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bmoses

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Morning everyone! just wanted to get some opinions of what other insurance options for insuring your phone are out there and if they would be better then sprints TEP. I have an EVO 4G LTE and as soon as it comes in an iphone 5 that i would be looking for insurance for. Or is apple care for the iphone and TEP for the evo the best options?

 

Thanks! :)

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My son had excellant sucess with a Squaretrade warrentee for his ipod. For the Iphone they offer 2 and 3 year plans including damage (but not loss). I know this is not really insurance, but you are paying about $99 for 3 years coverage insead of $8/month.

Two things I would suggest if you do get Squartrade.

1) I liked the local repair instead of the "Ship a item overnight". You may have to call/email/chat them to arrange the local repair (and send a pic of your phone, but at a service center like "cell Phone repair (CPR) you get your phone in a couple hours for the same price.

2) Look on the web for discount codes for Squaretrade, they commonly offer 30% off coupons.

 

 

Also I think the phones need to be purchsed in the last 60 days.

 

One last note: Squaretrade is limited to the value of the phone. For your $99 you get Say $399 or $599 of coverage (You choose the amount (upto retail price) and it impacts the price you pay for your plan. Repairs on my sons IPOD Touch ran about $100 each for the mail off varity and $65 for the local. Once you use up your coverage amount (the value you set on your phone when you set it up) your squaretrade coverage expires (even if your 2 years isn't up).

Also you can cancel a squaretrade warrenty at any time.

 

Hope it helps!

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I was planning on dropping my insurance after the rate went up but with the whole EVO LTE connectivity issue going on I decided to keep it. I didn't Sprint to throw their hands up in the air when I go into the store to have the phone swapped 3 times then switch me to a working LTE phone.

 

Now, if I didn't have my phone in an otterbox that would be a different story.

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thanks for the replies! so it looks like minus the lost/stolen part of TEP squaretrade is a better value.... for two years and assuming one incident TEP would cost $414 and squaretrade would cost $224. so unless i'm missing something that is or isn't covered between the two in the fine print i will probably switch to squaretrade.

 

now for the iphone, this one looks a little more even as neither option covers lost/stolen. apple care covers up to two incidents, is $99 for two years and $49 per incident. squaretrade has a 3 year option for $124 (2 year for $94) and a $50 deductible and covers up to 4 repairs. so on the surface it looks like squaretrade is better again, thoughts?

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thanks for the replies! so it looks like minus the lost/stolen part of TEP squaretrade is a better value.... for two years and assuming one incident TEP would cost $414 and squaretrade would cost $224. so unless i'm missing something that is or isn't covered between the two in the fine print i will probably switch to squaretrade.

 

now for the iphone, this one looks a little more even as neither option covers lost/stolen. apple care covers up to two incidents, is $99 for two years and $49 per incident. squaretrade has a 3 year option for $124 (2 year for $94) and a $50 deductible and covers up to 4 repairs. so on the surface it looks like squaretrade is better again, thoughts?

 

If you go with squaretrade, don't forget to look for discount codes. 30% (Max $30) is very common.

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I was planning on dropping my insurance after the rate went up but with the whole EVO LTE connectivity issue going on I decided to keep it. I didn't Sprint to throw their hands up in the air when I go into the store to have the phone swapped 3 times then switch me to a working LTE phone.

 

Now, if I didn't have my phone in an otterbox that would be a different story.

Now, remember folks, Sprint's TEP is NOT insurance. No, really.

There's two parts to it: ESRP and ERP.

ERP (Equipment Replacement Program) is an insurance policy through Asurion, and costs $5/$9 (Tier 1/2 or Tier 3/4). This is what covers physical damage, water damage, as well as lost/stolen coverage. This is what went up recently.

ESRP (Equipment Service and Repair Program) is $4/month. This covers all electrical and mechanical failure to a phone that may result from normal wear and tear, or a manufacturer defect. This is the program you use when Sprint gives you a new phone when your charging port stops working, for example. Or what covers you when your touchscreen goes out and it gets replaced at a store for free. It costs $35 a pop if you don't have this and something goes wrong and you want Sprint to fix it.

TEP is a discounted combination of the two, at $8/$11. You can drop TEP at any time, but note that you can also drop just the ERP or ESRP sections and be left with the other, if you so desire. Also note that you cannot add those services back on except in a few specific cases (one being during an upgrade).

 

That being said, Sprint does not offer ESRP or ERP for iPhones. That is handled through Applecare+, as has been discussed here.

 

Do make sure, when purchasing a different insurance/service option that it covers wear and tear and defects. Your phone only has a 1-year warranty, yet you'll probably have it for the entirety of your 20-month upgrade cycle. And Apple isn't cheap when it comes to out-of-warranty defects. I believe it's $99 per incident, but don't quote me on that.

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I'm keeping both for now ... as these are Sprint stores we are going to have to deal with. Hell, one member is having a hard time trying to convince them that the EVO LTE is a LTE capable phone.

Well, not everyone who works at a Sprint store is an idiot. If I said that, I'd be calling myself an idiot.

 

But at any rate, that is true; most store reps are paid only marginally above minimum wage, and don't tend to be amazingly knowledgeable. They are, however, still people. If you're friendly, they'll work with you. I recommend pointing them towards this website. They might learn a thing or two. I did.

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Does anyone have experience with Best Buy's phone insurance? It's available for the Iphone also, even if you didn't buy it there.

 

I had to get a battery replacement on the E4GT and best buy's insurance sent me a replacement battery that had about 2/3 the capacity of the original battery. It was some off brand as well.

 

I promptly cancelled the coverage after that debacle, so that is my only experience with Best Buy's insurance.

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I had to get a battery replacement on the E4GT and best buy's insurance sent me a replacement battery that had about 2/3 the capacity of the original battery. It was some off brand as well.

 

I promptly cancelled the coverage after that debacle, so that is my only experience with Best Buy's insurance.

 

It seems to provide comprehensive coverage, but at $15/mo, it's a little pricey. If your experience is typical, it's certainly not worth it.

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I had to get a battery replacement on the E4GT and best buy's insurance sent me a replacement battery that had about 2/3 the capacity of the original battery. It was some off brand as well.

 

I promptly cancelled the coverage after that debacle, so that is my only experience with Best Buy's insurance.

This is opposed to Sprint's coverage, which gets you a brand-name new battery for free (or $35 without) in the first year... and nothing in the second. Batteries are considered "accessories" and not covered by ESRP. In your second year, you get to buy a new battery at MSRP.
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This is opposed to Sprint's coverage, which gets you a brand-name new battery for free (or $35 without) in the first year... and nothing in the second. Batteries are considered "accessories" and not covered by ESRP. In your second year, you get to buy a new battery at MSRP.

 

Wow! They may have just felt sorry for me but they shipped me 3 new batteries for my Palm Pres with no charge on my Sprint ins.

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Wow! They may have just felt sorry for me but they shipped me 3 new batteries for my Palm Pres with no charge on my Sprint ins.

Hm. Who's "they"? Preferred retailer? Corporate-owned retail? Technical Support? Account Services? Asurion through an insurance claim? Some departments get to play by different rules, and Asurion is a completely different company, so they can do what they want.
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Hm. Who's "they"? Preferred retailer? Corporate-owned retail? Technical Support? Account Services? Asurion through an insurance claim? Some departments get to play by different rules, and Asurion is a completely different company, so they can do what they want.

Corporate store. They gave me a new (in plastic bag) battery when I asked and shipped me 2 more for the other phones on my account. Like I said, maybe they just felt sorry for anybody who still has a Palm Pre, but I was still impressed!

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Corporate store. They gave me a new (in plastic bag) battery when I asked and shipped me 2 more for the other phones on my account. Like I said, maybe they just felt sorry for anybody who still has a Palm Pre, but I was still impressed!

Haha well, I would say that yes, they probably did just feel bad for you. Or they got told to give them away as they had been sitting too long.
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