texts and even calls not coming to my phone (not dropped, my phone would simply never ring and I would have no record of the call on my phone). They replaced that one no questions asked, no deductible.

Re:Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[jbolden]

That sounds like Asurion: http://www.asurion.com/ Most of the carriers are agents for Asurion. They are great to do business with. I've had multiple claims over the last decade and they've handled them well. When I got my iPhone Asurion was $11 / mo iphone. It seems like they are down to $6.99 again for "advanced devices". Apple care is like $4 / mo and includes technical support but can be more of a PIA for trade ins.

I think I'd go Apple, but for my daughter, where the loss protection matters more, go with Asurion. In either case good recommendation.

Re:Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[tompaulco]

Most of the carriers are agents for Asurion. They are great to do business with. I've had multiple claims over the last decade and they've handled them well.
Must be a different Asurion than the one I have dealt with. My stepson's phone had insurance on it, for $7.95 a month. When he broke his phone, they wanted a $99 deductible for him to get a replacement. The phone could be had on the internet for less than that.

Re:Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[jbolden]

That sounds like their old higher end Android plan. Why use it on a less than $100 phone? Had it been $8 / mo, with $100 deductible for a $500 phone you'd have been happy.

Re:Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[tompaulco]

Why use it on a less than $100 phone?
Well, it wasn't a $100 phone when I bought it. It was probably $100 plus a two year commitment when I bought it. But 6 months into the contract it was a $100 phone.

Re:Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[jbolden]

Something atypical is going on there.

A $100 phone when you but it is generally a $350+ phone. That phone shouldn't have been $100 6 mo later. Phone prices don't drop quite that fast.

Re:Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[tompaulco]

Well undoubtedly the phone under contract was $100, but the phone itself was probably available elsewhere for $150 or so. 6 Months later it was available elsewhere for $100. One might ask why not just buy your own phone and then not have the contract. The answer to that is that many carriers charge you EXTRA if you are not under contract.

Re:Does the carrier not offer insurance?

[jbolden]

Well the right solution here was get an expensive phone on contract and sell it new in the box, and buy the phone you are going to use for $150. And then of course self insure.

As for Asurion that plan is setup for a more expensive phone. You just weren't insuring it properly. I'll agree the carrier seems to have been somewhat at fault here.

I work in iPhone insurance in the UK

[Anonymous Coward]

and I wouldn't buy an iPhone insurance policy!

Check if you can get the phone added as a named item on any building and contents insurance you may have.

Ask slashdot

[franciscohs]

How idiotic can "ask slashdot" questions become?

Really?, you need to ask the whole slashdot community what to do to insure a freaking phone???, give me a break, do whatever you want, it's not that important anyway...

Re:Ask slashdot

[oji-sama]

I bet you didn't know that Apple offers it's own version of Accidental Damage Handling (ADH) before this article...

Re:Ask slashdot

[franciscohs]

What's your point?, there are so many things I don't know and don't need to know. And if at any moment I need something as simple as this, I'll find out myself, ask maybe a friend or something, instead of asking thousands of people.

Re:Ask slashdot

[oji-sama]

I'm thinking that this is an advertisement. Perhaps not an actually paid one, but this one is "from the best-of-class dept." and a few hours later we get another iPhone 5 story from the "got-to-have-one dept". Or perhaps just a bait for messages. I don't know.

Re:Ask slashdot

[tompaulco]

Really?, you need to ask the whole slashdot community what to do to insure a freaking phone???
No, they needed to announce to the whole slashdot community that they got an iphone 5.

Re:Ask slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

But it's an iphone so it's necessary to post it to placate the Apple fanbois.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

My God

[Anonymous Coward]

First World problems...

Extended Warranty

[Sandman619]

AppleCare & AppleCare + are extended warranties NOT insurance. You must be able to bring the old iPhone in for the extended warranty plan. Theft & loss are NOT covered by an extended warranty plan. It is worth noting that AppleCare covers everything that comes in the box & possibly other iPhone related items by Apple (like a dock) that are purchased on the same receipt. Ask at time of purchase. The extended warranty must be purchased at the time that the iPhone is purchased. Otherwise, the iPhone must be checked out by Apple staff in order to qualify for the plan For loss or theft of an iPhone or any smartphone, review your homeowner's or renter's policy or consider getting a renter's policy from your auto insurer. The rates are usually good, Multi-plan discounts will apply Cheers !

Re:Extended Warranty

[Colonel Korn]

AppleCare & AppleCare + are extended warranties NOT insurance. You must be able to bring the old iPhone in for the extended warranty plan. Theft & loss are NOT covered by an extended warranty plan. It is worth noting that AppleCare covers everything that comes in the box & possibly other iPhone related items by Apple (like a dock) that are purchased on the same receipt. Ask at time of purchase. The extended warranty must be purchased at the time that the iPhone is purchased. Otherwise, the iPhone must be checked out by Apple staff in order to qualify for the plan

For loss or theft of an iPhone or any smartphone, review your homeowner's or renter's policy or consider getting a renter's policy from your auto insurer. The rates are usually good, Multi-plan discounts will apply

Cheers !

And most credit cards add at least a year to the warranty of every product you buy. They don't like to advertise those features, but they're pretty easy to use. If you use Amex or most types of Mastercard, you've got this service and can access it by calling the number on the back of your card.

How tough is the iPhone (5)?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've owned a Motorola Droid (original) since it was first release, so almost 3 years. This thing is solid, it's been dropped many times, even on concrete. Other than some markings on the metal frame it's still fine. The glass screen has held up fine as well. I've accidentally carried in my pocket with car keys a few times. There are a few minor scratches but not bad. If I go with another Motorola droid product I wouldn't consider damage insurance.

On the other hand, we've given the kids iPod touches last year, and within 5 months they were all shattered. It seems for those devices even a minor drop is catastrophic. I don't know how different an iPhone is from an iPod as far as build and materials, but I'd consider the iPod touches fragile.

Given that, I'm ready for a phone upgrade and am considering the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD, or the iPhone 5 as my next phone. All my computers at home ar Apple (24" iMac, 15" macbook, 17" macbook pro), I like the apple hardware and OS, but have never owned their iPhone. Can some long-time apple owners chime in on how your devices tend to hold up to typical abuse? I'm not hard on my electronic, but realistically at some point it will get dropped or keyed. I'm used to not having to worry about that.

Re:How tough is the iPhone (5)?

[Colonel Korn]

I've owned a Motorola Droid (original) since it was first release, so almost 3 years. This thing is solid, it's been dropped many times, even on concrete. Other than some markings on the metal frame it's still fine. The glass screen has held up fine as well. I've accidentally carried in my pocket with car keys a few times. There are a few minor scratches but not bad. If I go with another Motorola droid product I wouldn't consider damage insurance.

On the other hand, we've given the kids iPod touches last year, and within 5 months they were all shattered. It seems for those devices even a minor drop is catastrophic. I don't know how different an iPhone is from an iPod as far as build and materials, but I'd consider the iPod touches fragile.

Given that, I'm ready for a phone upgrade and am considering the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD, or the iPhone 5 as my next phone. All my computers at home ar Apple (24" iMac, 15" macbook, 17" macbook pro), I like the apple hardware and OS, but have never owned their iPhone. Can some long-time apple owners chime in on how your devices tend to hold up to typical abuse? I'm not hard on my electronic, but realistically at some point it will get dropped or keyed. I'm used to not having to worry about that.

The iPhone will be very resistant to being keyed - it uses the same glass as the Moto phone. On the other hand, the previous several iPhones have all been very shatter prone. This one might be better because it's lighter, but it's still using the same sort of materials and was designed by some of the same people so I wouldn't put money on it.

Prey Project

[MatrixCubed]

http://preyproject.com

From the site:

Prey lets you keep track of your laptop, phone and tablet whenever stolen or missing -- easily and all in one place. It's lightweight, open source software that gives you full and remote control, 24/7.

Cases, insurance and extended warranties

[multimediavt]

A lot of common sense answers in the thread already, but it all boils down to a few options.

First, and foremost is you. You are the best insurance against damaging your property. It's yours, treat it well, keep it safe and it will work for you for a long time.

Second, a case. I have had good luck with Speck cases for my iPhones. A little rubber padding and I can literally toss the thing over my shoulder and only worry if it lands face first on a pointy object. Other than that, nothing. I have tested this myself and in front of others.

Third, insurance. Whether through the carrier, a third-party or your own existing policies. Have you checked your homeowner's policy or asked them about coverage? If you are this worried, you should.

Fourth, extended warranty, called AppleCare for the iPhone. I always get and recommend AppleCare when buying from Apple. It's worth the expense should something go wrong beyond the regular warranty period, as most things do.

Finally, if you're that worried about breaking it maybe you should get an iPad and a dumb phone instead. Seriously, if you are worried you can't take care of it then you probably have a track record of breaking things or an irrational fear of having nice things. If replacing something you use every day is a hardship, then maybe you don't need it or could use a less expensive alternative.

Hidden in plain sight

[Anonymous Coward]

Disguise it as a Samsung. No FanBoi is going to go anywhere near it.

save your money

[Anonymous Coward]

PREFACE: unless you're terribly clumsy there is no reason to spend the extra cash on a warranty or insurance. here's my insurance strategy:

1-BE CAREFUL [I know, I know, but worth repeating as an unsub'd iPhone 5 is $750 -- you're careful with a laptop, right?]
2-Ignore the 2 yr contract cycle and purchase the new iPhone [or other device] every year [see below for how this is cost effective]
3-SELL BACK your current device to gazelle, yourenew, etc and always claim a trade in ticket BEFORE the release/preorder date to maximize resell value
4-If you DO break it in the year of ownership, it's covered under the standard warranty and will cost you $49 UP TO TWICE for separate incidents

I can't imagine anyone breaking 2 iPhones in a year, but if you think this is your reality, see my preface and go ahead and get some insurance. Even if you do end up buying some insurance, trading in annually and buying a new device, sub'd or not, is always going to be cost effective if you apply the trade in cash to your next upgrade.

AppleCare vs SquareTrade

[Brian212]

Looks like you were looking for what the pro's and con's of AppleCare Plus vs SquareTrade. I've had both on various equipment, however for the iPhone I would go with AppleCare, as this extends tech support on the phone to 2 years vs 90 days without it. Also, should you drop or damage your iPhone, you can walk into an Apple Store and get a replacement on the spot for $50.

Re:AppleCare vs SquareTrade

[Anonymous Coward]

Looking at both options, I'd also much rather have AppleCare+ than SquareTrade. Why? If I'm going to pay a premium for insurance, I might as well buy the most convenient with the best service. Walking into the nearest Apple Store and walking out with a repaired or replacement device is better than shipping. If it isn't physically damaged, they might even fix the problem on the spot for you.

When I had my first iPhone failure (3.25 years with no hiccups is actually pretty good for something I shove in my pants every day), I walked in and they checked it out for me for free, but it was not fixable with the usual methods, so they sold me another for $150. Since a single incident within the second year will cost $150 anyhow, if I need it I saved $2 bucks! If I need it twice, I save $103... If I don't use it at all, I'm out a couple meals out. The problem is that I probably won't need it and the failure could happen before the first year is up, in which case I would have saved $99 by not buying it.

Either buy it as a security blanket or toss 300 in a savings account, your call.

Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

My b2700 solid doesn't need any insurance ;)

Private Insurance?

[racermd]

For a long time, I've used my homeowners insurance policy to make sure ALL of my gadgets are covered - laptop, tablet, computers, music players, cameras, etc... Anything that costs more than about $100 to buy new I'd have added into my "technology" rider for a nominal fee per month on top of my regular homeowners policy.

More recently, however, they've explicitly started excluding smartphones which is likely due to the "I want the new iThing" phenomenon. Read: Insurance fraud.

In lieu of a formal policy from my insurance company, I've taken to setting aside about 75% of the cost of the unit and not worrying about coverage. If I do manage to break it in a catastrophic manner, I can use that money (plus a little extra out of pocket) to replace it. If it comes to that, I'll often buy a refurbished or used one to save a few bucks.

In the long-run, it's cheaper than formal insurance and I don't feel like I'm taking a bath in order to buy a new phone at unsubsidized prices.

who cares ?

[Anonymous Coward]

seriously. take care of your phone.

Do you really need this phone that much?

[damn_registrars]

If you are that clumsy that you tend to drop your fragile smart phone, maybe you should consider one that isn't so easily broken.

How much?!

[Kamien]

First World Problems...

Wait what? Insure a phone?

[L4t3r4lu5]

Does it cover data loss? Will it pay your medical bills if you get a brain tumour?

I don't understand why you would insure a disposable commodity. It's like insuring your toaster, or your shoes. Embrace your inner klutz and buy a cheaper phone.

Combined insurance

[Frankie70]

I am planning to add it to an insurance/extended warranty plan I have which covers my shoes, socks, trousers, shirts, sunglasses. The underwear insurance is thrown in free with these things - I don't pay any extra premium for it.

Homer Simpson, is that you?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOMR#Plot

Too early; you don't even know you're keeping it

[Cajun Hell]

You haven't even read a review of the product yet. Furthermore, you're about to get it and then be able to review it yourself.

There are many tradeoffs in mobile personal computer tech, mostly pitting battery life versus countless considerations, with the most debatable being screen resolution and GPU, but also including CPU. The result is that any particular phone model is very likely to not happen to match your own personal preferences. i.e. there probably does exist the perfect phone for you, but if you you pick one at random (and since you chose a not-yet-reviewed model, it really sounds like that's exactly what you did), the chance that phone is going to be the phone you want, are pretty small.

What I'm getting at, is the odds heavily favor that you're not going to like your unreviewed phone, even if it turns out to be outstanding quality. Every phone is aimed at a very specific niche, each of which happens to include only a few people. Five years ago there wasn't as much smartphone variety, so even if a particular phone wasn't aimed at you, it might have been the closest match you could get, to what you wanted. In 2012 that is never the case, except by random chance.

Wait for your phone and then play with it first, because there's a 98% chance you're going to resell it and get something else. i.e. There's a 98% chance that whatever you spend on insurance or extended warranty, will end up being wasted. IF by some miracle you're one of the 2% of the people whose battery/screen/GPU/locked-vs-free/OS/CPU combination taste this particular phone happens to be optimized for, then start worrying about whether insurance makes sense or not, and if so, which insurance company to use.

Whether a tech site (Slashdot) is the best place to ask questions about who has the best insurance policies, is hard to say. But I guess it doesn't hurt. You're just asking way too early, is all. IMHO the parts that make this stuff up are getting so commoditized and cheap (even for mobiles), that it doesn't make sense to insure this kind of thing anymore. As a general rule, within two or three years you will have spent as much on insurance as it takes to replace the device with something quite a bit better. i.e. $200 (total cost; no subsidies) in late 2014 is going to get you an awesome phone compared to which, the very best 2012 stuff is junk.

Home insurance

[Anonymous Coward]

You can put you cell phone on your home or renter's insurance. It'll take more effort to get it replaced if something does happen but it's much cheaper.

Advice from my father

[csnydermvpsoft]

My father gave me the following advice: "Insure against catastrophe, not inconvenience." If you can afford to replace a broken/stolen phone - even if it means buying a cheaper model/refurb, cutting back on a different luxury for a little while, or putting it on a 20% APR credit card - then the insurance isn't worth it. OTOH, if you truly can't afford to replace the phone (why did you buy a phone that far out of your budget in the first place?), then an insurance policy would be appropriate.

As others have mentioned, insurance is, by design, a losing proposition for the customer. The only exceptions would be if the company has zero overhead (they don't) or if you can game the system (you can't). In cases where a potential loss would be life-altering, insurance is still worth it. If my house burned down, my life would be ruined without insurance. Likewise if I was sued by someone for ten million dollars after an auto accident - the lawyer fees alone would bankrupt me. Therefore, I have homeowners and auto coverage.

Re:Advice from my father

[Slashdot Parent]

Eh. My strategy has been to get the $5/mo loss/theft/water/whatever insurance where you pay a $100 deductible and they ship you a new phone until the eBay price on my phone drops down to $200 or $300 or so. Then, I drop the insurance until I get a new phone. Usually about 6-8 months of insurance.

Could I afford to eat a $600 replacement phone? Sure. But I don't really feel like doing it. $40 in insurance makes psychological sense for me, and it's not totally insane in the mathematical sense:

I put the likelihood that I lose or destroy my phone at about 10%. I've dropped every phone I've ever owned at least once, but never totally destroyed one, so 10% feels about right. So, my expected loss on each phone due to theft/destruction is $600 * .1 = $60 when it's new, or about $300*.1 = $30 by the time I drop insurance. And I pay $30-40 for the insurance. The $100 deductible throws the numbers out of whack a bit, but in the end, I'm basically just covering my expected loss.

So yeah, I'm insuring against inconvenience, but it's not costing me much, so I don't care.

Homeowners special coverage

[Muerte23]

My homeowners insurance charges something like $10 per YEAR for computer insurance that also includes... smartphones. With a $50 deductible and $1000 per incident. My some dropped my wife's Samsung Somethingorother in the pool and the insurance paid out ~$500 for a new phone. Way cheaper than any other plan I have ever seen for phones. It also covers laptops, and all devices in the house are covered under the single $10 payment.

Re:Homeowners special coverage

[jcouvret]

My homeowners insurance charges something like $10 per YEAR for computer insurance that also includes... smartphones. With a $50 deductible and $1000 per incident. My some dropped my wife's Samsung Somethingorother in the pool and the insurance paid out ~$500 for a new phone. Way cheaper than any other plan I have ever seen for phones. It also covers laptops, and all devices in the house are covered under the single $10 payment.

Which company? State Farm stopped taking new Personal Article policies on smartphones last year, which means I won't be able to cover my new iPhone 5. I'm looking to shop around on insurance soon anyways...

Re:Homeowners special coverage

[Muerte23]

Amica. They've been pretty solid.

Don't buy stuff you cannot afford to lose

[Anonymous Coward]

Really, do not buy day-to-day stuff you cannot afford to lose, break, replace.

For "really expensive stuff" as a house or a car you can get insurance but for computers and toys (which the iPhone is): buy something you can afford or do not buy it at all.

You're only feeding some insurance-company with your cash for something as silly as a phone-insurance. Do not be silly.

LifeProof

[G33kDragon]

Get a LifeProof case and stop worrying about being too careful.

I've taken my 4S swimming, surfing, and given it to my 9 mo old to chew on without worry. I've also dropped it on occasion, but so far it's been completely fine.

If you have a case like that and you *still* manage to break it, just pay the replacement cost.

thats brilliant

[Anonymous Coward]

spend 200 dollars to insure a 275 smart phone.

Beware new jeans!

[plover]

Stonewashed blue jeans are tumbled in a slurry of abrasive pellets. The breakdown of these pellets is a grit that is trapped in the pockets, and which scratches the heck out of anything stored in them.

Re:Beware new jeans!

[AragornSonOfArathorn]

Stone washed jeans? Stop livin' in the 70s, man. Live in the now!

Buy a more rugged phone

[Animats]

Just because Apple can't make a rugged phone doesn't mean others can't. There are many good rugged smartphones now. Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Sonim, Casio, and even Caterpillar now have rugged smartphones.

Here's a Samsung phone being used to crack walnuts. Here's an HTC phone being used as a hammer. And here's an IPhone 4 broken by a 1-foot drop.

Just fix it yourself

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're worried about a broken screen it isn't that difficult to repair yourself. The pentalobe screw drivers are $5 on amazon. I've seen new screens for between $50 and $100. If you follow one of the many tear down tutorials on the net it's quite simple. You can replace 2-3 screens for the cost of your insurance alone.

You can probably even recoup some of the costs by repairing phones for others.

Should we hold your hand while you leak too?

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean seriously think for yourself? Obviously it has worked in the past for you unless someone told you to get squaretrade.
Most likely since you own a iphone anyway. We realize you need training wheels..
my captcha is perfect for this question: asinine

The DIY plan

[toomanyairmiles]

I have some phone insurance through a fee 'premium' based bank account ( I also get AA membership, household emergency insurance and the like) - which has turned out to be a handy investment, especially when the heating broke down. On top of which I stick 25 quid a month into a medium interest savings account for the next/replacement phone - thus far this has more than covered my needs.

Planning and control for using the phone in proper

[Anonymous Coward]

Planning and control for using the phone in proper way to save from harmfull effects.

Re:Planning and control for using the phone in pro

[Anonymous Coward]

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