Cricket Wireless

[BigBear]

Is there anybody out there had any dealings with Cricket Wireless.

And if they have what is your opinion of them.

The only thing I dont like is not being able to use my phone outside
of the home area. But with my credit rating cant get a phone anywhere
else without either a huge deposit or prepaid.

Thanks for input!!!!

I have A Cricket it seems to work great in your home area .
You can talk as long as you wish with out worring about minutes.
it is just like your cordless phone at home but you can take it just a little bit farther

[KevinJames]

Soon, this may be another alternative: http://www.hoponwireless.com

Cricket arrived in Denver last August, and a handful of people I work with signed up. Since then, the reports are hot and cold. When it works, it works as well as any carrier. But when a lot of people start using the system, you can get bounced out. That is the downside of "unlimited" service. Expect afternoons after school to be worst. Also, the extra charges for LD, voicemail and caller ID add up.

For the time being, don't expect to use Cricket anywhere beside your home market. For the credit-challenged user, only pre-paid plans are a better alternative. You will get better coverage than Cricket, but far fewer minutes. My colleagues so far a putting up with the dropped calls because they get through enough to make it worth it.

There are comparative reviews of Cricket at:

-www.mountainwireless.com. Click on "Ratings", your state, or "All Carriers".

-Bill Radio

[Jack]

Kevin,

All hop-on is is a disposable cell phone. Could get expensive

Jack

[KevinJames]

Hop On has indicated that owners can buy more minutes. This product will be competitive with current pre-pay systems.

The one major limitation that I see is that users can only place outgoing calls. (But even that limitation is only with the first phase of deployment.)

It also is voice-dialing (only). No keypad. For those who have never used it, it may seem a bit confusing. As inituitive as I think voice-dialing is, many that I speak to on the streets find the feature intimidating and frustrating.

When I wrote HopOn a while back, before the terrorist attack on the twin towers, they had hoped for deployment before the end of Dec. 2001. But schedules were disrupted after the attack. I wrote recently and they are taking the same position that LG is taking on the VX1, namely: Look for it soon.

It supposed to come with 60-minutes of talk time and being marketed at smaller retail stores such as Walgreens. I spoke to my local Walgreens in December, and they hadn't received any corporate notification of the product.

[Jack]

We have a service in cleveland ohio called northcoast pcs (aka Cricket style). There slogan is "local service, endless possibilities" Its ok for someone who stays locally and does not travel out of there local footprint. If you understand that you can travel anywere in there footprint and call anyone in there footprint for the fee its a good choice. Long distance for Cricket is done with a calling card

Jack

[Nextel1]

What spectrum is Cricket running on? I thought it was GSM but I'm not quite sure!!

[ComicalMoodyDan]

I believe they use the CDMA 1,900 Mhz Frequency, Nextel1. We have a simialar service in Kingsport, TN also its called Boomerang Wireless powered by ALLTEL and for $34.95 you get unlimited calls within a certain coverage area. I've never known anybody to use it though and the coverage area is small but I guess for some users it could be a good choice.

[Jack]

Alltel Just introduced this is the cleveand market. You calling area is any alltel maket

Jack

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Not for the unlimited it's not Jack, they have 2 services one is 3,000 off peak minutes and 300 peak minutes for $34.95 including nationwide long distance and that does include any ALLTEL market. The local unlimited plan for the same price though only includes a small local calling area to where you can receice and make calls.

ALLTEL

Boomerang Wireless

[Jack]

Sorry Tdan should have read the whole post.

You are correct.

Jack

[ComicalMoodyDan]

It's ok, Jack we all make mistakes. I know I make on any given day a million of them I am sure hehe [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[Apoc]

Oh Cricket small name big prices small coverage areas!! you know I paid $60 a month w/ these guys and there service stanks up the place in my home area. So really there is no different I only used like 900 mins all around so that sucked. *cing *cing my 2 cents!

[Rae]

Correction to Jack........Cricket doesn't require credit cards for LD - it's a pre-pay thing.

Been curious as to why Cricket isn't a bigger topic of conversation on these boards. With 40 markets up and running, I'd think there would be more opinions out there.

[KevinJames]

Okay.

I've refrained from comments about Cricket because, well, just because. (Who wants to do business with a wireless company named after an insect?) (Just kidding.)

The Cricket commercials in the Central Valley (Sacramento and Stockton markets) are in my opinion very misleading....

"Can I talk all I want? Can I talk 'til the cows come home? Can I talk 'til all the cattle comes home?....." Then they say that the compeitions' "unlimited nights/weekends" is really very limited when you read the small print. Well, Cricket's small print is that the dang service only works in their markets. If that isn't extremely limited, I don't know what is. Now I can see this being good for those that never leave their hometown, but in today's world, who is that? I personally know of people commuting from Sacramento to San Ramon on a daily basis. Even though I am only 20 minutes or so from Stockton, their service wouldn't work where I live.

No thanks, I'll take my ATT Wireless service anyday. (Heck, in comparison to Cricket, I'd even take Sprint over them. And that IS going some for me.

Kevin

[larry]

Kevin, have you heard anything on Alpine PCS? They are building a PCS CDMA netowrk along the CA coast from Santa Barbara up to about Monterrey. I'm not sure if they've started service anywhere yet but they are working on some joint projects with Sprint to share towers.

[KevinJames]

Your post is the first I've heard of them. What's up with all the smaller upstarts? How can they possibly expect to profitably compete against the established and expansive AND corporately-backed deep-pocket companies like ATT, Cingular, Sprint and Verizon? (alphabetical order)

[Rae]

Interesting that you feel the advertising is misleading.....in Memphis we advertise what we sell - unlimited local minutes. We were never meant to compete with AT&T or any of the other "big dogs". In fact, I think we probably cause more grief for the land line carrier than the other wireless companies.

Personally, I use our AT&T equilivent (SunCom/TeleCorp) only in the areas Cricket doesn't cover or when I travel. I used to donate about $250/mo to SunCom and now I never exceed my 300 minutes. (of course, it doesn't hurt that I work for Cricket and don't have to pay for the service at all) 8-)

[Galileo]

Kevin,

Re your comments on the "Mom and Pop" cellular companies popping up all over:
you must remember that ONE of the PCS bands in every market is reserved for a LOCAL (usually a minority owned) entity. Whether that makes good economic sense or not is hard to say. I would think that to be successful you would need a wider presense than merely your own tower (singular!). As you say, who among us doesn't travel at least some distance at least sometime. At least a roaming agreement with one of the 'biggies' would seem to be necessary for success.

But if these little operators can get the funding and can find a niche -- and unlimited local service only sounds like a niche to me -- who are we to deny them their shot at glory and success. As Bill Radio says elsewhere, beware of the kids after school is out, but given the type of calling that I suspect they do (local calling to their local friends!?) there is probably a ready set of customers for the Mom and Pop providers.

[KevinJames]

Galileo

Point well taken. By the way, I like your signature. I've had a personal situation that came up a fews years back and ever since then I feel like I'm "a voice crying out in the dark."

[BillRadio]

Back to Big Bear's original problem. Most carriers offer a pre-paid service. Cricket is all pre-paid including their LD. If you're just looking for the 'no credit check' plans, there are bunch of them on the web:
Phoneshark
eCallPlus
AT&T Free2Go
Verizon Free Up

If you want a bigger coverage area, go for AT&T or Verizon pre-paid. They aren't a bad deal, and you could use the phone if someday you can switch to a post paid account. Verizon just lowered their Pre-paid price.

-Bill Radio

[Galileo]

Kevin,

I thank you for the comments.
And I think sometimes your sentiment fits accurately here on WirelessAdvisor -- the only sane voice in a somewhat dark wilderness.

Carry on!

Cricket SUCKS ME!!!!

[Apoc]

Here Cricket does not have such a bad home calling area you can travel 60 miles north or south here and stil get a decent service. And the MO-120c is a good option for all the techno junkies who hate the the consumer contracts. So all in all Cricket makes life easier for parents and kids never have to worry about paying high bills.

[Jack]

Cricket has its place just like everyone elese. If you do not travel and call locally and the service works where you need it good then go for it.

Jack

[larry]

Hey apoc,
I thought you were from Germany. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

[ComicalMoodyDan]

That's what it says in his profile, Larry. Hmm...

[nitripps]

rae said



<< . We were never meant to compete with AT&T or any of the other "big dogs". In fact, I think we probably cause more grief for the land line carrier than the other wireless companies.

Personally, I use our AT&T equilivent (SunCom/TeleCorp) only in the areas Cricket doesn't cover or when I travel. I used to donate about $250/mo to SunCom and now I never exceed my 300 minutes. (of course, it doesn't hurt that I work for Cricket and don't have to pay for the service at all) 8-) >>

Text

for less than $40 a month, including unlimited minutes, voicemail and caller id, it was easy to pull the big wire out of the house.
since 1970 i've had some kind of "bell" in my house. mountain bell, pacific bell, nevada bell, and the clone/frankenstein monster sbc/nevada bell. not anymore. i've had cricket since the beginning of march. the same day i bought my cricket i fired the bells. i'll keep my att phone for travel purposes, but my monthly $50 with them no longer exists. now i just buy prepaid as i need it , and it's not that often. cricket should do real well, as more people realise that they can cut off their land line and not miss it.

nitripps

Cricket sucks ___...I wouldn't use their service if someone bought the service and phone for me