Protecting Your Cell Phone: Tips from Asurion’s Bettie Columbo

Today’s tech savvy guest post is by Bettie Colombo, a mother of 3 daughters and the Senior Director, Marketing Communications of Asurion, a company that provides technology protection services for cell phones, home electronics, and digital content. Today Bettie is here to share different ways to protect the many cell phones that were received as gifts this holiday season.

Christmas morning is usually filled with cries of joy as my husband and three teenage daughters open gifts to find just what they asked for inside. In recent years, the latest electronics have been at the top of everyone’s list, especially cell phones, which are in demand by teens, moms and dads alike. Cell phones are a staple of everyday family life, with 82% of Americans saying they can’t leave home without one, making them prone to damage, theft and loss. We know everyone is tightening the purse strings, so protecting these pricey electronics to ensure you get your money’s worth is more important than ever. Nothing is worse than January rolling around with the holiday gifts already scratched or lost.

Luckily, there are several options available to protect your cell phones so they last longer than the holiday decorations.

To protect cell phones from everyday nicks and scratches, a good case and screen protector can go a long way in increasing the longevity of a phone. These accessories are available from your wireless provider, as well as any store that sells electronics will carry general protectors and cases. They’re also available online at retailers like Amazon.com and Zagg.com in a variety of sizes for different models. Screen protectors offer different features including anti-glare and privacy screens (handy if you’re looking up bank information or reading a confidential e-mail!). Cases are great for protecting a phone when dropped or just bouncing around in a purse or backpack. Some cases even offer clips that can attach to a belt, purse or bag.

Even with all these precautions, accidents happen and phones are lost, stolen or damaged during a busy day (in fact, more than 160,000 cell phones are lost every day). With the average cost of replacing a phone nearing $300, spending a fraction of that on cell phone insurance can save consumers from forking over money to replace their handset outside of contract renewal. Payments are conveniently added to your monthly wireless bill. Insurance plans typically vary in cost from four to seven dollars a month, as much as a latte! While that cost may seem to add up over time, it’s still cheaper than replacing a phone while still under contract.

With three active daughters, all of whom received cell phones much younger than I ever intended, and an accident prone husband, we’ve had our share of mishaps. For us, cell phone insurance made sense when the “free” phone cost us $250 to replace after the flip phone flopped to the concrete. From rainy day field trips to swimming pool accidents, cases and cell phone insurance have certainly saved me time, money and lots of hassle since.

Now with a Blackberry at the top of my 15-year olds holiday wish list, I will be implementing all of these tips. The holidays are a great time to celebrate with friends and family, not stress over the accidental drop of the new phone. Hopefully, these tips will help protect the gifts for those who mean the most in your life.

This guest post was written by Bettie Colombo, a mother of 3 daughters-12 year-old twins and a 15 year-old, and the Senior Director of Marketing Communications at Asurion. No compensation was received for sharing this post.

Images courtesy of Apple, T-Mobile, and Nokia.