After finding out about the $350/month AT&T wireless data plan, you might be looking for something a little cheaper. How about $35/month? I recently spoke to Cricket, a smaller wireless carrier that's selling truly unlimited wireless data for, yes, $35/month in some US cities. Forget $350 - that's even lower than the $60/month the big guys charge for under 5GB of traffic.
Cricket uses the EVDO Rev 0 system, which is slightly slower than the big guys - expect speeds of 500-700 kbps/sec. But on the other hand, according to Cricket, it's really, truly unlimited. There's no semi-secret 5-gigabyte cap.
"We expect our customers will be heavy, heavy data users, and we've never thought limits were a good idea," said Cricket senior manager for corporate communications Greg Lund.
Want to use it to replace a DSL line? Go for it. Want to game or download all night? Sure. Just hang up every once in a while, and don't try to run a Web server - the one relevant term in Cricket's terms of service prohibits using the network "continuously, with or without breaks, so as to create the functional equivalent of a telephone line dedicated to continuous use."
That's okay, you should turn your PC off sometimes anyway.
Cricket uses the Kyocera Wireless KPC650 PC Card to plug into laptops for high-speed Internet. That's our favorite EVDO Rev 0 card. They'll be introducing a USB modem soon that will plug into desktops as well, Lund said.
The big bummer here is Cricket's very limited coverage area. Their data service is only in five areas: Nashville; Spokane; the Central Valley of California; Santa Fe/Albuquerque, NM; and Portland, OR. Tulsa, OK is coming soon, Lund said, followed by more markets. Sadly, New York is not on their list of future markets, so we here at Gearlog won't be able to taste the cheap unlimited data.
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March 21, 2008 11:36 AM
Here you go! Just what we were talking about yesterday...let me do a little more research and check coverage. I'll let you know...;-) GD
March 21, 2008 11:38 AM
Wireless for LESS! Do the research and let Ceci know if it will work for us! ;-) GD
March 22, 2008 7:40 PM
Cricket is all over Rochester, NY.
March 24, 2008 3:52 PM
Just followed up on this story. The service is available in my area (greater Portland, OR) but is, and according to the phone rep always has been, $40 per month.
March 24, 2008 5:09 PM
Two notes.
First of all, Cricket has phone service in many other cities, but only has the high speed data service in the cities I listed. But more are coming.
Second, the $35 rate is if you also have a Cricket phone line. Without a phone, it's $40.
March 26, 2008 12:39 PM
Your 5GB cap story was inaccurate. It is a computer notation only and will change in June once there is a better 3G deployment by AT&T
March 27, 2008 1:31 PM
Yeah but when is Rochester NY scheduled to recieve this service. We still have 1x here and all the other major carriers are offering it as we speak.
June 26, 2008 1:52 AM
Well thats not entirely true Cricket does have a 5GB a month limit on it I have it and here in STL I'm getting almost 1Mbps
June 29, 2008 1:30 PM
Is anybody out there currently using this service in Portland, Or. ? (actually, I will soon be in Milwaukie) I would like to have your opinion. Do you have to sign a long term contract?
Thanks
October 6, 2008 5:29 PM
I have Cricket in South Texas and it works great even when it rains. I had Wildblue Satellite and when it rained, no more internet. My Cricket USB Modem, UM100C, ranges from 100% to 45% signal strength and I have download speeds up to 1.1 Mbps. It is to be noted that this USB modem does NOT have an external antenna port according to tech support at UTStarCom but there is a RF Testing Port. The Quicklink software is great too. The modem will disconnect after 12 hours, but I have it set to auto redial. No problems so far after 45 days. By the way, the USB extender cable that comes with this modem has two male plugs and they are both used. Cricket says the extra male plug is to give the modem more power which is maybe why this modem does not have the need for an external antenna port.
October 26, 2008 11:09 PM
I hate to break it to you but Cricket DOES have a 5GB limit.
Here's a quote directly from their website...
"Throughput may be limited if use exceeds 5GB per month. Internet browsing does not include: hosted computer applications, continuous web camera or broadcast, automatic data feeds, machine-to-machine connections, peer to peer (P2P) connections or other applications that denigrate network capacity or functionality."
Chris Elliott
http://www.ChrisElliottCopywriting.com
November 6, 2008 10:22 PM
I just bought the Cricket Quick Link UM100C Wireless Modem a couple weeks ago, and Im soo excited and pleased with it. We dont ANY type of Broad Band service at all in the area we live in and this is what I have been looking for for years. I live ourside of Little Rock, AR. The only other option I had was to get satellite DSL, but that was too expensive. Now I can watch video clips without having to spend 5-10 minutes for a 30 second clip to buffer. Now I can watch clips almost instantly!!! And to make it better, it gos with you- and seeing as my mom was recently diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and we spend nearly all day at the hospital almost daily and I can surf the i-net wireless and with amazing speed for only $35 a month, since I also have a phone with them too. The only draw back and why im writing this is where we live is on the "far edge" of the service area and my modem works anywhere in the house, but my aunt bought one too and it works eveywhere, except her bedroom due to signal strenth issues (we live not even a half mile away from echother. Im looking for a wireless signal extender, so I can maybe mount an anttena outside and extend the signal into the house or a signal booster or something I can do to extend the signal stength in our houses. If anyone knows of anything like that that would help me, please let me know. I highly recoomend this modem.. Thanks, Hunter (jhunter5414@gmail.com) if you have a suggestion, thanks!
November 14, 2008 11:06 PM
you might want to check the fine print on the Cricket High Speed Internet...it states
"Throughput may be limited if use exceeds 5GB per month. Internet browsing does not include: hosted computer applications, continuous web camera or broadcast, automatic data feeds, machine-to-machine connections, peer to peer (P2P) connections or other applications that denigrate network capacity or functionality."
just go to http://www.mycricket.com/cricketplans/details/broadband to see for yourself
November 19, 2008 8:10 PM
I'm interested in this for a few reasons and if someone can answer my questions about it, I might have to give it a go.
First, does anyone know if you can use it going down the road? I'd like to write an app that does real time google satellite images with a gps to give you an over view of the area you are in.
Secondly, does anyone know if you can do VOIP on it? Again, I can see using my Vonage/magic jack phone adapter and have a very low cost home/mobile phone.
December 20, 2008 12:49 AM
Cricket is $49 per month here in NC for unlimited wireless as described above. I used to use their phone service for a business I had because we got tons of local calls and never needed to be more than an hour outside of town so it worked great for that. I just didn't like the cheap phones they had back then (around 2002). I am sure they have improved since then.
January 2, 2009 4:39 PM
I love cricket its awesome
February 11, 2009 12:16 PM
But has anyone noticed how your laptop CPU cycles endlessly and gets (movie quote here. . .) hotter than Georgia asphalt? Also, it can be really slow at times. I've heard that you it is possible to trash the software and still use the script to connect.
Does anyone know how to do this? i am using an iBook G4 running OS X (10.4.11). Any help is appreciated. Please email me directly before my laptop spontaneously combusts.
d.colvin@online.ie
February 26, 2009 3:23 PM
I have Cricket and there is, yes "is", a 5 gig limit!!! They do not charge for overage, but your speeds will dramatically decrease when you reach it. It really sucks because they are already slow, and so you really have to watch your use. There is no such thing as unlimited wireless internet.
March 1, 2009 7:18 PM
We have been looking for a company that have this service , because a lot of customers was requesting this service . We would like to be a dealer 9178072442
April 17, 2009 1:33 AM
I live in Phoenix, Az and I would not tell anyone to get cricket internet. My wife has got us cricket and in 4 mnts it been slower than dial up and it's alway down. As for help or service no such thing her yet. Yes you can call and tell them what goning on and they make a report but No one will call you back and when you keep bugging to have it fix or get it to work like they promised they shut you off for a couple day. Ya you may connect but you are not getting anything Or sending. We have had nothing but problem after problem with them. Mostly No connection or being disconnected every 2-3 mins.
Be aware Be informed and buying a ant will not help. I tryed that already no difference.
October 26, 2009 1:29 PM
They have a cap of 5gb and it really is good for nothing after you hit it. Don't try p2p you get capped just for trying. Forget video it will get you capped in a week. Spending 43.00 a month for less than a week of broadband a month and capped the rest so bad it is like a cut off. They don't show the cap print until you install the modem. refund is partial if you open the box and you have to open the box to know you got ripped on unlimited and you have to open the box to find out not to open the box if you want full refund. They play this game with everything they do. Oh and after sign up fees your not worth it to them so expect support to hope you end service. the profit is in the sign up for them and the TOS lets them do anything including watch what your looking at and termination of service for anything they want. Scam here run.