AppleCare for 3GS

Who is and why? Is it worth it, has anyone had previous iphones fixed or replaced without having purchased AppleCare?

For the first year, you are pretty well covered, unless you submerge the thing.

I went ahead and paid for the AppleCare coverage. I figure if anything goes wrong it might be in the second year, and I plan on keeping my iPhone 3GS for 2 years. I don't plan on upgrading until 2011.

Can you purchase apple care after purchasing the phone?

I think you can up until 90 days after the purchase.

no, you have a full one year to purchase applecare. It's like that for all apple products.

So i'm waiting until next spring to decide if i want it.

If you plan on keeping your iPhone for more than one year, then yeah, it's probably a good idea. It's also a great idea if you think you'll call customer service for help after 90 days. The good thing about Applecare is you can transfer it to someone else if you sell your phone down the line.

Joe

I bought a Square Trade warranty for my wifes 3g. Covers EVERYTHING, including getting it wet, dropping it etc.

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/iphone-landing16

Pricing:

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pop/popup_iphonewarrantyprice.html

AppleCare is worth getting if you plan on keeping the phone for 2 years. The standard warranty is 1 year. I've had my ear buds replaced several times after the 1 year mark on the v1 and phone replaced as well without any hassle.

Tell me this...does the factory one year warranty cover damage like spills, drops, etc? Never really took the time to find out LOL. If it does then definitely would be best to wait until right before your warranty runs out. If the factory warranty doesnt cover those items then I will definitely go ahead and buy the square trade one as soon as I get my phone.

Thats why I bought the SquareTrade warranty. It covers drops, spills etc. $96 for 2 years

I got AppleCare for my 1st Gen iPhone and used it twice for a replacement. My phone kept dropping calls excessively so they gave me a new one the first time. The 2nd replacement I got when the screen got a dead pixel. It keeps you covered for 2 years, which is the longest I've ever had a phone.

Thankfully I never got it wet or damaged it while dropping it (my iSkin protected it from those things) because AppleCare won't cover that.

Just wait before this time next year to purchase AppleCare.

If you need phone support after the first 90 days, you will need AppleCare. If not, I guess you can wait. But it doesn't really matter. It only covers 2 years after you buy the phone, not 2 years from when you get the AppleCare.

That's what EiC is for.

Bad thing about AppleCare is that it doesn't cover accidental death (dropping, drowning, etc.) but on the good side you have a year to buy it.

Bad thing about Square Trade is that you HAVE to buy it no later than 30 days after buying the phone BUT on the good side if they can't fix it in 5 days they'll pay you the replacement cost of an Early Upgrade which is usually a couple hundred dollars more than the sale price you most likely bought it for. So I'll pay $199 for my iPhone and if it breaks or anything happens to it in the next year, they'll give me $399 which is what it would cost me to replace it at AT&T at that time. Not a bad deal because they even advertise it as you can use that money to get the next better version (automatic upgrade for free).

Anybody know of any down side to this?

I bought it. The way I understand it is that you have a year warranty but you lose your technical support after 90 days. The Apple Care Plan extends that tech support and warranty both to 1 year beyond first year manufacturers warranty.

That is the way I understand it.kk

You're correct but for what I've seen up to now I can get better technical support on this forum than over the phone with them and here it's free.

Overall I still think the Square Trade warranty is a better deal.