Tethering on Cricket?

[TechAbstract]

Does Cricket allow internet sharing? I am currently using Straght Talk and there is no tethering.

 

[Laura Knotek]

It looks like they offer a tethering plan. One needs that specific plan per their Acceptable Use Policy. https://www.cricketwireless.com/legal-info/acceptable-use-policy.html
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 via Tapatalk

 

[SOCMOB]

It looks like they offer a tethering plan. One needs that specific plan per their Acceptable Use Policy. [Link omitted]
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 via Tapatalk

Do you use Cricket yourself?

I have used Cricket for the past six months, and tethering is not possible on my Lumia 620.

When I first bought the phone it was through AIO and tethering worked. The sales rep advised me not to upgrade the firmware/OS because tethering would no longer work-- and that's exactly what happened. I updated and subsequently lost the toggle for Internet Sharing on my phone.

The link supplied in your post lists Prohibited Data Uses which includes the verbiage:

"Cricket's data services are not intended to be used in any manner which has any of the following effects and such use is prohibited if in Cricket's sole discretion it: ... (i) tethers a wireless device to a computing device (such as a computer, Smartphone, eBook or eReader, media player, laptop, or other devices with similar functions) through use of connection kits, applications, devices or accessories (using wired or wireless technology) and you have not subscribed to a specific data plan designed for this purpose; (j) there is a specific data plan required for a particular use and you have not subscribed to that plan..."

From the wording of Cricket's Acceptable Use Policy it does seem like tethering should be possible with an appropriate data plan. Unfortunately, however, Cricket does not offer any add-on feature that would constitute such a plan.

If you have recent personal experience to the contrary, I would appreciate if you would present that information in this thread. Such guidance would be very helpful to those Cricket users who currently are unable to take advantage of the tethering capabilities of their devices.

 

[pankaj981]

I'm with cricket and internet sharing does work. All you need to do is flash your phone to a non-Cricket ROM

 

[SOCMOB]

I'm with cricket and internet sharing does work. All you need to do is flash your phone to a non-Cricket ROM

What phone, OS and ROM are you using?

I'm presently using an Italian country variant ROM with WP 8.1 / Lumia Cyan. Internet Sharing is not among the Settings menu items. Even before I installed 8.1/Cyan, Internet Sharing had not been possible since I was using the original AIO/Cricket Lumia Amber firmware. During the intervening period on Lumia Black any attempt to set that toggle to "on" would result in an error message stating that the carrier did not support (or allow) this feature. (I don't remember the exact wording.)

 

[pankaj981]

I was using a Rogers Lumia 920 with Cricket. Internet Sharing worked after performing the foreign SIM trick. It works also with an Australian ROM flashed to a Cricket locked 630. It doesn't work on my 925 though running the Mexico CV ROM since it doesn't have editable APN settings under cellular+SIM. BTW all of them are on Cyan with 8.1.1. Also I can confirm that internet sharing works on IOS 8.1 on my wife's iPhone 5S with Cricket

 

[SOCMOB]

Thanks for your responses. Are you using Cricket sim cards in these phones for which tethering is working? Also, do you mind sharing what APN settings you are using on those same Lumias?

The reason that I ask about the APN settings is that the situation with your phones sounds to me like you have managed to access the cellular network in such a way that your devices are identified as AT&T devices rather than Cricket devices. If that's the case, kudos to you!

Interestingly, my sim-unlocked T-Mobile (US) Lumia 521 was just updated to 8.1/Cyan today, and when I booted it up with my Cricket sim I was presented with an Access Point option for AT&T or Cricket. With this firmware the 521 has Internet Sharing as a Settings menu item regardless of whether AT&T or Cricket is selected under Access Point. Unfortunately, when I try to toggle on Internet Sharing under either Access Point network selection I get the same message: "Connection not shared Internet sharing isn't currently allowed." Also, when I boot up the 620 (which is sim-unlocked) with a T-Mobile sim, Internet Sharing shows up in the Settings menu.

Given my experience with my 620 and 521, in addition to what I was told months ago by the phone sales rep, my understanding is that Cricket has made back-end changes to restrict or eliminate tethering. This is supported by the fact that my Cricket sim either prevents the appearance of Internet Sharing under Settings or disallows the enabling of that feature. Since I am using APN settings that are supposedly specific to Cricket, that might explain the discrepancy between your experience and mine.

BTW, for both of my Lumias the APN settings are entered via Access Point rather than Cellular + Sim. If your 925 has a similar configuration maybe you can get tethering to work on that phone too.

 

[pankaj981]

I used the APN settings mentioned here: https://www.cricketwireless.com/sup...d/customer/bring-your-own-windows-device.html

The reason I am unable to tether on my 925 is because it does not have editable APN settings under cellular+SIM. And yes, the other phones that I was able to tether was with a Cricket SIM.

 

[SOCMOB]

Thanks again for your response.

Since you're using the standard APN settings for Cricket, it must be the "foreign SIM trick" that allows you to take advantage of the Internet Sharing feature. I commend you on your resourcefulness.

So, for the OP and anyone else interested in this thread it appears that tethering is not enabled by default for WP users on Cricket, but it is possible to circumvent the carrier's restrictions by employing a relatively simple hack. For anyone interested in learning more about how to replicate what PANKAJ981 has achieved with his Lumias I suggest a search for "foreign SIM trick".

 

[pankaj981]

Yep you got it! Foreign SIM trick it is. But if you have an iPhone or Android you can freely tether and also get Visual Voicemail on Cricket without any hacks. This issue might be strictly limited to Windows phones only. And probably not a Cricket issue but due the Access Point app since it also messes up internet sharing for T-Mobile on non-T-Mobile phones/ROMs