Cingular won't insure Treos, other sentient phones

Cingular won't insure Treos, other sentient phones

Published by johnbartley
04-07-2005

Cingular won't insure Treos, other sentient phones

In an odd twist, Cingular isn't providing third-party insurance on PDA phones now... SprintPCS and Verizon will cover PDA phones, but not Cingular. Likewise, even though PalmOne will offer insurance on PDAs, they won't on Treo phones.

Insurance for mobiles is a booming business in the UK and Korea, but a Google search finds no independent carrier offering coverage for PDA phones in the US. All carriers found (lock\line, Asurion, et al.) only work through carriers in the US.

Does any US insurance carrier independently offer coverage on PDA phones? Please, let's exclude coverage on general office & homeowners' policies; I need a solution for a bacth of 10-20 Treos.

__________________
John Bartley K7AAY | http://celdata.cjb.net | http://kiloseven.blogspot.com

Latest 5 articles

Is Palm Over Playing Their Palm Pre?

Sprint Reported to Have Palm Pre All To Itself for 2009

The First Victim of Apple's iPhone...

A PDAPhone for Under $100?

First Look: Treo 755P Review Published

#1 (permalink)

By Falconier on 04-08-2005, 12:52 AM

I would try contacting LockLine directly www.lockline.com i know that some people have had problems with them but its better than nothing and i for one have never had a problem with them. If they cant provide it indipendant of cingular maybe they can point you in the right direction.

#2 (permalink)

By ppcmd on 04-08-2005, 08:45 AM

While I like Cingular so far this could be a reason to switch. SmartPhones cost too much to not have insurance.

#3 (permalink)

By johnbartley on 04-08-2005, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Falconier
I would try contacting LockLine directly www.lockline.com

lock\line would not provide coverage directly. They only sell through carriers.

Also, Memoware, a well-established laptop insurer, will not cover PDA phones.

Any other suggestions?

#4 (permalink)

By fbtenor on 04-10-2005, 10:50 AM

As long as things do not change (which they often do) Alltel will offer insurance on their high end phones sometime in June. The monthly charge will be slightly higher and will also have a deductible closer to 100 dollars instead of 50 for a typical phone, but if you ask me that's a fair deal. I bought a more expensive phone so I expect the coverage to be slightly higher just like I would on my house or my car compared to ones that are more or less expensive.

#5 (permalink)

By ps_benj on 04-10-2005, 09:32 PM

On my last visit to a Cingular (corporate) store, they mentioned coverage for PDA phones AND the Razor is not available for now. "Future offerings could be in the works"

Coverage denial could be out of user frustration, throwing the PDA / Phone to the ground or into the river...

#6 (permalink)

By laphil on 04-11-2005, 12:35 PM

Does your credit card possibly insure your purchase? I've seen some credit card companies insure additionally against LOSS /DAMAGE for 1 year longer than the manufacturer standard warranties as an additional service for purchasing with the card.

#7 (permalink)

By johnbartley on 04-12-2005, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by laphil
Does your credit card possibly insure your purchase?

US Treasury-issued credit cards don't, sorry. I should state this is an institutional volume purchase, so the tools available to a consumer (e.g., credit card guarantees, homeowner's policies) are not available to us.

#8 (permalink)

By johnbartley on 04-13-2005, 11:49 AM

Uninsurable devices with Cingular

And, OBTW, here's the list of uninsurable mobiles:

Voice Devices
Motorola mpx 220 (Interesting; a Windows Mobile is a 'Voice Device')
Motorola Razr V3

Data Devices
Treo 650
Rim Blackberry
Air Cards (but free replacement provided direct from Cingular)

#9 (permalink)

By johnbartley on 04-14-2005, 02:51 PM

The Cingular rep is referring us to Asurion, which will likely solve the problem.

#10 (permalink)

By Houndog on 04-27-2005, 09:48 AM

I signed up for insurance, just for my SX66, with State Farm. They are covering for up to $1000 of loss for each phone at a cost of $45 a year for three phones. I would deffinately check them out as this coverage is much cheaper then any carrier that I am aware of.

#11 (permalink)

By ppcmd on 04-27-2005, 12:34 PM

Is this a rider to your homeowners/renters policy or a seperate policy? What does it cover, ie: damage, theft, lost etc?

#12 (permalink)

By Houndog on 04-27-2005, 12:52 PM

It is a rider on our business policy. To my knowledge it does cover damage, theft. I am not sure if it is covered if it is lost or not. I believe that it is covered just like jewlery or other electronic equipment would be if it were attached to a homeowners policy and you got special coverage for a paticular very valuble item.

#13 (permalink)

By lvlolvlo on 06-01-2005, 03:43 PM

Well I don't think this would be too much help but T-Mobile who goes through Asurion still offers insurance on Treos. I posted the rant about hike in prices especially for deductibles.

http://www.pdaphonehome.com/forums/s...threadid=48177

#14 (permalink)

By ginoharden on 07-05-2005, 09:22 PM

Check CompUSA for insurance.

One of my last palms was purchased direct and I went to Comp USA to get it insured. See if they will do the PDA phones also.