# "I broke my iPhone!" "That'll be six hundred bucks!" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 26, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207 "2012-05-26T23:46:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/41 "2012-05-28T13:32:38Z")
Exactly, I have never before had anything happen to a phone that would be covered by insurance. Even if I’d carried it all this time it still would have been a bad deal. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/42 "2012-05-28T14:28:01Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > 1. Buy an iPod Touch for $170. It does everything except make phone calls. Use whatever phone the AT&T people give you for phone calls and the Touch for all the fun stuff. What if you need to look something up on the internet when you’re not near wi-fi? I often travel to rural North Carolina and Virginia, and if I want to look up movie times, use the Maps feature, find out the address of a business nearby, etc.. then I need cellular data, which is not available on the Touch. But yes, this is a good solution for those who are nearly always near free wi-fi, like in some cities. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/43 "2012-05-28T15:53:45Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > What if you need to look something up on the internet when you’re not near wi-fi? > > I often travel to rural North Carolina and Virginia, and if I want to look up movie times, use the Maps feature, find out the address of a business nearby, etc.. then I need cellular data, which is not available on the Touch. > > But yes, this is a good solution for those who are nearly always near free wi-fi, like in some cities. Many businesses offer this neat service that allows you to speak to one of their employees (or perhaps listen to a recorded message) to get important information about their operation. It’s called a ‘telephone number.’ ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/44 "2012-05-28T15:57:47Z")
> [@aerodave](#): > > […]the difference is that I’m happy to “self insure” for what it costs to replace a cell phone. If I had been carrying insurance that whole time, I’d have flushed $1150 down the toilet. I could have replaced 3 or 4 “top tier” phones in that time and still be ahead of the costs of insurance. Also, particularly with smartphones if you regularly backup/sync and/or use the various cloud services for the content, your loss can be limited to the hardware alone. In 13 years I’ve had one (1) damaged screen and one (1) lost unit. Both times replacement was reasonably priced, or free due to being eligible for contract renewal. And I’ve made it a point to always get a mobile for which there already are 3rd-party cases that fit. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/45 "2012-05-28T17:57:20Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > Many businesses offer this neat service that allows you to speak to one of their employees (or perhaps listen to a recorded message) to get important information about their operation. It’s called a ‘telephone number.’ Yes, which makes the device we are talking about a poor substitute for a phone, since it does not have the capacity to make phone calls. Try to keep up. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/46 "2012-05-28T20:38:48Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Yes, which makes the device we are talking about a poor substitute for a phone, since it does not have the capacity to make phone calls. Try to keep up. Actually, **Merneith’s** second suggestion covered the “phone calls” problem nicely. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/47 "2012-05-28T20:43:33Z")
> [@black\_rabbit](#): > > Actually, **Merneith’s** second suggestion covered the “phone calls” problem nicely. Sigh. Look. The point of his suggestion was that you could get a cheap phone for phone calls and an iPod Touch for the Internet stuff, as a replacement for an iPhone, which does both of those things. The problem is that if you are outside a wifi zone, the Touch will not work for the Internet stuff. Thus this solution fails to meet one of two necessary criteria (phone capacity, and Internet capacity). Presumably if the OP was happy to have a phone that only made phone calls and didn’t do any smartphone stuff, she wouldn’t have bought a smartphone in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/48 "2012-05-28T21:06:17Z")
Good thing she’s not in NYC or San Fran, or we’d have to joke about the iPhone not being able to make calls either. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/49 "2012-05-28T21:22:50Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Good thing she’s not in NYC or San Fran, or we’d have to joke about the iPhone not being able to make calls either. 😃 Many businesses offer a cool service that allows you to find out when they are open and what their location is. It’s called “the sign out front.” Look into it, people. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/50 "2012-05-28T23:09:39Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > 😃 > > Many businesses offer a cool service that allows you to find out when they are open and what their location is. It’s called “the sign out front.” But that has zero value to you when you’re on the other side of town trying to ascertain whether they’ll be open by the time you get yourself over there. Also the old 411 services were often of little help in large, spread-out cities like L.A. because they usually couldn’t zero down to a district or neighborhood. At least, that was my experience. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/51 "2012-05-28T23:29:15Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > But that has zero value to you when you’re on the other side of town trying to ascertain whether they’ll be open by the time you get yourself over there. Also the old 411 services were often of little help in large, spread-out cities like L.A. because they usually couldn’t zero down to a district or neighborhood. At least, that was my experience. Hm. Good point. Is there an app for identifying the source of the loud whooshing sound some distance above you? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/52 "2012-05-29T00:28:11Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Hm. Good point. Is there an app for identifying the source of the loud whooshing sound some distance above you? > > 😃 Many people have these neat light-detecting organs that, when something passes over their head, they can use to identify it by sensing the reflected and refracted rays of light. They’re called ‘eyes.’ ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/53 "2012-05-29T05:25:13Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I have no earthly idea why someone wouldn’t get insurance for something of that price, that is used daily, that has such potential for being lost/broken/stolen. It’s generally a poor financial move to insure against non-catastrophic losses. Insure your health. Insure your house. Insure your liability when driving a car. (If you have dependents) insure your life. All of those are huge expenses that you hopefully will never have to deal with, but would be catastrophic if you did. So you pay a bit more on average to spread out the risk. Breaking a phone? Almost everyone does that every once in a while, and the price of the insurance takes that into account. People have pointed out how the insurance is a really bad deal. Plus, if you break the expensive phone, you can certainly get by with a cheaper phone for a year or two. Over the long term, buying expensive insurance for a relatively inexpensive and common event is going to cost you more than just accepting that you’re probably going to break a phone once a decade or so, and sucking up the cost. If you are inordinately clumsy, then it makes sense to buy the insurance (and probably also one of those cases with the leash). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/54 "2012-05-29T07:47:38Z")
It’s a poor financial move assuming you make up for it by keeping aside the same amount of money yourself to help you find a replacement. Most people don’t seem to do this. The insurance is paying a premium to force you to save. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/55 "2012-05-29T16:47:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s a poor financial move assuming you make up for it by keeping aside the same amount of money yourself to help you find a replacement. Most people don’t seem to do this. The insurance is paying a premium to force you to save. You’re paying a hell of a premium, though. It wouldn’t surprise me if the profit margin on insurance for electronic devices was even higher than the interest rate for credit card debt. Salesmen hawk those insurance plans even harder than the store credit cards. If that’s true, you’re actually better off not buying the insurance _even if you just buy the replacement on a credit card_ and pay it off semi-slowly. Obviously having a sensible emergency fund and not going into debt over a phone is the best policy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/56 "2012-11-23T15:01:47Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Okay, that’s not… right, right? I have an AT&T contract and an iPhone 4S. I drop it all the damned time, but this one was the charm - totally shattered screen The first thing I do when I get a phone is to get a protective cover. I drop mine at least once a day and I’ve never broken anything. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/57 "2012-11-23T16:11:24Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Ughh. Something like this occured to me a few years back when the SO insisted we get Razor phones. I didn’t want a cell phone period. But I got a Razor whether I wanted it or not. Eventually I (honestly) accidentally killed it. SO was enthusiatic about getting a new Razor phone/ball and chain for me…until she found out it was 500 dollars for a new one. After that I was in relative bliss with an el cheapo Walmart version of the Jitterbug for a few years (we swapped chips or sumptin). I came here to post a very similiar story. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/58 "2012-11-25T22:19:16Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I came here to post a very similiar story. Lol. Ok that was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/59 "2012-11-25T23:37:53Z")
Well, if anything, this thread has inspired me to take better care of my cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207/60 "2012-11-27T22:29:35Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > It’s generally a poor financial move to insure against non-catastrophic losses. Insuring your phone gets you several potential benefits: (1) Quick turn-around time. We can often you get you the same model within 48 hours. So there’s a lot less worry. (2) A lot of people really, really love their high-end phones. And I’ve seen iPhones go for more than _1500 dollars_. Patching over that hole in your life and/or wallet can be very, very costly. Even more reasonably-priced models may be quite expensive for the average person’s pocketbook, and not something you want to pay out. (3) Obviously, peace of mind is a hard concept to weight, but people can and do pay for it. (4) Some customer break a _lot_ of phones. My own brother broke _five_ before we finally got him a mil-spec ruggedized phone. And that one cost a lot, now that I think about it. (5) Insurance can often get you a phone with the features you want, whereas you don’t get that kind of service in store. You basically can’t _find_ some features anymore. That said, it’s certainly not something that appeals to every soul out there. But it’s a very worthwhile investment for some, and one that more people are buying as phones are going upmarket. Services offer very different options, too, so it’s important to get one that appeal to you. Unfortunately, stores generally only offer one (UND ONLY VUN!) service, so you’re somewhat at the mercy of whomever you buy from. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-broke-my-iphone-thatll-be-six-hundred-bucks/623207.md?page=4)