A few frills, a reasonable price and a solid network make Cricket Wireless an attractive prepaid cell phone option.
According to Consumer Reports, customers are happy overall with Cricket. It’s owned by AT&T and operates on that network, which is well-regarded by RootMetrics, a firm that analyzes mobile networks. However, Cricket customers don’t receive the full benefits of AT&T’s high-speed LTE data service.
Cricket’s list of features is short, but if you have family or friends outside the country, Cricket deserves a look for its international perks. We’ve singled it out previously as having some of the best prepaid phone plans and best prepaid family plans.
AT A Glance
- Plans start at $25 a month
- Strengths: AT&T’s solid network and coverage; decent international perks included; cheap family plans
- Weaknesses: LTE data speed is capped
Cricket Wireless cell phone plans
Cricket Wireless offers five unlimited texting and calling plans: Basic, Smart, Pro, Unlimited and a Talk & Text plan with no data.
- Talk & Text: $25
- Basic (2.5 gigabytes): $40
- Smart (5 GB): $50
- Pro (10 GB): $60
- Unlimited: $70
The Basic plan is just that: no extra features beyond calling, texting and data.
With the Smart and Pro plans, you receive some international perks. You get unlimited talk and text, including multimedia messages, to Mexico and Canada from the U.S. Plus, if you’re traveling in either of those countries, you’ll have access to your high-speed data allotment.
That said, with a Smart or Pro plan, 50% of your talk, text and data usage must occur within the U.S. in any consecutive three-month period. So make sure to balance out those texts to your Canadian crush with a few to your mom in Minneapolis.
The Smart and Pro plans also include unlimited texting to 38 countries, but without pictures or video messages.
Cricket’s Unlimited plan gives you everything in the Smart and Pro plans, plus unlimited data. Unlike most “unlimited” plans, Cricket’s doesn’t seem to throttle down speeds for heavy users (i.e., those who use more than 23 GB per month). The trade-off here is Cricket’s capped LTE data speeds, which we dig into in the next section.
If you don’t need any data, Cricket’s Talk & Text plan provides unlimited calling and texting only. The plan isn’t available to smartphone users, doesn’t include multimedia messages, and isn’t eligible for Cricket autopay and Group Save discounts (more on those later).
Cricket Wireless’ network
As a subsidiary of AT&T, Cricket runs on its network with some limitation. Cricket’s LTE data speeds are capped at 8 megabits per second, but, according to the latest RootMetrics report, AT&T’s LTE speeds are often much faster than that, in some markets exceeding 20 Mbps.
If you’re not a power user, 8 Mbps can make for a solid web browser experience, though things like streaming high-quality video may prove difficult. For example, Netflix recommends a 5 Mbps connection for streaming HD-quality video and a 1.5 Mbps connection for standard quality video. But keep in mind that Cricket’s 8 Mbps is the bandwidth you are potentially allowed. As is true for all internet connections, and especially mobile ones, that’s not always the bandwidth you’ll receive.
In the same report, RootMetrics writes that AT&T’s network “has consistently remained a strong No. 2 performer behind Verizon in a majority of categories in our United States testing for five consecutive test periods.”
Cricket also received several high marks in the Consumer Reports 2015 Summer Survey, with customers singling out the carrier for excellent value and particularly good web access and data service. In overall customer satisfaction, Cricket ranked second out of 13 prepaid carriers.
Where to buy Cricket Wireless
Cricket Wireless phones and SIM cards are available at Wal-Mart, GameStop, Target, Meijer, Aaron’s and Best Buy. There are also many independent cell phone stores selling Cricket gear, and, of course, there’s Cricket’s website.
Since Cricket operates on AT&T’s GSM network, many unlocked phones can be brought over to a Cricket plan. GSM is one kind of cell phone radio network; the other is CDMA. They have much different rules about what kinds of devices can connect to them.
For instance, any unlocked phone purchased from AT&T or T-Mobile can be activated at Cricket. Verizon and Sprint customers have a rougher go of it, since only the iPhone 5, 5s, 5c, 6, 6 Plus and the Nexus 6 from those networks can be transferred. Cricket has a tool that helps you check your phone’s compatibility.
Current Cricket Wireless deals
As of April 2016, Cricket is offering discounts on various Android-powered smartphones from ZTE, LG, Kyocera and HTC.
How Cricket Wireless compares on prices
Cricket is in the middle of the prepaid pack in terms of price: not dirt cheap, not expensive. You get access to AT&T’s robust network, but your LTE data speeds are capped below what you would receive on AT&T’s name-brand prepaid service.
How Cricket Wireless compares on features
Cricket doesn’t include many extra features with its plans besides some attractive international perks. It does offer mobile hot spot service for an extra charge and competitively priced family plan discounts.
Click the image to see in more detail how Cricket Wireless stacks up on features. Asterisks indicate features available for an additional charge.
Autopay discount: Cricket offers a $5 autopay discount for its Basic, Smart and Pro plans. Group Save discounts, which are Cricket’s version of a family plan, and Talk & Text plans don’t qualify for the discount.
Family plans: With Group Save plans, Cricket gives you an additional $10 discount for each line you add. You get $10 off your second line, $20 off your third, $30 off your fourth and $40 off your fifth line. That means you’ll receive $100 off your monthly bill if you have five lines.
Let’s say you have one line on a Basic plan at $40 per month, and you want to add two lines. Your second line would cost only $30 per month, and your third would cost just $20. Your total monthly bill would be $90 ($40+$30+$20).
Unlimited 2G: Cricket allows unlimited 2G data speeds after you use up your high-speed data for the billing cycle. Adding 1 GB of high-speed data costs $10.
Unlimited music streaming: Not offered.
International calls and texts: The Smart and Pro plans give you unlimited talk and text, including multimedia messages, to Mexico and Canada, as well as access to your high-speed data in both of those countries. These plans also include unlimited texting to 38 countries, but without pictures or video messages.
For $5 more a month, you can add unlimited calls to landlines in 36 countries. For $15 more a month, you get unlimited calls to those landlines and unlimited multimedia messages to those same countries. Plus, you get 1,000 mobile-to-mobile minutes to 32 out of 36 countries on the list.
Mobile hot spot: Mobile hot spot is available on the Smart and Pro plans for an extra $10 per month. Any data used from a hot spot comes from your monthly allotment.
Is Cricket Wireless right for you?
If you’re looking for a reasonably priced prepaid option with a good customer satisfaction track record and solid network service, Cricket is for you. It offers some nice perks for those who need international service, especially to Mexico and Canada, and it has family plan discounts with great value.
If you require bleeding-edge LTE data download speeds, though, Cricket starts to look less attractive. You might instead want to check out prepaid options from Cricket’s parent company, AT&T.
Stephen Layton is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: slayton@nerdwallet.com.
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