Cricket Wireless Review
Founded in 1999, Cricket Wireless is one of the largest prepaid phone service providers in the United States.
Owned by AT&T, Cricket sells cell phone service on its parent company’s widespread nationwide network. While Cricket isn’t the cheapest of the many MVNOs, it is one of the more reliable of the bunch. With Cricket, you get the coverage and performance of the AT&T network at a much more affordable price.
Is it worth to switch from AT&T to Cricket?
Cricket was formerly the fifth-largest provider in the US. It still has an extensive network across many states, including Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and several others. AT&T purchased Cricket in 2013 and now operates it as a prepaid budget option.
Cricket uses AT&T’s networks, so it generally has excellent service across the country. However, Cricket has an imposed speed cap of 8 Mbps on most of its plans (3Mpbs on Cricket Core), so it may not be the best option for serious streamers.
Overall, Cricket’s strength is the variety of plans its offers in the $25-60 per month per Line range before discounts. It is one of the best options among all carriers for people looking for discounts on family/multi-line plans.
One important issue with Cricket Wireless is data throttling. Every client gets a certain amount of high-speed data that comes with their plan each billing cycle, even if the plan is marketed as “unlimited.” If a customer exceeds their allotted high-speed data usage amount, they notice a significant slowing of their Internet and data services. As a user approaches their monthly allowance, they may notice a slower data speed.
What’s Good
- Large Selection
- Cell Phone Plans
- Add-On Features
- No Contract
- Customer Service
- Discounts
- Plan Changes
Large Selection
With a large selection of smartphone and other device options, customers are able to find a phone that fits their needs, including the new Samsung Galaxy S20. Although some pre-pay cellular services do not include Apple products, Cricket has the iPhone.
Cell Phone Plans
Cricket has a variety of prepaid, no-contract plans. They do not offer any postpaid plans:
- 5GB – $30/mo.
- 10GB – $40/mo.
- Cricket More (Unlimited + 15GB mobile hotspot) – $60
The Unlimited plan, which costs $55 per month or $50 after the Auto Pay credit, includes:
- Unlimited data access with upload speeds up to 3 Mbps
- Video streaming at SD quality, about 480p
- Unlimited calling, texts, and picture messages in the U.S.
- Unlimited texts from the U.S. to 37 countries
- Data access plus unlimited calls, texts, and picture messages to and from Canada and Mexico
- HD voice and WiFi calling with compatible phone
The Unlimited Extra plan includes all the features of the Unlimited plan, plus unlimited high-speed data access with faster 4G LTE speeds, and 15 GB of mobile hotspot on compatible devices.
Cricket Unlimited Plans
Cricket does indeed offer unlimited wireless plans—they’re just not as unlimited as they sound. Yes, you do have unlimited data, so you can pull up Facebook or Twitter while you’re waiting for the bus without stressing about data, but don’t expect lightning-fast speeds.
Thankfully, there are no catches with unlimited calls or unlimited texting.
Variety isn’t Cricket’s strongest suit. The only real difference between Cricket Wireless plans is whether or not you want to set up autopay.
Here’s a bit of pro advice: you should do autopay and save a couple of bucks every month. Do that, and you’ve got yourself a super cheap wireless bill.
The biggest catch with Cricket Wireless plans is how your download speeds cap at 3 Mbps and streaming speeds cap at 1.5 Mbps.
Family Plans
Cricket’s family plans offer some of the best deals in the cell phone market, reducing the cost per line dramatically. Going with Cricket Wireless for your family plan allows you to avoid both a credit check and any worries about extra taxes and fees (they’re baked into the carrier’s plan prices). Plus, you’ll be aboard the formidable AT&T network, which offers great coverage.
Costs for 4 Lines:
- 5GB – $30 per line/mo.
- 10GB – $28 per line/mo.
- Unlimited – $25 per line/mo.
- Cricket More (Unlimited + 15GB mobile hotspot) – $33 per line/mo.
Add-On Features
Cricket offers these features as monthly add-ons at a reasonable price:
- Cricket Protect, which covers you from device loss, theft, or malfunction ($7 per month)
- Cricket International, which adds international communication coverage ($5-15 per month)
Individual Country Add-Ons, which include calling minutes and unlimited text, picture, and video messaging to Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Philippines, and Vietnam ($10-15 per month) - 1 GB High Speed, which can be used when the high-speed access included in your base rate plan is gone ($10 per month)
- Mobile Hotspot, which makes your cell phone a Wi-Fi hotspot
Cricket has all the bells and whistles of a contract provider but doesn’t require the contract.Everything you want. Including the price. Get the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G for $79.99 when you switch to Cricket.
Customer Service
There are plenty of storefront locations to get help with your Cricket wireless plan. For the most part, Cricket Wireless reviews report that Cricket does a good job of providing quality customer service. Prospective customers can speak to Cricket customer service using the live chat feature on the website.
Discounts
The 5 GB, Unlimited, and Unlimited Extra plans are eligible for savings with Auto Pay credit and group save discounts. Families can save up to $100 per month in discounts for up to five lines. Cricket does also offer a discount for each plan if you set up an automatic payment every month.
Plan Changes
Because the company does not require a contract, you can change your Cricket phone plan anytime you’d like for no charge. Once you switch plans, your plan will take effect immediately, unless you decide to wait until your next billing cycle. However, note that you can only change your plan twice per billing cycle, and any change may affect your current discounts.
Cricket Wireless also mandates that no more than one plan change per phone number can be scheduled to start on the next billing cycle.thumb_down
What’s Bad
- Data Throttling
- High-Speed Unused Data Expires Monthly
- Limited International Coverage
- Claims Limits
- Mixed Reviews
Data Throttling
While the data throttling option makes it easier for Cricket to “spread” data around and avoid charging overage fees, data throttling does kick in when a user is still within their allotted high-speed data amount for the month. This may make it difficult for users to check their email, surf the net, or access optimal download speeds for other purposes.
High-Speed Unused Data Expires Monthly
When purchasing the 1 GB high-speed data add-on, any high-speed unused data you have at the end of the month expires each cycle. So if you don’t use up all of your additional data, you pay for it anyway.
Limited International Coverage
With the Cricket Unlimited plan, customers can call, text, and use data in Mexico and Canada. However, in the additional 37 countries with coverage, calls are not covered — only text message communication including picture/video messages. To access coverage in additional countries, you need to purchase an individual country monthly add-on.
Claims Limits
The Cricket Protect add-on covers a maximum replacement value of $1500 per claim of loss, theft, accidental physical damage or liquid damage, in-warranty exchanges, and out-of-warranty malfunction, which is really good coverage. However, each customer is limited to two claims per 12 months. For the accident-prone customer, two claims may not be enough.
Mixed Reviews
Cricket Wireless reviews are mixed, which makes it difficult to decide if the cell phone provider is a trustworthy company. Many reviews highlight poor customer service and slow data, while also appreciating Cricket’s low price and affordable plans. If you want to learn more, you can find Cricket Wireless reviews below.
Will You Like Cricket Wireless?
Cricket Wireless is an affordable way to get unlimited talk, text and data on a good network with wide coverage and reliable stability. Thanks to the AT&T network supporting this MVNO you don’t need to sacrifice quality to save money and to get out of a credit check contract.
Plans are affordable with a few options although hotspot can cost you more. That said, talk, text and data to and from Mexico and Canada are free. Data is capped at 8Mbps for most plans which explains the price savings.
Customer service is excellent although there are numerous poor consumer reviews online. That said, on the whole, this is an excellent MVNO with a solid network.
