Apple care worth it?

Envision99 wrote:
3. WHEN YOUR IPHONE BREAKS YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR APPLE TO SEND IT OUT AND REPAIR IT, THEY WILL SIMPLY REPLACE IT RIGHT THEN AND THERE!!!

They do that for all the iPhones taken to the Apple store that are in warranty - Apple Care or no.

They do it for iPods as well - its far more efficient to simply replace the defective unit with a refurb on site. After all, they are going to be fixing the issues anyway so just replace it for the customer, fix the broken unit and use the fixed unit as a refurb for another customer.

It's exactly as he says, if you weren't eligible for the full subsidized price you would have paid $700 for the 32GB iPhone 3GS and $600 for the 16GB. AT&T was nice enough to allow people who purchased the iPhone 3G within 3 months of its release to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS and get the subsidized price. The only thing is, if your iPhone bill wasn't $99 or more a month then you had to pay $399 and $499 for the iPhone 3GS models.

Actually, this isn't quite accurate. You only qualify if your phone plan is over $99/month. If you're like me, you don't qualify because my plan is less than that.

You will still get money off of purchasing the iphone 3GS (as long as you bought the iphone 3g within the first 3 months), you just won't get the full subsidized price.

That is not quite accurate, for some AT&T customers you could have the subsidized prices you list. I'm not eligible until December 12, 2009.

cyberpac9 wrote:
I usually don't buy extended warranties and such, but is it worthwhile to get the one yr extension via apple care (3gs)?

I think it is worth it. I need to keep this phone 2 years. I suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome, and it is a very expensive sickness. My wife is afflicted too, so we get phones in pairs. I have two BlackBerry Curves, two BlackBerry Bolds, and FOUR Treos (don't ask) sitting in a box waiting to be put on eBay. I have more cellphone chargers than the local Radio Shack.

Ooooh, look. Shiny.... 🙂

I'm not that anxious to pay double the price of a subsidized phone. It doesn't have enough different features to make it worth it. Most likely, there will be something a lot more interesting next year when my two year contract is up.

You wouldn't be paying double the price if you purchased the iPhone 3g within the first three months and are under $99 a month, you would pay $100 over the subsidized price, so it would be $299 for the 16GB and $399 for the 32GB iPhone 3GS. If you didn't buy the iPhone 3G within the first 3 months of its release then you would be paying the full price of the iPhone until your contract is eligible for the upgrade.

I don't disagree with you there, but I still say its a numbers game.

Apple Care is $70
I'm on my third iPhone so that would be $210 in Apple Care fees
I've never used it on my two previous phones, so assuming I don't need it on my next one, my savings by not buying Apple Care will have paid for my next upgrade.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why businesses see warranties and why customers buy them (my old job used to push warranty sales). I understand the whole piece of mind and replacement cost arguments. I've just had the chance to see behind the curtain and the vast majority of warranties are not worth the cost.

Message was edited by: Ansuz82

Many credit cards, such as Amex, double the manufacturer's warranty. So, if you purchased with an Amex, I think you would have 1 year of warranty from Apple and then Amex covers your for another year. Effectively 2 year warranty and then you upgrade to new model when 2 year contract with ATT is done. That being said, I have never tried to enforce a warranty to through a credit card company and don't know how much of a hassle that might be.

As a side note, my wife has a 1st gen iPhone and while ATT keeps asking her to upgrade, she will not upgrade it as she gets the $20/month data plan and if she went to a 3G or 3 GS she would have to go to a $30/month data plan...effectively costing her $240 more over the life of the ATT 2 year contract.

Jeez, she must not care about data speed then. I need the 3G speed when I'm browsing the internet and using data intensive apps, otherwise I don't like to use it because Edge is soooo slow.

Will the battery last for 2 full years? It's not like you just go buy a new battery for it, ya know? I just got my 3Gs and am contemplating this as well. I know I've rarely had a cell phone battery last that long. I just started a contract with At&t and expect to have to have this phone the full 2 years of the contract.

Copied from this link.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html

A properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles. You may choose to replace your battery when it no longer holds sufficient charge to meet your needs.

A full charge and discharge cycle can mean starting with a fully charged battery and running the battery down to 50% followed by fully charging the battery one day, and repeating the same the next day.

http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html