Everything you need to know about Telstra mobile insurance

Buying a new smartphone or tablet incurs less of an upfront fee if you buy it through a telco, but you still run the risk of damaging or losing an item that’s expensive (and stressful) to replace. Recent reforms have led to telcos like Vodafone and Optus no longer offering new mobile insurance to customers, and the same is true of Telstra, but it still has an alternative that’s worth looking at.

But before we get too far into that, you need to be a Telstra customer first. Check out the most popular Telstra smartphones available today.

Telstra used to offer Stay Connected Advanced for device insurance, but that was retired in July 2020 and is no longer available to new customers. Don’t fret, new Telstra customers, because there’s a sort-of insurance alternative, for damaged phones at least.

Telstra now offers Upgrade and Protect, which costs $15 a month. Primarily, this extra fee is designed to let Telstra customers upgrade their phone during their repayment period for eligible devices. It costs $99 to upgrade in the first six to 12 months, for a phone in good working order, or $0 for a similar-quality return in the last six months of handset repayment terms. Even broken devices are covered, except there’s a $249 excess fee for a damaged device.

The main catch is that you have to purchase Upgrade and Protect cover at the same time you buy an eligible device; you can’t buy it after the fact. When you’re eligible to take advantage of an upgrade, head to the nearest Telstra store, message Telstra or call them on 13 2200. Note that you’ll be asked to return your current device within 14 days or hand it over in store. Telstra also notes that users should remove any find-device features, remove the SIM card and wipe personal data before returning.

Upgrade and Protect is available to personal and small business Telstra customers on eligible devices.

If you’re an existing Telstra customer who signed up for Stay Connected Advanced before the 1 July 2020 cut-off date, you’re still able to have an eligible device, repaired, replaced or swapped up to two times every year. To make a claim, you need to visit the Stay Connected service request portal.

For eligible devices, broken screens cost $59 to repair, damaged devices or those you want to swap cost between $190 or $270 (depending on the device), and a replacement refurbished device has the same $190 to $270 cost range.