Anyone happy with their Cricket service?

[HeyCori]

I'm currently on AT&T, which is fine but I'm on the 1GB plan and I share that between two phones. Cricket just upped their data limit on the base plan to 2.5 gigs. That's more data than AT&T's new "rollover data" can offer. I figured now's a good time to jump ship. Now I'm just waiting for AT&T to send me my unlock codes. Until then, anyone happy with their Cricket service? Anything I should know about?

 

[pankaj981]

Been using it since September last year. Coverage is more or less same as ATT, LTE data speeds are capped at 9M, HSPA+ at 4M. Internet sharing is not supported, neither is Visual Voicemail on non-Cricket ROMs on Windows Phone. Overall I'm quite satisfied with 2 lines for $70, better than T-Mobile's coverage for sure

 

[RumoredNow]

I had a horrible experience trying to get signed up with Cricket... If you have a physical location near you for support I say go for it. Otherwise you may have to work to get enrolled and set up: http://forums.windowscentral.com/ca...t-does-not-want-my-4-lines-their-service.html

Cricket's tiered discount per line added is very attractive. If they prove to be a hassle, go the Straight Talk AT&T compatible SIM route. It's my second go around with ST and all is well...

Side note: Want Visual Voice Mail? Go to YouMail on your PC browser and sign up. Then download the ISeeVM App to your phone. It is a free and very feature rich service. Kicks the snot out of the VVM I had through T-Mobile.

 

[HeyCori]

Thanks for the YouMail tip! I am lucky enough to have a Cricket store in my area. I figured I'd go there to transfer my number and get everything setup. I'm not too concerned with capped LTE. While capped LTE is unfortunate, having excess data is more tempting than AT&T's paltry data limits.

 

[ssapre]

I had a horrible experience trying to get signed up with Cricket... If you have a physical location near you for support I say go for it..

I would double that. Once you get it activated, its good for use...but they have problems which frustrate you during activation process.

Also, if you are planning to call abroad with basic plan....I have not been able to figure out a good way yet. There is no direct international dialing / compatible value add plan for basic service.

 

[HeyCori]

Been using it since September last year. Coverage is more or less same as ATT, LTE data speeds are capped at 9M, HSPA+ at 4M. Internet sharing is not supported, neither is Visual Voicemail on non-Cricket ROMs on Windows Phone. Overall I'm quite satisfied with 2 lines for $70, better than T-Mobile's coverage for sure

Did you have to change the APN or anything?

 

[pankaj981]

Did you have to change the APN or anything?

Yep for my 920, nope for my 830

 

[HeyCori]

Thanks for the info.

 

[HeyCori]

My unlock codes came in last night. I'm making the switch after work. Hopefully all goes well.

 

[RumoredNow]

Huzzah for better value and consumer choice.

Best of luck, Cori, Let us know how it went.

 

[pankaj981]

My unlock codes came in last night. I'm making the switch after work. Hopefully all goes well.

Just an FYI, AT&T phones work out of the box without unlocking on Cricket's network

 

[HeyCori]

Thanks. I heard that before but I didn't want to take any chances.

 

[HeyCori]

Well that was... painless. Walked into my local Cricket, told them what I wanted and that was basically it. The lady transferred all my info (btw, she also uses the Lumia 1320) and popped the Cricket SIMs in afterwards. Everything worked immediately. My text messages, data and MMS all worked without any problems. And since both phones were AT&T phones (1520 & 925), I didn't even have to use the unlock codes, which is kinda sweet since now I can choose between unlocked or AT&T branded phones when I upgrade. And dat price! With Next, 3GB of data, and two phones I was paying $118 on AT&T. My Cricket bill is $60 with 2.5 gigs for each phone. The only downside are the data speeds. At the store I couldn't get past 3.4Mbps. At home I couldn't get above 2. Makes me wonder if I'm only getting 4G and not LTE.

 

[pankaj981]

How are you paying 60? Shouldn't it be 70 (40+30)? Also visual voicemail does not work. 3.5M is mostly HSPA not LTE, does your phone show LTE?

 

[HeyCori]

It's $35 per line when you sign up for the auto pay (which I still have to do). Then you get a $10 discount when you add a second line. So my phone and my girl's phone.

The phone actually says Cricket LTE but I'm clearly not hitting the 8Mbps limit. I might stop by the store tomorrow to see what's up. However, we're also supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow tomorrow so maybe I won't lol.

 

[tgp]

It's $35 per line when you sign up for the auto pay (which I still have to do). Then you get a $10 discount when you add a second line. So my phone and my girl's phone.

I don't think you get discounts on both extra lines and auto pay. A colleague of mine and his wife use Cricket, and he said they could have gotten the $10 discount in two different ways; $10 discount on the 2nd line, or $5 each for auto pay. Since they signed up at the same time, their lines are on the same account so they're getting the Group Save discount. I'm afraid you'll be paying $70, which by the way is still excellent value!

I found this on Cricket support:

Can I get the Auto Pay discount on my Group Save account?
No, the Auto Pay credit does not apply to accounts receiving a Group Save discount.

 

[HeyCori]

BUMMER! Oh well, that's still a better deal than what AT&T was giving me. And once I get this LTE thing figured out I'll be all set.

 

[RumoredNow]

...visual voicemail does not work...

...Side note: Want Visual Voice Mail? Go to YouMail on your PC browser and sign up. Then download the ISeeVM App to your phone. It is a free and very feature rich service. Kicks the snot out of the VVM I had through T-Mobile.

 

[tgp]

And once I get this LTE thing figured out I'll be all set.

Your problem is interesting. Are both phones slow, or only one of them? Cricket LTE works perfectly with my colleague's unlocked Moto X 2013, with download speeds in the 8 to 9Mbps range. I don't know if he had to manually create the proper APN, but that's a non issue on an unlocked Android. I'm not sure what it would take on your phone(s), but that might be the problem.

Either way, Cricket facilitates BYOD, so they should know how to resolve the issue.

 

[HeyCori]

Yup, both phones are slow. At least according to Microsoft's Network test app. I can still stream video just at low res.

Edit: Same results using the speedtest.net app.