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AT&T to Offer Standard Insurance for iPhone Starting July 17th

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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mobileins.jpg



AT&T has informed customers that the iPhone (all models) will be eligible for their Mobile Insurance program starting on July 17th. AT&T's mobile insurance program offers protection against loss, theft, accidental physical or liquid damage and mechanical and/or electrical failure. The program costs $4.99/month and a $50 or $125 deductible for each claim depending on the particular model.
*Please Note: AT&T Mobile Insurance Update: Effective July 17, 2011, the Apple iPhone (all models) will be eligible for coverage with the AT&T Mobile Insurance program (formerly Wireless Phone Insurance). Enrollment restrictions apply. Customers can only enroll within 30 days of a new activation or upgrade, prior activations or upgrades outside of 30 days are not eligible.
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AT&T has long treated iPhones differently than other devices on their network when it comes to insurance. The original iPhone was unable to be insured at all from AT&T. Then in 2010, AT&T partnered with an external company to offer more expensive coverage for the iPhone at $11.99/month and $199 deductible.

The choice of getting any insurance at all is always up for debate -- especially since Apple is known to replace accidentally broken and out-of-warranty iPhones for a flat $199 repair fee, though this doesn't cover loss or theft.


Article Link: AT&T to Offer Standard Insurance for iPhone Starting July 17th
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/04/att-to-offer-standard-insurance-for-iphone-starting-july-17th/
soco

soco

macrumors 68030
Dec 14, 2009
2,840
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Yardley, PA
The $199 deductible is about as much as you'd spend on a repair without insurance. Sweet deal considering with the insurance you've also paid a certain amount of months' worth of $11.99.
 
arn

arn

macrumors god
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,362
5,795
appleguy123 said:
How do the companies who offer theft protection know that a customer isn't lying? It's always intrigued me as to why they trust the user not to lie just to get a new phone.
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I would guess you have to file a police report? But I'm not sure.

Alternatively, I suppose AT&T knows which phones are active based on unique ids. They could deactivate the lost/stolen phone at least from their network?

arn
 
J

johnvr

macrumors newbie
Aug 19, 2010
24
0
Good luck with that...

If it's the same kind of deal as the one T-Mobile offers through a third party here in Austria, you're wasting your money. The terms are such that it's virtually impossible to get any money out of them. The only good thing about the experience was that Apple provided a new phone at a lower price than list. As for mobile phone companies, they're not exactly ranking high on my list of respected companies.
 
bushido

bushido

Suspended
Mar 26, 2008
8,070
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Germany
johnvr said:
If it's the same kind of deal as the one T-Mobile offers through a third party here in Austria, you're wasting your money. The terms are such that it's virtually impossible to get any money out of them. The only good thing about the experience was that Apple provided a new phone at a lower price than list. As for mobile phone companies, they're not exactly ranking high on my list of respected companies.
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really? i got mine with the t-mobile insurance here in germany and a friend of mine got his iPhone 4 replaced 2 times already with no problem (after someone else dropped it and another time it got covered in vodka). my battery also started to suck and it was full of scratches so i threw it on the floor and got a new one within a week


and lol at 199$ i paid 80 €
 
einmusiker

einmusiker

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Apr 26, 2010
3,001
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Location: Location: Location:
appleguy123 said:
How do the companies who offer theft protection know that a customer isn't lying? It's always intrigued me as to why they trust the user not to lie just to get a new phone.
Click to expand...

arn said:
I would guess you have to file a police report? But I'm not sure.

Alternatively, I suppose AT&T knows which phones are active based on unique ids. They could deactivate the lost/stolen phone at least from their network?

arn
Click to expand...

Ummm just like any insurance company? Fraud happens but insurance companies still make mucho dinero
 
WiiDSmoker

WiiDSmoker

macrumors 68000
Sep 15, 2009
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I use to work at Asurion which ATT is most likely using for the iPhone. It's a complete scam and I highly recommend not getting this. That said, I was the one doing fraud detection for the company and the best response to always say is that you dropped it in the lake.

This means it's completely unrecoverable by any means.
 
J

jsnuff1

macrumors 6502a
Oct 4, 2003
726
333
NY
appleguy123 said:
How do the companies who offer theft protection know that a customer isn't lying? It's always intrigued me as to why they trust the user not to lie just to get a new phone.
Click to expand...

lol...do you not have car, medical, etc insurance?? The whole insurance industry is based of finding out who is lying about what in claims.
 
M

Mojo6

macrumors newbie
Jul 4, 2011
3
0
I just added my iPhone's and iPad as a rider to my homeowners insurance. Probably costs me $20 bucks a yr and if I loose or render any device inoperable they will replace it, and there's no deductable. A lot better than the $12+ a month Verizon wants to charge.
 
W

Wolf17

macrumors newbie
Jul 4, 2011
1
0
Classic AT&T Customer service.....

I love how according to the article all of the current AT&T Customers, that have been so patient for a real plan are not eligible. Classic AT&T Customer service.....:mad::mad::mad:
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
WiiDSmoker said:
I use to work at Asurion which ATT is most likely using for the iPhone. It's a complete scam and I highly recommend not getting this. That said, I was the one doing fraud detection for the company and the best response to always say is that you dropped it in the lake.

This means it's completely unrecoverable by any means.
Click to expand...

How do they scam people?

That being said I know it is generally a bad deal over all. The biggest thing is the piece of mind it provides people and how it is generally a pretty painless process to get the phone replaced.
 
2

2298754

Cancelled
Jun 21, 2010
4,890
941
AT&T FINALLY offering good iPhone insurance!

Looks like I'll get this instead of SquareTrade, etc when the 5 comes out.
 
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wordoflife

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Jul 6, 2009
7,564
37
That's nice
I've kinda learnt to be extra careful with my phone so I don't think I'll be paying for this service. Nice that there is an option though.
 
D

dickdaney

macrumors regular
Dec 10, 2009
153
1
Only good this is that it covers lost phones. @ 4.99/mo you'll pay ~$120 for the insurance itself (for 24 months) and likely another $125 deductible if you have the latest phone. Net cost is ~$245 vs. apple $199.

Moral of the story: Don't lose, or break your phone!
 
IrishVixen

IrishVixen

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2010
2,497
104
Interesting too that Engadget notes it doesn't say what kind of damage is covered. SquareTrade covers water damage, which is a big plus, but not loss or theft.

If AT&T's covered all of that, it might be worth the bump in price, but otherwise, no thanks.
 
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