I’ve never bothered in the past but I wonder if it’s worthwhile when I get my new phone.
I’m guessing putting it on the house insurance is the cheapest?
The insurance offered by my network is fairly steep pricewise, but I found where they buy their mobile insurance 
Advice anyone? Or should I just not bother, as I’m pretty careful with all my gear?
I’ve never bothered. It’s almost always a rip-off.
With my carrier (T-Mobile), when I bought my phone I was offered the “lifetime replacement” plan which meant for the low fee of $10 a month, if I lost or broke my phone I could get a replacement for a “deductible” which amounts to 1/4 of the full retail price. This is how it was explained to me by the salesman at the T-Mobile store, and he still insisted it was a good deal, even after I pointed out that even before my renewed contract was up, if I needed a replacement phone, that $10 a month plus the 1/4 retail price would have bought me a brand new phone anyhow.
Don’t bother.
Yes, but only because I get it through my bank account, wouldn’t have it otherwise.
Moving to IMHO.
The usual advice about such things (including the extended warranties that they try to sell you upon the purchase of appliances or electronics) is not to insure something that you could pay for out of your pocket. That instead, you should just save whatever you would have spent on the extended warranty and use that to cover any needed repair.
Usually, no. However, with one daughter it’s paid off.
This sort of insurance is highly self selective. You get people who are risk averse to a fault subsidizing (a) people who like to leave their stuff behind the rear wheels of pickups and (b) saleman commissions and corporate profits. Mostly its (b).
I’ve never heard of (or thought about) putting a cell phone on home insurance. My deductable is a couple hundred, so not sure it would cover it anyway. BUT, be very careful with making any claims against home insurance. They can cancel your insurance at the drop of a hat and any new insurance company will research if you’ve made claims in the past.
Not that I’m trying to be the data point that throws off the curve here, but it worked for me.
For an extra $5/month, I had the “extended warranty plan” with AT&T on the purchase of my new $200 phone. I only had it for three months before it got stolen. After much hullaboo with AT&T, and several phonecalls to argue about it, I received a new replacement phone (same model) and had the reconnection fee and replacement fee waived. Saved me about (including phone cost) $350.
But I did raise a lot of fuss, and I’m sure my experience is not the norm. I did have to jump over a lot of level 1 and 2 techs and speak to supervisors to get my way. But I did have documentation (police reports and what not) that I sent in. I got my replacement phone and SIM card in the mail in less than two weeks.
Granted, I was two weeks without a phone, but I used my land line at work to make up for it. I also had a sob story to go with it. So I guess that helped.
Absolutely! On other stuff it’s questionable, but with 3 smart phones and 2 kids the insurance has paid for itself several times over in the last 5 years. One drop in the wrong place or just plain losing it and you’re out 500 - 700 dollars or scrambling on eBay for a used one.
If you are in a job where you are often outside the office and you carry your phone around a lot then yes, if you phone is never exposed to being dropped or stolen then it’s value is more questionable.
If you’re the kind of person who constantly “misplaces” their phone or is silly enough to leave it sitting around in public spaces (ie, it keeps getting lost or stolen), then insurance probably isn’t a bad idea. Otherwise…
I bought it based on my wife’s last phone which was stolen twice (and the first time we had to buy a new phone out of pocket). I remember once reading that one of the few times people recommended buying these plans was for laptops and netbooks that would travel a lot since the potential for damage/loss was much more significant than it was for your wide screen TV or washing machine. I figured my phone was essentially a four hundred-odd dollar computer these days and went for it. At least I breathe easier when I see our toddler snatch the phone off the table because he wants to see Elmo on YouTube.
I did for my Droid, but now that it’s a year old I should cancel it since I could presumably replace it for not that much more (I think I could get the “new contract” discount at this point). I will get it if we get Dweezil a smartphone for his high school graduation next month - while he’s been pretty good about not losing things, this would be a pretty big target for theft and he’s going off to college in the fall.
Oh - and I opted NOT to for Typo Knig’s iPhone, because the price was, strangely, quite a bit more per month.
Then it died, about a month out of warranty. Had to spend 200 dollars on a replacement. Ouch.
I bought it for my son’s Droid. It paid for itself already.
I thought about it (and made a thread about it a few months back), but the companies offering it were either a) sketchy looking, or b) run by my cellphone provider.
I’m sure as shit not going with b, since I know that Rogers would try and screw me over if it was water damage, impact, or anything that can be remotely viewed as my fault. Then my replacement would be a piece of crap that in no way is the same model as the phone I shelled out cash for. YMMV.
I pay for 4 phones for various family members. I only insure my wife’s phone because she’s left it on top of the car multiple times and then driven off, fell into a pool with it in her pocket, and dropped it from a bridge. She’s hard on phones and we’ve more than made our money back on the insurance.