2 months left on contract, bad cell, options?
Verizon is currently getting away from contracts, and pushing their new Verizon Plans. The new plans do not offer subsidized devices. The insurance is through Asurion. They are the ones who decide what replacement device you get. In your post, you state you only have a few months left on your contract, which I assume was a two year contract. You also state the camera on the device has been messed up a few months. If it is the same device that you've had since the start of the contract, it is basically 22 months old. The replacement will be a device of Asurion's choice, squal/lessor value. It is not up to Verizon. The contract expiration date will have no bearing as to which device you receive. The age of the device may.
Your options would be to file a claim with Assurion pay the deductible and get their replacement which would be the same model or one they consider equivalent, purchase a new device at full retail cost, purchase a used device from a site such as swappa.com, borrow/purchase a Verizon compatible phone from a relative/friend until you are eligible for an upgrade, reactivate an older phone of yours in place of your current one or wait for your contract to complete and purchase a phone with the upgrade options available to you.
You could also take advantage of the extended warranty in the 2 top tiers of mobile protection Verizon offers (which include Asurion) and have the device replaced with the same model, and in 2 months sell that working phone for money towards a new phone.
