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Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 9:59 am
by kd2008
I have a AT&T postpaid line that will go off contract in October. I am happy with AT&T reception where I live but was looking for cheaper alternatives since I do not need a new smartphone every two years.

I tried out T-mobile prepaid and came away impressed at their data speeds and ease of setup and use. But their prices I felt were still a bit high at $40/month for unlimited talk and text with 500 MB data. They offer super cheap plans for groups/family but since I have a single line I couldn't benefit from those.

Having being familiar with AT&T, I was also interested in Cricket Wireless which was recently acquired by AT&T and now share exact same coverage.

I was interested in their $35/month plan with auto pay that offers unlimited talk & text w/ 1 GB data. The price includes taxes and fees - this is like savings of 15% for me. They also have a $55/month plan offering 10 GB. They also offer group discounts. 5 lines each getting unlimited talk & text w/1 GB cost only $100 total including taxes and fees. I kid you not.

I recently switched my T-mobile line to Cricket (since Cricket is offering $100 for T-mobile customers to switch). It was a smooth easy transition. Cricket has LTE data but it is capped at 8 MB/s and its HSPA data is capped at 4 MB/s. I was a bit leery of the speed caps. But upon testing, I would say I notice no difference where I live.

[OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek]

Just wanted to pass on my experience. Prepaid arena is getting heated with Page plus getting LTE, H2O bringing their Verizon MVNO out soon. Competition is good for consumers.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:54 am
by pochax
i would agree...i switched my wife to Cricket Wireless coming from Virgin Mobile (which uses Sprint network). She likes AT&T coverage better for the area she works.

i plan to follow suit as soon as i can find the new Moto X for a better price (unlocked) :wink:

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 12:28 pm
by Yossarian
I'll be going Cricket as well when my contract is up in 2 weeks. fyi there's a reseller on eBay that offers a free month of service. Search for "cricket 2 month". I'm not the reseller btw.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:17 pm
by kd2008
I used the same ebay seller. I am not him.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:25 pm
by bloom2708
If you are going to switch to a Sprint MVNO, you should consider Ting and Republic Wireless.

I'm currently on Ting and it is very good. Pay for only what you use. 5 lines (4 iPhones and 1 standard phone) for ~$110/month + taxes/fees.

I am considering trying the $10/month Republic Wireless plan when their $99 Moto comes out.

There is a lot of options and very good price competition. I hope the prices keep dropping and the options increase.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:39 pm
by kd2008
I tried out Republic wireless and did not like their call quality. Also Sprint is not as good as others in my area. But for some it is an awesome option.

I have been transitioning all my calls & text to Google hangouts. It has been somewhat of bumpy ride as the hangouts app is very clumsily designed to work with your native cell line. If I had nothing to do with cell line then, it would be great but I am not there yet. Also VoLTE is coming online for AT&T and Verizon which will transition everyone over to data only plans eventually.

I have used hangouts calling feature over LTE and its works rather well. But no one today is going to rely on it in times of need.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:48 pm
by Browser
Be advised that Cricket doesn't offer the same coverage as regular AT&T. You are on the AT&T prepaid network, not the postpaid network, which excludes partner roaming. Same as GoPhone. That may or may not be a big deal to you, but there are some locales where you can't get reception without partner roaming coverage. Check the prepaid coverage maps to see where those areas are. If you want the same exact coverage as AT&T with 4G-LTE and partner roaming, you should check out Consumer Cellular. They're the only ones who offer it, as far as I know. But you may pay more especially if you're a heavy data user, and you'll also pay taxes and fees. I checked LTE download speeds and got up to 20 Mb/s so I guess it's not capped. You are right though, since I really can't notice any practical difference between HSPA+ speed at about 5 Mb/s and LTE at 20, at least in terms of what I do. So not sure if it's worth that much to me to pay extra for LTE. I care more about the coverage when I'm travelling. Have run into "holes" with AT&T prepaid which has been annoying from time to time.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 2:00 pm
by kd2008
Browser, you are correct about postpaid vs prepaid. Cricket gets no att roaming coverage. Thankfully, for me over the past 10 years it has been 3 times on roaming. So personally I am not concerned about it. But for some for sure that would be a constraint.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 2:51 pm
by rickberg
T-mobile has a "walmart" pre-paid plan that consists of 100 mins talk, Unlimited data (5gig LTE speeds then throttled), unlimited text for $30 a month. If you are concerned about minutes, use the Hangouts app from google and you can talk all you want for free and it just uses your data.

Another good choice is Simplemobile from Target. This runs off the Tmobile network also. It has 300 mins talk, 3 gigs of data at 4g speeds then throttled and unlimited text for $35 a month. For every 6 months of service, you get a $25 target giftcard. In this case, you can also use Hangouts app from google for unlimited talk.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 3:28 pm
by bloom2708
Net10 (www.net10.com) uses the full AT&T network. $45 for "unlimited". Coverage and signal is excellent. What got us is the multiples. 5 lines is ($45 + $40 + $40 + $40 + $40 + taxes/fees = $205 + taxes/fees.

Ting's "pay as you go" is a very good plan. One note is Ting uses the Verizon network to roam for voice/texts. So you have Sprint + Verizon for voice/texting.

Data does not roam on Verizon. When traveling to remote areas I've occasionally not had data coverage. Wi-Fi seems to be most places that are populated.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 3:35 pm
by kd2008
Net10 has 3 GB high speed data on their unlimited plan. The 5 lines on crickets $50 3 GB plan would cost $250 -$100 group discount = $150. Taxes and fees included in the price. Still Net10 is an excellent value for unhrottled data & voice &text roaming if you need it.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 3:39 pm
by kd2008
Comparison of AT&T MVNOs: http://tinyurl.com/ATTMVNOSLTE

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:03 pm
by tinkerman79
rickberg wrote:T-mobile has a "walmart" pre-paid plan that consists of 100 mins talk, Unlimited data (5gig LTE speeds then throttled), unlimited text for $30 a month. If you are concerned about minutes, use the Hangouts app from google and you can talk all you want for free and it just uses your data.

Another good choice is Simplemobile from Target. This runs off the Tmobile network also. It has 300 mins talk, 3 gigs of data at 4g speeds then throttled and unlimited text for $35 a month. For every 6 months of service, you get a $25 target giftcard. In this case, you can also use Hangouts app from google for unlimited talk.

Thanks for sharing the info about Hangouts. I have been a loyal Google Voice user for close to 5 years and had been waiting for Google to enable VOIP calling in the gVoice app. They finally got around to it in the hangouts app.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:18 pm
by Browser
kd2008 wrote:Comparison of AT&T MVNOs: http://tinyurl.com/ATTMVNOSLTE
Good spreadsheet, except it only includes MVNOs that offer LTE. There are several other AT&T MVNOs that are just as good or better but only offer HSPA+, which for most people is just as good as LTE. I'd include AirVoice Wireless and H2O Wireless as I've used both of these. They both offer unlimited voice and text and 500Mb. data (at HSPA+ speed) for $30/month and are on the prepaid network. H2O offers a 10% discount for autopay. Unless you need the LTE or the 1G data on Cricket, both of these are cheaper and jistiz gud.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:32 pm
by kd2008
Browser wrote:
kd2008 wrote:Comparison of AT&T MVNOs: http://tinyurl.com/ATTMVNOSLTE
Good spreadsheet, except it only includes MVNOs that offer LTE. There are several other AT&T MVNOs that are just as good or better but only offer HSPA+, which for most people is just as good as LTE. I'd include AirVoice Wireless and H2O Wireless as I've used both of these. They both offer unlimited voice and text and 500Mb. data (at HSPA+ speed) for $30/month and are on the prepaid network. H2O offers a 10% discount for autopay. Unless you need the LTE or the 1G data on Cricket, both of these are cheaper and jistiz gud.
True. Airvoice make you give them a call after using 250 MB to release the next 250 MB I believe. H2O autopay not working gripes are there over the internet. But if you persevere I believe yes, one can have it for little less.

Over the T-mobile switcher credit, ebay seller deal and referral bonus, and access to LTE, my scales titled to Cricket - at least for now.

And that is the beauty of prepaid. You can change your mind any time.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 5:00 pm
by runner9
We've had Cricket since May and have no issues. Only one place (MIL house) where there's no reception but others with full Verizon plans have the same issue.

[OT comments removed by admin LadyGeek]

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 11:23 am
by Browser
I recently switched my T-mobile line to Cricket (since Cricket is offering $100 for T-mobile customers to switch). It was a smooth easy transition. Cricket has LTE data but it is capped at 8 MB/s and its HSPA data is capped at 4 MB/s. I was a bit leery of the speed caps. But upon testing, I would say I notice no difference where I live.
FYI, I used the Speedtest app to measure and found that my wireless home cable internet measures a download speed of a about 7.7 Mb/s. That's just under the capped limit of Cricket on LTE, so it's potentially as fast as my cable connection. I also measured the speed on my phone with HSPA+ on H2O wireless, which I think is uncapped but don't know for sure, and it clocks in at around 4 Mb/sec. give or take 1 Mb. Those Cricket speeds seem good enough. I used Speedtest with my Consumer Cellular LTE connection and got 25 Mb/s. They're uncapped. So it measures much faster than even my wireless cable connection. But I can't really tell that much difference -- perhaps there are some apps or situations where I would, but haven't to this point.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 12:14 pm
by kd2008
Browser wrote:
I recently switched my T-mobile line to Cricket (since Cricket is offering $100 for T-mobile customers to switch). It was a smooth easy transition. Cricket has LTE data but it is capped at 8 MB/s and its HSPA data is capped at 4 MB/s. I was a bit leery of the speed caps. But upon testing, I would say I notice no difference where I live.
FYI, I used the Speedtest app to measure and found that my wireless home cable internet measures a download speed of a about 7.7 Mb/s. That's just under the capped limit of Cricket on LTE, so it's potentially as fast as my cable connection. I also measured the speed on my phone with HSPA+ on H2) wireless, which I think is uncapped but don't know for sure, and it clocks in at around 4 Mb/sec. give or take 1 Mb. Those Cricket speeds seem good enough. I used Speedtest with my Consumer Cellular LTE connection and got 25 Mb/s. They're uncapped. So it measures much faster than even my wireless cable connection. But I can't really tell that much difference -- perhaps there are some apps or situations where I would, but haven't to this point.
Thank you for that confirmation. I appreciate it.

BTW, T-mobile has its penny sim deal back. I don't know if it comes with an activation code.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 12:31 pm
by curiouskitty
Thanks, timely post with the iPhone 6 out.

I am on Red Pocket which has been great, but I'm reconsidering my options since many carriers have changed their plans recently after adding LTE for prepaid. I am on the original Red Pocket SIM that runs on AT&T's network and I'm having trouble deciding whether to use T-Mobile (and risk worse coverage) vs. Red Pocket/Cricket. All of these incentives to join definitely make Cricket compelling. I do feel like T-Mobile has a solid combo with free data for music streaming, free text messaging on airplanes with Gogo, and free tethering. The tethering seems particularly useful and also just philosophically worth supporting. There are so many aspects to the decision.

Sounds like I should switch to T-Mobile and then Cricket for the $100 :D

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:00 pm
by michaelf
This is great information. I'm very interested in Cricket.

Does anyone know about using AT&T, particularly AT&T Go phones with Cricket -- Do they need to be unlocked, or can they be used as-is?

[OT comment removed by admin LadyGeek.]

Thanks !

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:34 pm
by LadyGeek
I removed a few comments which discussed referral codes. As a reminder, see: Forum Policy
No Solicitation or Link Farming

Please do not solicit business or website traffic on this forum. A discreet link to your personal website or blog in your profile is allowed. The moderators and administrators reserve the right to determine unilaterally what constitutes solicitation, to remove such material, and to ban a repeat offender if necessary.
Offering referral codes is not permitted in this forum. Members are personally benefiting from this situation, which constitutes solicitation for business.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2014 9:43 pm
by slbnoob
My ATT contract gets over in 2 weeks. I researched T-Mobile, Cricket (formerly Aio), H2O but finally am settling on Consumer Cellular. I will be looking to port our numbers and phones (iPhone 4s, Galaxy S3). Consumer Cellular seems to come out to be the cheapest since we are not heavy users and don't necessarily need unlimited/big limits. From a $100+ monthly bill at ATT, I expect to pay $40 (or $50 for higher data) monthly at Consumer Cellular for 2 lines.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:46 am
by jlawrence01
kd2008 wrote:I tried out Republic wireless and did not like their call quality. Also Sprint is not as good as others in my area. But for some it is an awesome option.
I have had Republic Wireless for 18 months. As soon as my wife retires, we will be going elsewhere for service.

Our biggest problem with RW is that the coverage is mediocre. The further you get away from the interstate, the less likely you have coverage. I lose coverage in certain Chicago suburbs, the entire area between Cleveland and Akron, and in several downtown areas. However, the real killer is that I do not have coverage consistently in my new home ... and I am less than 0.5 miles from an interstate.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:59 am
by Browser
I've never figured out why you would want Republic Wireless, since you're locked into their phones. I very much favor the GSM MVNOs, since switching services is just a SIM card away. And you can use that phone abroad as well. Same applies to CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint. Why lock into a particular wireless service? Don't get it.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:14 am
by pennstater2005
Browser wrote:I've never figured out why you would want Republic Wireless, since you're locked into their phones. I very much favor the GSM MVNOs, since switching services is just a SIM card away. And you can use that phone abroad as well. Same applies to CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint. Why lock into a particular wireless service? Don't get it.
I think a large portion of the population still don't understand MVNO service. They think it is lesser service or you have to have cheap phones. At least that's what my dad thinks :D

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:16 am
by furwut
Browser wrote:I've never figured out why you would want Republic Wireless, since you're locked into their phones.
Republic phones have the feature of Wi-Fi calling over a wireless network.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:35 am
by jlawrence01
furwut wrote:
Browser wrote:I've never figured out why you would want Republic Wireless, since you're locked into their phones.
Republic phones have the feature of Wi-Fi calling over a wireless network.

I have rarely found a network where you could make a WiFi call on Republic that was of adequate quality. Most times the other party complains of crackling or echoing.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 9:40 am
by kd2008
I would like to apologize to the board and the moderators for not following the posting guidelines. Sorry about that!

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:23 am
by furwut
jlawrence01 wrote:

I have rarely found a network where you could make a WiFi call on Republic that was of adequate quality. Most times the other party complains of crackling or echoing.
I saw it as mostly as calling from home over your personal network. For those who have dropped the land lane.
Maybe you could try better coffe shops? :happy

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 10:26 am
by jlawrence01
furwut wrote:
jlawrence01 wrote:

I have rarely found a network where you could make a WiFi call on Republic that was of adequate quality. Most times the other party complains of crackling or echoing.
I saw it as mostly as calling from home over your personal network. For those who have dropped the land lane.
Maybe you could try better coffe shops? :happy

Actually, Starbucks and Panera have been the best. Home WiFi not so much.

I will be checking out Cricket this afternoon although I will not make the change for a few months.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 12:52 pm
by Shadow_Dancer
[/quote]I think a large portion of the population still don't understand MVNO service. They think it is lesser service or you have to have cheap phones. At least that's what my dad thinks :D[/quote]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In our area, most folks wouldn't even know what the term MVNO means. And, the only MVNOs, whom they have heard of, are Tracfone/Net10/Straight Talk and possibly Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile. . . . PagePlus Cellular, Ting, Go Phone, Consumer Cellular, Republic Wireless, etc. would only bring blank stares.

Moreover, some still have the notion that a Tracfone unit works on multiple carriers. That is, a Tracfone near an AT&T tower will work on AT&T; when the same phone gets near a Verizon tower, it will work on Verizon! . . . GSM and CDMA mean nothing.



Shadow_Dancer

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 12:53 pm
by kd2008
jlawrence01 wrote:

Actually, Starbucks and Panera have been the best. Home WiFi not so much.

I will be checking out Cricket this afternoon although I will not make the change for a few months.
Thank you for those data points. I tried using the new Google hangouts with the hangouts dialer on my smartphone which makes voip calls and does not use the cell network. The call quality was uneven and the app buggy. I had really hoped that it would work out well for me. Hopefully Google fixes it soon.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 1:33 pm
by Browser
I haven't had much luck with WiFi calling apps on my smartphone either, so I finally gave up on it. TMobile also has phones that allow WiFi calling. Don't know how well those work,. but might be worth a look.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:41 pm
by bloom2708
Cricket's "5 for $100" plan looks very interesting. Does anyone know which GSM carrier they are aligned with? Is it T-mobile?

If I look on their coverage map, it doesn't appear to be the T-mobile coverage. It looks much better than AT&T + T-mobile in our 58104 zip are tri-state region. (ND, SD, MN)

Even if it only 500mb of 4G data and then unlimited 3G data, that is very competitive.

The one thing I do like is the competitive nature of the wireless market. Drive those prices down.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:54 pm
by kd2008
bloom2708 wrote:Cricket's "5 for $100" plan looks very interesting. Does anyone know which GSM carrier they are aligned with? Is it T-mobile?

If I look on their coverage map, it doesn't appear to be the T-mobile coverage. It looks much better than AT&T + T-mobile in our 58104 zip are tri-state region. (ND, SD, MN)

Even if it only 500mb of 4G data and then unlimited 3G data, that is very competitive.

The one thing I do like is the competitive nature of the wireless market. Drive those prices down.
They have exactly same native AT&T coverage without any roaming partners. You also get access to AT&T Wifi hotspots.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 2:59 pm
by kd2008
michaelf wrote:This is great information. I'm very interested in Cricket.

Does anyone know about using AT&T, particularly AT&T Go phones with Cricket -- Do they need to be unlocked, or can they be used as-is?

[OT comment removed by admin LadyGeek.]

Thanks !
They do not need to be unlocked. They can be used as is.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:39 am
by autonomy
Hi. This thread is about a year old, but I'm love to get more input on more recent service experience/shared plans.

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 12:04 pm
by pochax
i've had Cricket wireless for almost 1 year now and i've been happy with it.

i have the Basic Plan (2.5 GB data/ $70/month for 2 lines all taxes/fees inclusive) which used to be only 1 GB until early 2015 so that has improved. i rarely use more than 1.2 GB/month and i stream mp3 music almost every day. i do try to use WiFi only at home and at work.

my understanding is it is exactly the same as having AT&T service with 2 major exceptions:
1) LTE speed is throttled to 8Mbps down/4 Mbps up (HSPA+ speed is even slower at 4Mbps down/??? up)
2) There is no roaming, so if you are out of AT&T service range you will lose service

otherwise, they use the AT&T network and in my metro/suburban area in Northern NJ, it works just fine with good call quality.

i would advise bringing your own GSM unlocked phone to the service and buy the SIM card from Cricket.

FWIW, i use a 2014 Moto X and my wife uses a 2013 Moto G (although i am updating her to a new 2015 moto G this week).

Re: Cricket wireless experience

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:28 pm
by jlawrence01
I have had Cricket since December 2014 and have had no problems. The service has been excellent, none of the problems that I had with Republic. I am using the Moto G which is a great phone for my needs.

The more people you add with your plan, the less everyone pays. We started at $35 for one line. We are now paying $87 for three lines and should have at least a couple more people on board to drop the price per line even lower.