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Cricket to Start Offering Prepaid iPhone
$55 for 'Unlimited' Talk, Text and Data (With Throttling)
Leap-owned Cricket wireless has announced that they'll be the first carrier in the country to offer the iPhone as a prepaid device. Starting Friday, June 22, the company says they'll offer the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 with their $55 per-month, all-inclusive "unlimited" talk, text and data plan. By "unlimited" data of course they mean somewhere around 2.3 GB, after which you'll see your data speeds throttled considerably. Leap doesn't subsidize the devices so you'll obviously pay more up front; the carrier is offering the 16GB iPhone 4S for $500, and the 8GB version of the iPhone 4 will be sold at $400.
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kpfx
join:2005-10-28
San Antonio, TX

kpfx

Member

Interesting

It's nice to have options, but it's quite a big jump, both in price and quality, above their other smartphone offerings. I find Cricket's service adequate here in San Antonio but their lack of a good Android smartphone keeps me away.

There's a huge $250 gap between their "best" $149 Android smartphone (and I use the term "best" sarcastically) and the cheapest $400 iPhone here.
Technicholas
Premium Member
join:2010-11-11
West Des Moines, IA

Technicholas

Premium Member

Re: Interesting

Time to switch to Cricket?

Majestik
World Traveler
Premium Member
join:2001-05-11
Tulsa, OK

Majestik

Premium Member

Re: Interesting

My AT&T grandpa unlimited is better than that.

delusion ftl
@comcast.net

delusion ftl

Anon

Re: Interesting

Really? you get unlimited talk, text and data for less than 55 a month?

Majestik
World Traveler
Premium Member
join:2001-05-11
Tulsa, OK

Majestik

Premium Member

Re: Interesting

said by delusion ftl :

Really? you get unlimited talk, text and data for less than 55 a month?

200 text/month
Unlimited data- I use between 5-10g/ month. They throttle after 3gig but can still stream Netflix,Slingplayer,Hulu,etc.
Unlimited talk.
Talk and surf at same time.
GSM 3G.
Unlocked iPhone.
$54/month

ilikeme
Premium Member
join:2002-08-27
Stafford, TX

ilikeme to kpfx

Premium Member

to kpfx
I wonder how they expect the average cricket customer to be able to afford that?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Interesting

said by ilikeme:

I wonder how they expect the average cricket customer to be able to afford that?

Because even the "poor" can dig up the money for an expensive consumer item($200 sneaks, $400 smartphones) when they want it.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to ilikeme

Member

to ilikeme
There are plenty of iPhones already running on the network, bought at full retail and flashed, for a fee, to CricKet's CDMA settings. This is a heck of a lot cheaper than that.
Happydude32
Premium Member
join:2005-07-16

3 recommendations

Happydude32 to ilikeme

Premium Member

to ilikeme
said by ilikeme:

I wonder how they expect the average cricket customer to be able to afford that?

Youre kidding, right? Every Tuesday for work Im in the ghetto of Buffalo, every Wednesday Im in the ghetto of Rochester for work. The vast majority of the losers and thugs I see in both cities have an iPhone hanging around their neck. Be it the crack dealer on the street corner or the 400 lb woman waiting for the bus with her nine illegitimate children causing chaos. What ghetto thug came up with the fashion idea to wear cell phones on a chain around the neck anyway? Oh well, I dont get most of the urban lifestyle nor do I ever want to. These people dont have two stones to rub together but they have their iPhones. Theyre probably too dumb to figure out how to use a real smartphone, you know something that runs Android. These same people who wear theyre iPhones like dog collars are also the ones I see at low income medical offices and clinics ‘paying for their prescriptions and copays with their New York State Benefit Card.

It makes me sick personally.

The iPhone is purchased by three types of people. 1) Apples loyal blinded flock of iSheep 2) Teenage girls who for some reason think Apple products are cool, when its really not 3) Ghetto scumbags

Majestik
World Traveler
Premium Member
join:2001-05-11
Tulsa, OK

Majestik

Premium Member

Re: Interesting

I'm not any of those three. I just like the smartphone. The ipad is everything I've wanted and need. Dont have the time to play around with a phone like i used to. And i have special apps that for the iphone but not in Itunes for the public...not on other phones.
I appreciated the stock boosting my Roth over a half million though.
Not many phones you can buy,use,sell two years later on the Brazilian black market,and make enough to buy a new unlocked iPhone with change.
rocafellanrd
join:2009-05-04

1 edit

rocafellanrd to Happydude32

Member

to Happydude32

I agree to an extent

said by Happydude32:

said by ilikeme:

I wonder how they expect the average cricket customer to be able to afford that?

Youre kidding, right? Every Tuesday for work Im in the ghetto of Buffalo, every Wednesday Im in the ghetto of Rochester for work. The vast majority of the losers and thugs I see in both cities have an iPhone hanging around their neck. Be it the crack dealer on the street corner or the 400 lb woman waiting for the bus with her nine illegitimate children causing chaos. What ghetto thug came up with the fashion idea to wear cell phones on a chain around the neck anyway? Oh well, I dont get most of the urban lifestyle nor do I ever want to. These people dont have two stones to rub together but they have their iPhones. Theyre probably too dumb to figure out how to use a real smartphone, you know something that runs Android. These same people who wear theyre iPhones like dog collars are also the ones I see at low income medical offices and clinics ‘paying for their prescriptions and copays with their New York State Benefit Card.

It makes me sick personally.

The iPhone is purchased by three types of people. 1) Apples loyal blinded flock of iSheep 2) Teenage girls who for some reason think Apple products are cool, when its really not 3) Ghetto scumbags

1. It makes me even more sick to read this, but I can imagine. I see it sometimes. It's not cool anymore to have expensive toys, but use the collective tax dollars because you can't take care of yourself.

I consider it the triple threat; obesity, drugs, and thugs. Killing the community 3 different ways.

2. Unfortunately, with most of the stuff these guys get into being illegal, defacing women, and giving them STD's, most of these pricks are dogs.

3. I agree. Its' a fashion statement. Right now though, people have to deal with it. Speak of the devil !, How the iPhone is losing its' cool factor.

»news.cnet.com/8301-13579 ··· 1_3-0-20

4. The one role model most African American males have is Obama, not his policies. I know what your wish is; but my wish would show these people the real type of poverty and human exploitation that makes of those "cool toys".

5. Trust me dude, I see from your POV. When your spending someone elses' money, might as well live it up.

just saying
@cox.net

just saying

Anon

Re: I agree to an extent

all that can be said about people in trailer parks as well (of mostly other cultures i.e white, hispanic, and others ) and people have more role models than just obama not that is a bad choice

jay-z
diddy
herman cain (not mine)
leborn james
colin powell
condey rice
mrs obama
just to name a few

ilikeme
Premium Member
join:2002-08-27
Stafford, TX

ilikeme to Happydude32

Premium Member

to Happydude32

Re: Interesting

said by Happydude32:

said by ilikeme:

I wonder how they expect the average cricket customer to be able to afford that?

Youre kidding, right? Every Tuesday for work Im in the ghetto of Buffalo, every Wednesday Im in the ghetto of Rochester for work. The vast majority of the losers and thugs I see in both cities have an iPhone hanging around their neck. Be it the crack dealer on the street corner or the 400 lb woman waiting for the bus with her nine illegitimate children causing chaos. What ghetto thug came up with the fashion idea to wear cell phones on a chain around the neck anyway? Oh well, I dont get most of the urban lifestyle nor do I ever want to. These people dont have two stones to rub together but they have their iPhones. Theyre probably too dumb to figure out how to use a real smartphone, you know something that runs Android. These same people who wear theyre iPhones like dog collars are also the ones I see at low income medical offices and clinics ‘paying for their prescriptions and copays with their New York State Benefit Card.

It makes me sick personally.

The iPhone is purchased by three types of people. 1) Apples loyal blinded flock of iSheep 2) Teenage girls who for some reason think Apple products are cool, when its really not 3) Ghetto scumbags

You forgot the 4th one.
4) Those who want an OS that has the same stability and features between different devices and who need apps that are not on or do not work as well on Android.

Also, I heard of more "ghetto scumbags" having Androids than I have with iPhones.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Re: Interesting

said by ilikeme:

You forgot the 4th one.
4) Those who want an OS that has the same stability and features between different devices and who need apps that are not on or do not work as well on Android.

Haven't found that app yet, and yet both my Samsung Transform Ultra & various desktops are working without fault.
tom thomas
join:2010-11-04

tom thomas

Member

will they lock the GSM slot?

i wonder if cricket will be locking the SIM card slot on the 4S.

if not the 4S is considerably cheaper( - $150.00) than at the apple store, these will be in a nearly permanent out of stock status as they get bought up for export.

the 2.3 GB before throttling is interesting since cricket normally throttles after only 1 GB(for smartphones, feature phones are unlimited without throttle.) hopefully the new larger cap will be for android customers as well.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: will they lock the GSM slot?

I'm pretty sure Cricket is entirely CDMA not GSM, so no SIM slot.
tdar
join:2004-04-05
Alpharetta, GA

tdar

Member

Re: will they lock the GSM slot?

SIM slot on 4S but surely locked
tom thomas
join:2010-11-04

tom thomas to xenophon

Member

to xenophon
all iphone 4s"s have sim slots, they are all dual mode(cdma/gsm) phones.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: will they lock the GSM slot?

Oh, that's right. Forgot about that.
xenophon

xenophon

Member

Did Sprint get burned?

Sprint had to commit to something like 20-30M phones to get iPhone. Did Cricket? If not, Sprint got pwned by Apple.
Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO

1 recommendation

Skippy25

Member

Re: Did Sprint get burned?

Regardless, all of them got pwned by Apple.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Did Sprint get burned?

Looks like Cricket is committing to buying only $1B of iPhones over 3 years, much less than Sprint's $15B. Compared to their respective subscriber ratios, Sprint should have only committed to about $7B. Apple basically let Cricket on board for half what Sprint had to commit to.

»www.marketwatch.com/stor ··· est_news

delusion ftl
@comcast.net

delusion ftl

Anon

Re: Did Sprint get burned?

It's probably even less than that. I saw an analysis about sprint having to sell an iphone to close to 50% of it's customer base by the time all was said and done. Not even ATT has that kind of iphone usage after carrying it for nearly 5 years.

This is still a very very very risky thing for cricket to do since they sell a very nice prepaid android phone for half the cost of the i4 and it is somewhere between the 4 and 4s in capabilities and features. I see this as more of an ability to bring more traffic to stores, but it's a hard sell to the typical prepaid customer to get them to pay twice or more for a similar device. So while they may increase sales and subs of more affordable devices, it leaves a contract bomb that may not be satisfied.

Also note that it's not available in their Sprint resell areas, and it's not available even in their native infrastructure "tri-band" areas, which some are major markets (Chicago, Las vegas, Baltimore, DC, Philly, and more)

I really cannot fathom Cricket's limited classic non triband market area selling more than 100K iphones a year and they contracted for 600K.
doughnet
join:2002-03-22
Newark, CA

doughnet

Member

Owns

Able to bring your own iPhone over to their services/network? Says nothing up about their new phones.

chd176
join:2003-01-10
Winfield, AL

chd176

Member

Not first....

While they may be the first since the original iPhone back in 2007 when the first iPhone was released Cingular (now AT&T) provided a prepaid option for the phone...

Dezbend
MVM
join:2001-04-20

Dezbend

MVM

Re: Not first....

I have a pre-paid iPhone through AT&T's Go Phone (and have had it for over a year). I bought a used iPhone and put in a Go Phone SIM card. The local AT&T store helped me with the set-up, so this wasn't some unofficial workaround (unless it is a racket run by the store management I suppose).

So, yes this isn't the first pre-paid company to support the iPhone.
25139889 (banned)
join:2011-10-25
Toledo, OH

25139889 (banned)

Member

Re: Not first....

StraightTalk/Net10 does as well. The details are online about it.
georgeglass5
join:2010-06-07
New York, NY

georgeglass5

Member

Their site

has alot to be desired, it keeps timing out.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

rofl!

Cricket can't even do no frills dumbphones well. they're a joke!
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

They are subsidizing this, just not as much as postpaid

The iPhone is being offered $150 below retail. I'm sure Leap got a quantity discount but I can guarantee that they are selling the phone, like most of the rest of their lineup, below cost. AKA subsidizing the phone. Virgin Mobile doe it too.

This is why CricKet's plan price is above that of Straight Talk for equivalent features ($45)...you can use an iPhone on prepaid with ST, though you will have to pay full price for the phone. You end up ahead after two years though, versus CricKet.

In other news, how long before CricKet's CDMA network melts due to the iPhone? Theirs is more fragile than Sprint's if I recall correctly. Or will they be using Sprint a lot, since the iPhone can't run on a significant portion of their network (the AWS CDMA only parts)?

delusion ftl
@comcast.net

delusion ftl

Anon

Re: They are subsidizing this, just not as much as postpaid

They are not offering the iphone in their AWS markets. Only in their PCS markets.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Unlimited Data... Not for long..

Seems that every carrier that gets the iPhone ends up killing off their unlimited data within the year.
BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Wakefield, MA

BosstonesOwn

Member

$150 iphone discount !

I might have to buy one just to unlock and use globally.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ

MovieLover76

Member

Straight Talk

You can do the same thing with Straight Talk for $45 a month on a bigger network

Lone Wolf
Retired
Premium Member
join:2001-12-30
USA

Lone Wolf

Premium Member

Simple Mobile

You can do the same thing with Simple Mobile for $40 monthly, no contract.

»www.mysimplemobile.com/p ··· ted.aspx
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN

Chubbysumo

Member

not a good deal

when you can get other carriers for prepaid plans for less.
straight talk is $45 per month unlimited everything, so, its not that good of a value really.

•••

Lone Wolf
Retired
Premium Member
join:2001-12-30
USA

Lone Wolf

Premium Member

Cost Savings

This article breaks down the costs of owning a Cricket iPhone vs a contract iPhone.

»www.philly.com/philly/bl ··· 586.html
quote:
Assuming you never shut off the service, never skip months, a Cricket iPhone would cost $1,719 to own and use for two years, versus $2,775 for a typical iPhone customer on a contract, estimates Cricket. Another plus - Cricket offers "unlimited data" in its package. though narrows the pipe for slower streaming after you pull down 2.3GB in a billing cycle.