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Re: Warranty on TP2 -- Is it worth it?
I thought the deductible was $100 now for smartphones.
I don't usually buy insurance. I keep several spare smartphones lying around (I buy older generation ones on Ebay that will still meet my needs) and the last time I dropped a cell phone was in 1997 on some carpeting. If I net out the money I spent on "spares" from the money I've saved by not buying insurance, in my particular case I'm ahead, but I understand that's not realistic for everyone.
That said, if I picked up the TP2 tomorrow I would probably insure it given the extraordinarily high replacement cost, at least for a while. ($650 BIN on Ebay right now). Don't forget to factor in that deductible, which I assume is payable if you damage the phone but not if it's a mfr defect. But as others have said, I would not buy insurance with the aim of getting an upgrade in a couple of years out of it. That's not the purpose of insurance. Otherwise my car insurance company should be getting me a new TSX right now after driving my 'teg for 15 years.
It's funny, though - if you were with verizon that $168 you'd save over 2 years would actually get you pretty close to the $199 price of the TP2 as the "latest and greatest" phone, assuming existing customers qualify for that deal after 22 months, etc. Sprint and T-mo charging $350 for the thing seems to be sort of a new trend in lowering subsidies. If the Ebay (and other secondary market) prices reflect the carriers' pricing as a market force, then the cost of self-insurance will go up. TEP becomes more attractive, and (hey, look at that) ARPU goes up.
The insurance decision is a fascinating one to me, given everything that comes into play and the variation in user experiences. I've only had one phone replaced (ever), a Motorola V710, which big red replaced on the spot for me (without insurance). I think it was a "known issue" which helped. Yet some people here go through anywhere between 3-8 phones. I know I'm going to get torched out the window for saying this but I'm always wondering what the h these people do to their phones when I read stuff like "I've gone through 8 replacements". Wow.
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