Mobile Phone Insurance

iPhone contract

2009-08-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

iphone contract now out in the UK for the latest iphone contract handsets - Apple iPhone 3G and iPhone £G-S

The new iphone has some cool new features that you will want to check out like thhe long awaited copy and paste function as well as som eother advanced stuff - plus just plain better navigation and nice easy to use stuff.

So check out the latest iphone contract

Contract iPhone

2009-07-15T04:22:00.000-07:00

Contract iPhone now available

You can get the latest contract iphone online now with all the new features that the iPhone 3G-S (iphone 3gs) comes with so you can order online to get your contract iPhone

Laptop insurance

2009-06-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

Laptop insurance where you need it...

You need to insure your laptop computer for theft and damage mostly.

There are some other elements of cover you might need - but theft and damage are the main parts of your laptop insurance you need

It is statistically quite likely in the lifetime of your laptop computer that it mighth be stolen or damaged.

And you do not want to be left without your laptop - and having to pay the high cost to repair it...

So make sure you have laptop insurance

iPhone insurance

2009-06-24T03:02:00.001-07:00

If you have an iPhone particularly a contract iPhone then you will most like want to insure your iPhone.

But how and where do you get it insured?

You can get iPhone insurance in a number of places. Your best option is to Google "iphone insurance" and make sure it is the best price as well as offering cover for loss, theft and damage.

iPhone insurance news

2009-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

If you have an iPhone then you probably have already thought about "what if it was stolen?"

Or "What if it was lost?"

Or "What if it was damaged and unusable?"

The stuff of nightmares!

Dont worry - you can get iPhone insurance to protect you against all this horribleness

Travel Insurance

2009-04-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

So you're going on holiay - but think about this...

What if you lost your luggage - or more probably - what if your airline lost your luggage?

What if your stuff was stolen.

Not a nice situation - but not worth not being covered for.

So we suggest you check out the travel insurance at http://www.burtplan.co.uk/

New phone insurance blog

2009-03-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

You can find a new phone insurance news blog at

http://www.mobilephoneinsurance-uk.co.uk/phone-insurance-news/

I am reliably informed that like us, they will be documenting the pros and cons of the phone insurance market;

*What to buy
*What to look out for
*What to insist upon

Watch this space...

Mobile Phone Insurance

2009-03-04T02:56:00.000-08:00

Mobile phone insurance is just one of those things...

Like washing your car, doing the washing up or taking an umbrella with you...

If you don't, things might go a bit wrong.

The cool thing these days is that because the mobile phone insurance market has become quite competitive - for you and me that means one very good thing - falling prices.

Mobile phone insurance used to be £10 a month, then it came down to around the £8 mark. Then it came down to around £5 or £6.

Now some phones can be covered for £2.99. The more expensive phones are still around £5.

The better mobile phone insurance policies out there will cover you for phone loss, theft and damage. Make sure it includes water damage - some specifically do *not* cover water damage - for the simple reason that water damage is a big killer of phones. So you need to make sure you have water damage cover.

International cover is also very handy for when you are abroad on work or holiday.

Fraudulent calls are not as important as you might think but it is just one of those 'peace of mind' things. If you don't have it, it will probably niggle in the back of you mind. If that's the case then make sure you are covered for fraudulent call use (ie if the thief uses your phone and racks up a big bill)

iPhone Insurance

2009-02-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

iPhone insurance is vital if you own an iPhone.

Why?

If you own an iPhone I am surprised you asked ;)

Your iPhone is expensive to replace - in excess of £350

And if you own an iPhone you will not want to be without it!

Originally when the iPhone came out there were very few options for mobile phone insurance.

You had to stick with O2 or Carphone's (frankly) expensive £10 a month insurance. And as the BBC television program showed, there were some very dubious sales tactics being used which left a bad taste in many customer's mouths.

Since then a group of iphone insurance providers have sprung up. The best of the bunch is shown at iphone insurance cover.co.uk

It covers you for everything you will need and is a very competitive £5.88 a month. There are also discounts available.

This iPhone insurance covers you for

Loss
Theft
Accidental damage
Water damage (a big iPhone killer)
International cover (while on holdiday or working abroad)
Extended warranty (if anything just goes wrong with it)
Fraudulent calls

... and more

If you want to learn more about this simply click through to
www.iphoneinsurancecover.co.uk

.

Mobile Insurance: Lower Priced

2008-08-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

You will now find that mobile phone insurance just got cheaper.

Cheap phone insurance?

The guys at 2u have lowered the price of the mobile phone insurance for phones that cost less than £150 so the insurance premium is now only £2.49

This is good news for a LOT of people.

It is NOT a thinner policy either.

it still has the full package:

Loss
Theft
Water damage
Extended warranty
International cover
And more

For full details go to
http://www.mobile-phone-insurance-uk.com/
or
http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance

New Study Reveals: A mobile is more vital than a wallet

2008-06-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

A recent Canadian study revealed more than a third a third of adults would choose their mobile phone over a wallet, keys, laptop or MP3 player if they had to leave the house for 24 hours and could take only 1.

The Nortel sponsored research found 38% would choose their mobile, against 30% who would grab their wallet.

The idea was to find out how many were "hyper-connected" embracing multiple devices like mobiles and laptops. 16% in case you're wondering.

Interestingly, what this shows, is that a lot of people value their mobile phones above many other gadgets. This is most likely why mobile phone insurance is proving so popular.

If you want to get your mobile phone insured have a look at http://www.uk-mobile-insurance.co.uk/

iphone insure

New Camera Insurance

2008-05-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Camera Insurance is now available at http://www.2u.co.uk/cameraInsurance

Cameras are increasingly popular - especially digital cameras and camcorders. The prices of cameras and camcorders has come down a lot, so more and more people now own a camera - but they are still valuable items.

Which is why Camera Insurance is a wise move. What if your camera was stolen? What if it was seriously damaged? No more photos - that's what.

To learn more go to http://www.2u.co.uk/cameraInsurance/

You can also read about camera insurance at http://www.insureyourcamera.co.uk/

iPhone Insurance update

2008-02-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

The iPhone insurance at http://www.2u.co.uk/iPhoneInsurance/ has dropped in price. It used to be £7.99 a month - and now it is £5.88 a month - which is quite a big drop.

The policy is exactly the same as before ...
* Loss
* Water Damage
* Accidental Damage
* Theft
* International cover
* Extended warranty

and the usual covers - it is just cheaper now.

There is also no 12 month contract - you can benefit from it for as long as you pay for it. Simple as that. And given that your iPhonee is probably one of theh most expensive phones you've ever purchased, you'll probably want to keep it protected. I know I do!

For more info have a look at
http://www.2u.co.uk/iPhoneInsurance/

Mobile phone insurance - Update

2008-01-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

We have been talking about the 2u mobile phone insurance for some time now - years in fact. It has proved a stable rock in an otherwise crazy turbulent world of mobile phones. Why has it been so stable?

Basically because 'if it aint broke, dont fix it'.

It has proved - and continues to prove - incredibly successful - because it offers very good protection at a highly affordable price - with easy-to-understand pricing, based simply on the value of your mobile phone.

The prices are broken down to ...

* Phones worth up to £150 = £2.49 monthly Insurance Premium
* Phones worth £150 to £400 = £5.88 monthly Insurance Premium
* Phones worth £400 to £1,000 = £7.99 monthly Insurance Premium

You get protected for ...

* Loss
* Theft
* Water Damage
* Accidental Damage
* Internetational cover (while you are on holiday etc)
* Extended warrantee
* Fraudulent call cover

The last point is interesting - because many other phone insurance companies *say* they cover fraudulent call cover - yet when you read the small print it says something on the lines of ...

"you are covered for fraudulent calls made on your phone between when you report the loss/theft to your network and when you make the insurance claim"

Think about that ... What do theh networks do as soon as you report the phone lost or stolen?

They cancel the SIM card phone connection ... so no calls can then be made. The fraudulent calls that matter are the ones made BEFORE the phone is reported lost or stolen to the network.

And that is what the 2u mobile phone insurance covers you for.

So you can see - this is just another reason we recommend the 2u Mobile Phone Insurance

To learn more go to http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/

iPhone Insurance

2007-10-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

iPhone Insurance: The hottest thing after the iPhone!

So once everyone that is anyone has got themselves and iPhone, the reality of how much they have just paid for a very cool piece of kit will sink in ... blind panic will shortly follow, because they have left themselves naked, because they have not yet insured their iPhone.

Enter stage left - the 2u iPhone insurance ...

Not only does it cover you for the usual protection elements of theft, damage, blah blah - it also covers you for
LOSS
Water damage, and
International cover

So when you are on holiday, drop it in the pool and then it disappears ...

OK - so we're joking - but you get the idea. Have a look at why we recommend the 2u iPhone Insurance

http://www.2u.co.uk/iPhoneInsurance/

New insurance bonuses

2007-09-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

2u are giving some great new bonuses with their insurance policies.

They now offer...

Free address book backup - this is the names and numbers in your phone. It is like insurance for your contact list. Imagine how you would feel if you could not contact your friends, family and business people.

Free mobile phone tracking - track where your mobile phone is, or where you kids are, or where your spouse is ... you get the picture.

Plus they give a free battery as a 1 year no-claims bonus, and a free upgrade of your phone as a 2 year no claims bonus.

You can learn more at
http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/

Laptop insurance

2007-04-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

Consider this ...

You have a laptop that you use a fair bit. Maybe for work, maybe for pleasure ... maybe you've even got a second business running online.

What if your laptop was lost, damaged or stolen. I can tell you, from personal experience, that it is a nightmare!

You go to use your laptop ... and it just will NOT work - or its simply gone.

That is why laptop insurance is the obvious answer.

To be honest, most people with a laptop usually know that they should get laptop insurance, but many either forget to get it, or get the wrong laptop insurance policy. Have a look at the cost effectiveness of this laptop insurance at
http://www.laptopinsuranceuk.com and see if it is right for you.

Cheaper Mobile Phone Insurance is out now

2007-02-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

Well, they have done it! The good people at http://www.2u.co.uk/ have responded to demand and have now created a new policy for cheaper mobile phones.

If your phone is worth up to £150 then you can now insure your phone with 2u for a tiny £2.49 per month.

You can see the details at
http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/

The policy includes all their usual goodies, including ...

* Loss
* Theft
* Water damage
* International cover
* Accidental damage
* Fraudulent call cover
* Extended warranty

You can see the rest of the policy details at
http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/

Cheaper mobile phone insurance

2007-02-05T09:48:00.000-08:00

Coming soon - The people at www.2u.co.uk have told us that they will soon be releasing a new and cheaper level of cover, to cover phones up to £150. Currently they offer a good, solid cover for phones up to £400, but there are many phones which are under the £150 which would be paying more than they might to protect their phones.

The new policy will be priced at £2.49 per month. They say it should launch withing the next month.

They already offer a £2.49 policy for iPods and MP3 players at http://www.2u.co.uk/ipod-i-pod-insurance/

Watch this space - we'll let you know when the cheaper mobile phone insurance is launched.

Mobile insurance - Please do NOT s.pam this blog

2007-01-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

Hi,

You would not believe the number of ejits who try to SPAM this blog with irrelevant posts with nothing to offer to other readers - just s link to their own site. Often they are sexual in nature which is ever so slightly off the mark of "mobile phone insurance"

So - please DO add comments to this blog - I very much welcome feedback - just click the 'comments' link below.

Please do NOT post comments if all you are trying to achieve it to get a link to your website. Add some valid and intelligent comment and content.

Thanks

Mobile Phone Insurance - Why do you need the right policy?

2006-12-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

Is your phone naked or protected? It is an ongoing issue - should ou have mobile phone insurance?

The simple answer is ...

If you would be annoyed, frustrated or upset of you were without your mobile phone, then insurance is needed.

Also if you have a mobile phone worth over £50+ then you should get mobile phone insurance, but just make sure you get the right one - you can get mobile insurance for as low as £2.99 per month now, for a decent level of cover.

Some further information is at http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/

Why Insure Your Mobile Phone?

2006-11-29T16:07:00.000-08:00

Why Insure Your Mobile Phone?

It is a valid question, and one worth answering. A while ago an insurance body that mostly represents the house insurance companies released a report saying (surprise, surprise) that it is better to insure your mobile phone on your ... house insurance!

In answer to this, there is a free report you can get online that highlights some of the key issues, and areas you should think through before choosing the right mobile phone insurance policy for you.

It is at
http://help.2u.co.uk/Mobile-Phone-Insurance-BIBA.pdf

Mobile phones that scream when stolen

2006-11-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

When your mobile phone is lost or stolen, imagine if you could notify the networks and they could instantly disbale the phone, implode the address book (contacts) so the thief could not see them, the phone was completely wiped clean, and the mobile phone just SCREAMED a loud siren at the thief?

That is exactly what is now available.

Unfortunately, it is pricey. It is just under £200 per year, which puts it in the pracket of business users only.

Which is unfortunate, because it is a great idea. I predict that before long, there will be a copycat version, that is much cheaper. Unless there is a watertight patent on the concept of a sceaming lost phone, which would be a great shame becuase it is otherwise a ver useful idea.

i am sure more will follow ...

Technorati food

2006-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

Technorati Profile

Mobile Phone Theft and Mobile Crime - eBay clampdown

2006-09-08T05:43:00.000-07:00

Mobile Insurance: National Mobile Phone Crime Unit has joined forces with eBay

Recent Mobile Insurance News:
The National Mobile Phone Crime Unit has joined forces with eBay to ban listings for blocked or barred mobile phones on the site in a bid to clamp down on the sale of stolen phones.

The partnership follows a mostly successful joint-operation to identify and arrest eBay users trying to sell blocked or barred phones.

This investigation led to 13 arrests with 45 stolen mobiles seized. Detective Chief Inspector Mick McNally, NMPCU, said:"Closing down this avenue for the sale of stolen mobile phones is a vital part of our campaign to halt handset mobile phone theft - if thieves cannot sell the items, the drive to steal them will be significantly reduced. "We want the public to register their mobile phones free of charge on www.Immobilise.com to give police the best chance of recovering stolen phones and arrest those who commit mobile phone crime.

The commitment by eBay to promote information on Immobilise and provide preventative advice to customers provides a great opportunity to raise public awareness."

The very large majority of sellers on eBay are legitimate businesses or individuals. However, we are after the very small number of rogue traders. In a bid to find them, we have worked very closely with eBay's fraud investigation teams and are extremely pleased with the results so far."
Garreth Griffith, head of Trust & Safety at eBay added:"eBay is committed to keeping criminals off our site. We have long sent out the message that eBay is the worst place to sell stolen items because of the open and transparent nature of the site's operation: we can see what criminals are doing and we have their contact details."

This kind of joint operation, however, takes that one step further and these arrests should be taken as a final warning to anyone else trying to conduct criminal activity on eBay.co.uk."

To protect your mobile from being stolen, the best way is to insure it – then no matter what happens to your stolen mobile phone, at least you will get a replacement so you still have a mobile phone! The best mobile phone insurance we know of is at http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/.

This is repeated reviewed as the best mobile phone insurance policy eg at http://www.mobile-phone-insurance-uk.com/

Mobile Phone Theft: Research identifies mobile phone theft 'Top Ten'

2006-08-22T03:17:00.000-07:00

Mobile Phone Theft: Research identifies mobile phone theft 'Top Ten'

New research by the Midlands Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice at Loughborough University has identified a mobile phone 'Top Ten' hit list, and urges consumers and the mobile phone industry to increase their anti-theft efforts.

The study showed that almost half of all mobile phones stolen in 2005 were Nokia. Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Motorola make up most of the rest on the mobile hit list.

Using data from over 100,000 stolen phone crimes in London, the Loughborough research team found that in December 2005, the Nokia 6230 was top on the most stolen list, followed by the Motorola Razr, the Samsung D500 and the Sony Ericsson K750i.

The inspiration for the study was the Home Office's successful Car Crime Index, which prompted improved anti-theft designs in the car industry. The study, part of a project directed by Professor Graham Farrell which looks at designing-out phone theft, was published this week in the journal 'Justice of the Peace'.

The research looked at crimes recorded in Greater London during 2005 using data provided by the police National Mobile Phone Crime Unit.

Jen Mailley, lead author on the study, said: "Mobile phone theft has been increasing when many types of crime have been falling for years."
However the study's authors caution that it does not necessarily show which mobiles are more crime-prone than others.

"The top ten charts are a step in the right direction though," says Mailley, "because they empower consumers with information, which should stimulate anti-crime design efforts by the mobile phone industry."

The study was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. www.lboro.ac.uk

The most comprehensive mobile phone insurance policy available is widely recognized as that at http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/

Laptop Insurance: thefts pose real gov't data risk

2006-08-04T01:51:00.000-07:00

Laptop Insurance:

Lost or stolen? The distinction matters...

A Freedom of Information enquiry by silicon.com has uncovered the number of laptops stolen from key UK government departments over the past year, raising questions and concerns about sensitive data falling into the wrong hands.

The worst affected department was the Ministry of Defence. It reported 21 laptops were stolen between July 2005 and July 2006.

Once you are onto the laptop it is possible to get all the passwords and use those credentials to access the VPN. You can own the laptop within 10 minutes and own the network shortly after.
The Home Office in total suffered 19 stolen laptops over the past year. Perhaps most worrying among those losses were four laptops stolen from the Identity and Passport Service. The Core Home Office unit suffered seven stolen laptops, while HM Prison Service had eight laptops stolen.

The Department of Trade and Industry told silicon.com it had 16 laptops stolen over the past year, while the Department for Work and Pensions reported it had nine laptops stolen. The Department of Health said it had lost 18 laptops, though couldn't clarify whether these were lost or stolen.

A submission from Defra, which lost 17 laptops, suggested government laptops are predominantly given out to senior members of staff at the departments. These are individuals in some cases likely to have access to the most sensitive information. The rural affairs agency named all staff who had lost laptops, including a number of senior managers and heads of division.

Experts who work with organisations to assess the level of risk they face following the loss or theft of laptops, have told silicon.com the fact these laptops are at large could present a serious risk of data theft, which should concern UK citizens.

Bryan Sartin, VP investigative response at CyberTrust, said laptops are the number one source of data theft across organisations largely due to the fact the owners have already done the hard part - taking data outside the four walls and the protected digital perimeter of the organisation.

He said any organisation that accesses sensitive information should consider itself a target.

Once the laptop has fallen into the wrong hands, getting into it and accessing sensitive data is relatively easy, according to Peter Wood, from penetration testing company First Base Technologies.

Wood said 90 per cent of stolen laptops are probably accessible within 10 minutes and even many of those with more sophisticated levels of encryption can still be accessed within three hours.

He added: "We see laptops with supposedly stronger security in place, such as smartcard authentication, but these are still trivially easy to overcome.

"And once you are onto the laptop it is possible to get all the passwords and use those credentials to access the VPN. You can own the laptop within 10 minutes and own the network shortly after."

Only those laptops with full disk encryption will thwart dedicated data thieves, said Wood.

And many doubt government departments will have levels of sophisticated security in place which even more advanced private sector organisations have been slow to adopt.

By Will Sturgeon

Published: Thursday 3 August 2006
http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39161159,00.htm

Romanian hides stolen mobile phone in vagina

2006-08-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago we reported on the Jamaican mobile phone thief who got herself into a bit of a sticky situation in Negril when "a cellular phone which was stolen from a female shopper was found after it rang from within another shopper's vagina".

Yup, the criminal mastermind had "tamponed" the phone but a quick call to the number and her cover was blown. Cue a humiliating public extraction of said phone by furious owner who declared: "Mi nuh wan' dat deh phone fi use again, mi would dash it weh."

Quite so. You'd think that this cautionary tale would be enough to deter even the most desperate mobe-lifter, but they obviously don't read Jamaica's Western Mirror in Romania, because light-fingered Ruxandra Gardian has been snared by the same "let's dial the number and see where she's stashed it" ploy.

Gardian was fingered by a restaurant customer who said he saw her steal the phone from another diner, FemaleFirst reports. Police quizzed the 34-year-old without success and were about to let her go when some bright spark suggested they call the mobe.

"On dialling the number they heard a sound coming from under Gardian's clothes and took her to police headquarters to be strip-searched," the report continues. You know the rest. Suffice it to say that a shaken officer Aurel Popescu commented: "I've seen a lot in my time as a policeman but never anything like this."

The phone's owner has refused to take the device back, declaring it was "damaged beyond repair and he would be filing an insurance claim". That should make entertaining reading and will doubtless reach the finals of the "Top Ten Mobile Phone Insurance Claims" awards for 2005.

In the meantime, we'd like to make a simple suggestion to would-be female mobe-snatchers who intend to make good their escape with a 3G device concealed in their reproductive tract: stick it on vibrate or turn the bloody thing off.

From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/19/mobile_phone_thief/

My mistake ..

2006-07-13T08:16:00.001-07:00

This totally proves the value of your mobile phone insurance - and why you should keep it ...

Here's the story ...

Last Friday was a fantastic HOT day here. It was a real shorts-and-T-shirts day. It was for me.

After a hard week working we treated ourselves to 1 or 2 drinks at the office in the afternoon, unwinding and talking things through.

I then went home (and no, I did not drive). Being a hot day, the kids wanted to go in the paddling pool (about knee-deep) in the garden.

In the excitement of playing with the kids, and maybe with a slightly less-than-clear head, I guess I wasn't quite thinking straight ...

Picture this ...

There I am, on all fours in the paddling pool, with our 6 year old, Katie sitting on my back. She is laughing away, squealing with delight ...

I start doing press-ups to plunge her into the cool water, with me then lying on the bottom of the pool under water, then coming back up ...

After about 3 of these water-press-up plunges, a slow, cringing "Oh my goodness ..." feeling comes over me ...

I ask Katie to jump off, I stand up, put my hand to my right pocket ... where my phone normally is ...

And pull out a VERY wet mobile phone!

It is totally dead. My phone is an ex-phone.

Normally I always know EXACTLY where my phone is and I'm very careful. Normally, I would be kicking myself, but to be honest, although my phone was ruined, I was surprisingly calm (even I was surprised how calm I was!).

Why? Because I knew that all of the address book was backed up and stored, and the phone was insured ... with none other than the 2U Mobile Phone Insurance Executive Policy cover.

So, Monday morning I called the 2U Insurance team to make a claim.

The claims form was faxed straight to me. I filled it in and faxed it back. I sent the damaged phone off by courier (the quicker it gets to them, the quicker it is processed, the quicker I get my phone back).

This morning, Wednesday, I get a brand new and shiny Nokia N70 delivered to me. I am now all smiles at getting my phone back.

What would this have cost if I was not insured ?

Well, I did an upgrade about 5 months ago, so not a chance of getting one free on upgrade.

From a quick search on Google, the Nokia N70 now costs about £330 to £350.

5 months of insurance premium at £7.99 a month totals
£39.95 ...

So about ONE TENTH of the cost of replacing it myself!

In summary, I am VERY glad I insured my phone - it saved me about £300 !

Have you got YOUR phone insured and protected?

If not, to learn more and to order go to
http://www.2u.co.uk/mobile-phone-insurance/

Mobile Phone Insurance - Why is it still worthwhile?

2006-06-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

Mobile Phones Insurance - Why it is STILL Effective AND Efficient

Word count: 937 Read-time: 5-7 minutes

You may have read an article in recent weeks or months about a report published by the BIBA (British Insurance Brokers Association) that broadly criticised mobile phone insurance as a whole. The BIBA is a body that largely protects household insurers, which makes the 'research' considerably biased - read on for why ...

The article criticized the industry as a whole, without dissecting the good from the bad. There was no positive solution on reading. For example there are a number of mobile phone insurance options that cover the customer whilst making economical sense. There are also a number of other benefits that were ignored – for example the time of replacement for those who need their phone back as soon as possible.

When you do the maths, the BIBA report ‘research’ was almost entirely unfounded.

One of the key criticisms that the report levels was that many do not cover loss. That is one of the 2U policy's main selling points! Why 2U policy was not included I do not know, especially given that 2U are so widely publicised on the web – type “mobile phone insurance” into www.google.com or www.msn.com. And you will be sure to find 2u.co.uk or 2U affiliate resellers. Did this report's researcher do all their homework?

The principle problem with phones and insurance is that most people are not aware of the replacement cost - ie the value - of their phone. Because many people are given the phone free, or at a highly discounted rate, they do not realise how much they actually cost without the contract.

For example, the highly popular Samsung D600 is about £240. The increasingly popular Nokia 8800 is about £520 - £550 to buy if you had to replace it.

Now, if you have a cheap phone (eg only worth £100) and an expensive insurance premium (ie £8 to £10 per month), then obviously, this is not good value. A year's premium would cost you £120 ie more than the value of the phone.

However, if you get an effective policy, such as the 2U cover, it represents good value for money. Take for example, the Samsung D600. It is worth about £240. It goes on the Standard policy at £5.88, covering the phone for the full 2U cover (loss, theft water damage etc). A year’s cover is then £70.

That means that the customer would have to keep their phone and keep insuring it for 3 YEARS before it became uneconomical to insure! How many people have their phones for 3 years? Not that many in today’s market! Most upgrade to the latest phone each year or at least once every 2 years.

This means that the customer is cost effectively protecting themselves.

Yes, one could argue that customers could simply upgrade to a new phone if their phone is lost or stolen etc … IF the network will let them. If the customer spends less than £30 per month on average, most networks will not upgrade a customer within the 12 months of the contract. In our experience a customer must have a very high bill-spend to obtain an upgrade within 11 months from signing a new 12 month contract.

For this reason, we recommend people insure their phone for at least the first 9 to 11 months of their contract. If you then wish to cancel the insurance, you are free to do so with the 2U policy, because there is no long-term contract (some other providers do insist on a 12 month contract). Once you have later upgraded to a new phone, you can then get that new phone insured.

Another major flaw with this report is that it suggested that a customer might be better suited to add their phone to their home insurance. There are 3 main reasons why that would be singularly unwise;

1. Usually home insurance policies have a FAR higher excess than any mobile insurance policy, often £150 plus.

2. If you make a claim (albeit relatively small) for your mobile on your house insurance, what is going to happen to your house insurance premium next year? It will go through the roof. Now who might benefit from your house insurance going up next year? Who was this report produced by again? …

The BIBA, the British Insurance Broker’s Association (quote from their website) is a “general insurance organisation. We represent the interests of insurance brokers” – and lists most major home insurance companies among their members - http://www.biba.org.uk/consumer/partners.html

3. How long would you comfortably be without your phone? You might expect it to be a long while for your house insurance to process a claim. From personal experience, the last time a family member of mine had to claim on house insurance, it took WEEKS. Most customers cannot accept to wait weeks for their phone to be replaced. 2U Insurance processes claims within 48 hours. Are household insurers experts at replacing phones? Would you go to get your tooth fixed in a general hospital? Probably not. You would go to the expert, the specialist - the dentist. In the same way, intelligent people use speicalist insurance firms.

Customers should always make their own informed decision. If you have a cheap, old phone, it would not be worth insuring (2U would not start insuring any phone older than 6 months). However, if you have a phone that is less than 6 months old, and worth over £100 (as are most to replace) then a high quality, low-cost policy such as the 2U Insurance, is a cost effective method to get your phone protected. Shop around online for the best protection for you.

For the 2U Insurance go to www.2u.co.uk

Mobile phone insurance cover - Key Cover points

2006-05-31T05:49:00.000-07:00

Key factors that you want your mobile phone insurance company to cover for.

There are loads of mobile phone insurance companies that grab your attention with low costs … then you later find out that they cover you for so little it is almost not worth the paper it is written on. A typical example of this is Loss cover – most companies do not cover for loss despite the fact this is one of the top 2 reasons for needing insurance in the first place!

In the high street shop we used to run (we are now 100% on the internet), we used to offer customers a certain insurance company’s policy (they begin with a C and a U …). We would offer this as a 3 months free deal to go with their new phone. The customer then started paying from month 4 onwards. Months later, we would get our customers coming back to use, really angry, saying that they had been paying the insurance for X months, and that when they eventually lost their mobile phone and tried to make a claim, they were refused the insurance claim … because they were not covered for Loss!

As an aside to this ‘loss’ cover, it has been a documented case that many people were committing insurance fraud. Knowing that they were not covered for loss, when they did lose their phone, they went to the police and said their phone had been stolen or they had been mugged. This wastes police time, and the Metropolitan Police recently said they were clamping down on such insurance crime fraud, and looking closely at every reported phone theft.

So it is vital that you make sure you get the protection you need from your mobile insurance.

The key elements to consider when you are looking at mobile phone insurance are …
* Loss
* Mobile phone theft
* Mobile phone loss
* Fraudulent calls
* International cover
* Extended Warrantee
* Accidental damage

These need looking into in detail so the next articles will each look at the pro’s and con’s of each element you need to consider before you go purchasing your mobile phone insurance.

Mobile Phone Insurance – Why? - Part 2

2006-05-16T04:43:00.004-07:00

So it is more arbitrary how you decide to insure your mobile phone, because you have to decide how likely it is that your mobile phone might be lost, stolen or damaged etc. You might decide you are likely to be ‘OK’ for 18 months or 24 months.

Even over a 24 month period, 24 x £7.99 = £191.76 which is still considerably less than the replacement cost, so again the insurance is worth considering.

2. To get your phone replaced quickly and easily

In the next article, we will look at the replacement time as a consideration in getting your mobile phone insurance

Mobile Phone Insurance UK is a FREE mobile phone insurance review site, so you can quickly and easily find the best mobile phone insurance for you. Their aim is to give you easy-read and in-depth reviews on mobile phone insurance, so you can locate the right insurance company for you to protect your phone , in the way that is right for YOU.
2. To get your phone replaced quickly and easilyImagine being without your mobile phone for days – is this acceptable? If this is OK to you, then great. If your phone is critical to your business or your personal life, you need to look carefully at the turn-around time on a claim with any mobile phone insurance company. Unless they promise a quick turn around time of 24 to 48 hours, then do NOT assume they will be quick – some have waited weeks!
Some phone insurance companies do promise a rapid replacement time. Again, this is something that 2U do promise.

A key part of a rapid replacement is for you to stay on top of the process – call the insurance company daily and ask for an update so they know how important your phone is to you. Some customers are not worried about when they get it, so not all are worried about replacement time. You need to let the mobile phone insurance company know that YOU want rapid replacement. You do this by simply making sure you have their phone number, and calling them daily after making a claim. Also, before you choose a mobile phone insurance company, make sure you can submit your claim form by email, online or by fax, so they get it instantly. This obviously speeds up the process of your insurance claim. In the next article we will look at key points you need to make sure that your mobile phone insurance company covers for.

Continued in the next article ...

Mobile Phone Insurance – Why? - Part 1

2006-05-16T04:43:00.001-07:00

Mobile Phone Insurance – Why?
It is important to ascertain why you want insurance. There are 2 principle reasons why you would want to insure your phone …

1. To cover the high cost of replacing your phone
2. To get your phone replaced quickly and easily

1. To cover the high cost of replacing your phone.
Your phone very likely cost far more than you paid for it. Both pay as you go phones and contract phones get heavily subsidised by the network to entice you to use their network and pay them for your calls. BUT when you come to replace your phone the networks will usually NOT discount the phone so you have to pay the full price – often hundreds of pounds.

To find the replacement cost of your phone, the best way to do this is to buy the replacement mobile phone as a pay as you go (which gets slightly discounted by the networks) rather than as a contract mobile phone. Simply search www.google.co.uk for “pay as you go MAKE MODEL” eg “pay as you go nokia n90”

Some insurance companies charge so much per month that it is just not economic sense to pay them, because it will cost you more per year to insure the phone than it costs to replace it. You need to run a simple equation, but this will be different if you are a contract customer rather than a pay as you go mobile phone customer, because contract customers can usually upgrade their phone to a new phone after the 12 month contract period - which means contract customers can get then get a heavily discounted replacement mobile phone.

If you are a contract mobile phone customer, first simply find the replacement mobile phone cost as described above. Take this number and divide by 12 months. If this figure is bigger than the monthly insurance premium then it is a pointer that the insurance is worth while.

For example currently the Nokia N90 on pay as you go is showing as costing £399. £399 divided by 12 months = £33.25 per month. This is a lot more than insurance per month is likely to cost, so the insurance may be a good option.

In this example, the insurer 2U Mobile Phone Insurance would protect this phone under their Executive Policy cover at £7.99

12 months at £7.99 = £95.88. This is considerably less than the £399 replacement cost so the insurance is a good option for this Nokia N90 mobile phone.

If you are already a pay as you go customer, you will not be getting any more discount from the network than the usual pay as you go price (contract customers get much more discount). So your replacement cost would only be as low as the pay as you go cost, no matter when you replace your mobile phone, or how long you wait ...

Continued in the next article ...

Mobile Insurance - Why and How?

2006-05-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Mobile phone insurance can be a bonus or a waste of money. There are a few companies that are very good value for money and do genuinely protect your mobile phone and pay out when you need them - but you have to know who they are.

For legal reasons it is difficult to point the finger at the 'bad' companies that should be avoided, but there are certain companies that you might be wise to know a few more 'negative testimonials' from.

Ther are also some fantastic companies out there that have worked out that insurance does not have to be a rip off, and can actually help people out when they are in need. The best of the bunch is 2U, but this blog is aimed to pick the best from the bad in closer details, and also in short-summary for you if you are pushed for time.

You will find updates here as we give you more and more reports on mobile phone insurance companies and the highs and the lows ...