<p>I’m trying to decide if we should purchase insurance on my son’s new Verizon iPhone. Here’s what I know.</p>
<p>Coverage is $9.18 per month.
Deductible is $199 if lost, stolen or damaged.
Without coverage, a replacement phone would cost $799.
Coverage can be canceled at any time without penalty.</p>
<p>I believe this information is accurate, but I may have misunderstood some details when speaking with the Verizon representative. Specifically, I’m still unsure if a replacement phone could be purchased for a lower price with an extension of the service contract. When I asked that question, the Verizon rep said no, but I have sometimes gotten different answers from different reps when trying to get information.</p>
<p>I imagine that a replacement phone might be available for purchase on Ebay or somewhere else, but maybe not for a significant discount right away. I’m inclined to buy the Verizon coverage for at least the first year just for peace of mind. Our homeowner’s coverage deductible is higher than the iPhone cost, and I might have to add it as a rider anyway.</p>
<p>I’d go with your idea of carrying the coverage for 6 months to year, then dropping it. By then Verizon will have refurbished iPhones in their warehouse that they might sell you for about $50 if you damage or lose the first phone.</p>
<p>My son would be paying the insurance premiums, but I wanted to give him advice on this. He doesn’t “need” an iPhone, just as most people do not “need” one. But it’s certainly nice to have. :)</p>
<p>Both of our kids have had $1,800 laptops for a while. Son was given a laptop before matriculating and daughter was given a laptop well before matriculating (she took our son’s as he never used it and then I had to buy him one when he did need it which was after the first fall semester). They are still in working order though I upgraded my son’s system this past summer because of some minor hardware issues that I didn’t feel were his fault. I never took out insurance policies on the system - I didn’t get AppleCare either. The kids have always been good with expensive electronics.</p>
<p>The iPhone comes with one-year of AppleCare which covers damage though not catastrophic damage (as in it got smashed against a rock). A second year of AppleCare is $69 so we can probably assume that that is the cost of insurance. Your $9/month is about $108/year and covers lost/stolen and probably a higher level of damage than AppleCare covers (check the policy). So it may be a pretty good deal. You know your son better than we do on how he is with electronics - if he is prone to losing or breaking things, then it sounds like you should get the insurance.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize that phones cost this much today.</p>
<p>Our kids have phones that cost $45 and $65. They’ve never lost their phones or any electronics that I can recall. If they lost one, I’d just order a replacement at WalMart.</p>
<p>RSBuletz, the thing is I doubt that Verizon would be selling refurbished iPhones for $50 any time soon. When I wanted to purchase a refurbished non-smart phone from them recently, the cheapest one they offered was about $60. My son found the same one on Ebay for $30.</p>
<p>AT&T could sell you a refurb non-current model, probably for cheap or you could get one from the big auction site. Verizon’s phone is new so there aren’t any old models to go to. You can buy Verizon phones off of Amazon. I’ve seen them on Craigslist locally too.</p>
<p>My son has a Motorola RAZR V2 from WalMart.</p>
<p>Yeah, without the contract, the Verizon iPhone is $799 or $744, depending whom I ask. My son has never lost his iPod, but he’s gone through two of them and they have just wore out. He has lost two cell phones, but they were $19.99 ones. I would just hate if he lost or had stolen his iPhone. He really doesn’t have the money to replace it, so he’d probably have to go back to using his $30 Razr. And then he’d want to get a replacement iPod.</p>
<p>iPods do wear out. My daughter’s iPod Nano holds a charge for 30 minutes. I’ve offered her a new replacement but she has so far declined. The battery on my Gen 1 iPod Touch lasts about 30 minutes too.</p>
<p>I don’t think that the price of the item matters that much as most people will take things for granted after a period of time. I think that a non-Smart phone is a good solution for college students for a variety of reasons but I see a ton of students on-campus with smartphones so I’d guess that I’m in the minority in my opinion.</p>
<p>We got our son a Verizon dumb phone this past summer because the coverage of his old phone provider was poor at his internship. My wife took his old phone. When he came back, he complained about the quality of his Verizon phone so I bought the Motorola RAZR V2 and took the SIM chip out of my wife’s phone, put it in the RAZR and gave it to him and gave my wife his Verizon phone. It seems that you’ve already purchased the iPhone from Verizon. Is it possible to return it or exchange it with someone else in the family? It would probably be a disappointment to your son but there might be something else that he could do with splitting the difference.</p>
<p>Is my son exaggerating, or do most college kids have smartphones these days? Maybe it’s just at his school, UChicago. I know kids don’t “need” them, but I know I’ve gotten used to having mine and having easy access to my email and the web. I would say that about half of the 8th graders have smartphones around here, but we live in a relatively affluent area.</p>
<p>His iPhone is a gift from us, replacing his worn out iPod and his cell phone that gave out in December. Like most kids, I’m sure he’ll get used to it. When his last iPod tanked I gave him my iPod Touch when I decided I preferred the Nano. He started using many more apps than I ever did. Just one example, when we were in NYC he had a subway map on his iPod that helped us get around easily.</p>
<p>It may very well be that most college kids have smartphones today. I’m surprised myself at how many I see when I’m on a college campus. At work, most of the employees in my building older than 30 have dumb phones. The college hires generally have smartphones.</p>
<p>Wikipedia says that smartphones are 19% of the US market so there are far more dumb phones out there. I agree that it is nice to have access to the web and apps on the go but many college campuses are already set up with WiFi and an iPod Touch would provide access at a cheaper price for the device and with no monthly charges. Yes, it would be a pain to carry two devices.</p>
<p>I have an iPad available for traveling and I would just load maps on the device before going on a trip or at the hotel where WiFi was available.</p>
<p>Since he’s a college student, why not just get him dorm insurance instead? It’s around $130/year (vs $100 for Verizon) and has a $25-$50 deductible. It will cover all electronic equipment plus anything else in the dorm - musical instruments, sports equipment, etc. My son’s insurance paid for itself when it replaced his damaged iPod.</p>
<p>Both my college sons have smart phones, and most of their friends do as well.</p>
<p>vballmom, I never considered dorm insurance. Is that something you purchase through the school? If it covered his phone, it would certainly be a better deal.</p>
Why not replace the battery? Costs $20-30 if you use a service, can be done for < $10 if you do it yourself. Plenty of videos around showing how to do it.</p>
<p>If you get a warranty from Verizon, make sure it covers water damage. I don’t think AppleCare does.</p>
<p>If dorm insurance will cover a cell phone, vballmom’s idea seems like the best option.</p>
<p>The iPod touch is old with a slower processor and not much memory on it. The only thing I use it for is as a bluetooth music transmitter. My eyesight has deteriorated to the point where I can’t read it that well with glasses. I much prefer using the iPad. My current Apple stock trade is up $13,243 so that’s my budget on Apple gear. There just isn’t anything that I care to buy for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>PayFor, we researched and bought my D CSI insurance. Covers her stuff anywhere in the world as long as she is a student, including cellphone. Covers theft or damage but not losing things, which with a phone is probably the biggest risk.</p>
<p>I don’t know Verizon’s policies, but I do know I just had to replace my AT&T iPhone 4 (coffee spill, very stupid on my part!). All I had to do was go to the Apple Store and plunk down $199 for a new phone without any insurance or AppleCare or whatever. And it wasn’t any kind of deal. So even though the supposed retail price is $600 or so dollars, that’s not what they make you pay if you need a replacement.</p>