Asking for new security device at IB?

Beware the gold cards! First forced upgrade from platinum was a couple months ago ... card worked for a few weeks, then killer blob took over the LCD screen and card became useless. Second forced upgrade (for a different account) was a few weeks ago ... card arrived with killer blob already obscuring LCD screen: total piece of junk. Two replacement cards plus a third card for a different account received last week: Everything ok so far.

Since IB support insists gold card failures are rare so far, I'm making a wild guess that they don't do well when mailed in very cold weather (I live at 7000 feet and weather was still cold when first 2 cards were mailed).
 
I still use my old security card, from some years back [non-electronic].

Is there a [good] reason to upgrade to the newer one?
Are there any disadvantages with the newer card?

thanks
marc
:confused:
 
Just the obvious: Plastic cards and temporary paper printout cards are less secure, theoretically/mathematically much easier to crack but more importantly your hacker only needs a copy of your card and not the card itself. Electronic devices have PINS in addition to dynamically changing pass codes - an extra layer of security.

Disadvantages of electronic devices are possibility of failure and limited portability (Btw I would absolutely NOT keep the new gold cards in a wallet) and you absolutely need the physical device (as contrasted with the plastic cards where you can make copies).

Serious limitation imposed by IB is that (so far as I know) you can't have multiple devices for the same account - forget about having a backup, or one for you and one for your partner.
 
topdrudge said:
Serious limitation imposed by IB is that (so far as I know) you can't have multiple devices for the same account - forget about having a backup, or one for you and one for your partner.
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IB allows you to create a "second user" for the same account with all the privileges of the primary user. I did this and they issued me a card for that user/account. It's less secure I supposed but I prefer that for travelling. My primary user login uses the electronic device so I have the best of both worlds, just stash the card in a safe place when not travelling.
 
I think actually you additional user cannot make fund transaction, only trade. That is probably why you get a code card and not an electronic device.
 
mikesmithv said:
IB allows you to create a "second user" for the same account with all the privileges of the primary user. I did this and they issued me a card for that user/account. It's less secure I supposed but I prefer that for travelling. My primary user login uses the electronic device so I have the best of both worlds, just stash the card in a safe place when not travelling.
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I would like to do this - create a 2nd user.
A second account, for a traveling laptop, sounds like a good idea.

Where is this option, or what deptartment do I contact?

thanks
marc
:cool:
 
You can do it on-line. Log into Account Management and under "Manage Account" choose "Access Rights ==> Users". On that page that comes up there is an "Add User" button. It used to just say "2nd user" I think. It seems you can have more than just one more user now.
 
topdrudge said:
Beware the gold cards! First forced upgrade from platinum was a couple months ago ... card worked for a few weeks, then killer blob took over the LCD screen and card became useless. Second forced upgrade (for a different account) was a few weeks ago ... card arrived with killer blob already obscuring LCD screen: total piece of junk. Two replacement cards plus a third card for a different account received last week: Everything ok so far.

Since IB support insists gold card failures are rare so far, I'm making a wild guess that they don't do well when mailed in very cold weather (I live at 7000 feet and weather was still cold when first 2 cards were mailed).
More...

Might not be weather related. More likely it got mechanically damaged during transit.
 
Except it was 2 different cards, mailed weeks apart, neither envelope having signs of trauma. But I agree it could have been a coincidence.
 
I do not think it is very unlikely the card would get damaged in the mailing envelope and packaging my card arrived in. My gold + card has functionality issues and it for sure was not damaged in shipment. The problems were built into the card.
 
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