cricket wireless

By definition, the no-contract carrier model is designed to save you money over the two-year contract agreement that reigns supreme here in the U.S.

The question is: How much do you really gain by going prepaid, and what do you lose from the subscriber experience? Without a doubt, no-contract carriers like MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, and Cricket Wireless can dramatically cut your monthly cell phone bill, but there are trade-offs.

I'm not going to dive into every carrier's pricing structure and phone offerings, so for the sake of comparison, I'm going to break down the … Read more

Mobile phone customers can choose from even more contract-free plans from RadioShack as of today.

Four new plans are available altogether through Cricket Wireless -- two for feature phones and two for smartphones.

The $25-per-month feature phone plan offers 300 voice minutes, while the $35 plan raises that to 1,000 minutes. Both plans up the ante with unlimited data access, unlimited texting, call waiting, and three-way calling.

The $50-per-month smartphone plan adds unlimited voice minutes and promises that the first gigabyte of data will run at full 3G speeds. The $60 plan offers the first 2.5GB of data … Read more

RadioShack may be doubling down on the wireless game.

An alleged internal memo has started floating around the Web indicating that RadioShack will launch a No Contract Wireless service on September 5. According to Engadget, which obtained the alleged memo and posted an image of it, the service will be powered by Cricket, a wireless provider offering no-contract service.

Cricket offers similar no-contract service at other retailers. According to the leaked memo, RadioShack's service will be differentiated by the company offering "an exclusive 8GB SD memory card with all Muve Music phones."

RadioShack currently sells smartphones in … Read more

Cricket Wireless is expected to soon carry another Android-powered Huawei handset, or says a source close to PhoneArena. Featuring a portrait QWERTY keyboard below a 3.2-inch display, the smartphone will run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The full details remain unclear, but an official user manual found online advises there is a rear camera and microSD expansion. Called the Ascend Q, the handset has already been spotted in the real world and may be announced in the short term.

Cricket currently offers a couple of Huawei models (Ascend II, Mercury) in select markets but it's still difficult to … Read more

T-Mobile USA and Leap wireless said today they plan on exchanging spectrum in several markets in the U.S. to better improve the potential coverage.

The spectrum swap also includes T-Mobile, Cool Inlet/VS GSM VII PCS, a joint venture in which T-Mobile has a non-controlling majority stake, as well as Savary Island Wireless, which Leap has a non-controlling majority stake in.

The deal is just the latest move by the wireless carriers to improve their various spectrum positions. By realigning their spectrum holdings, the carriers can build a network with better coverage, and potentially, better service. The transaction also … Read more

Muve Music, a music service from Cricket Wireless that impressed us so much that it earned a Best of CES nomination last year, is coming to the Huawei Ascend II.

Muve Music lets you search through thousands of artists and albums available on major U.S. record labels. You can download an unlimited number of songs onto your device for playback, and you can make ringtones as well.

The service also includes a DJ feature that lets you listen to ready-made playlists organized by your favorite music genres, Shazam integration, and a social networking arm that let's you "… Read more

Cricket Wireless announced today that it has launched its first LTE market by initiating service in Tucson, Ariz.

The move marks the start of the carrier's transition from 3G CDMA to 4G LTE, a process that will take several years. According to a spokesman for Leap Wireless, Cricket's parent company, the LTE service now covers 90 percent of the Tucson market with additional expansion to Nogales, Ariz., scheduled for 2012.

Beginning today, the carrier will offer two options for LTE service. Though each plan delivers up to 5GB of data per month, people who pay $50 per month … Read more

Today, Cricket announced the immediate availability of the Samsung Comment, a QWERTY-equipped handset for messaging fiends.

The device features a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 1.3-megapixel camera, threaded text messaging, and stereo Bluetooth. In addition, the Comment also has a mobile Web browser, an MP3 player, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and comes preloaded with several carrier services, including Cricket Navigator and MyBackup.

The Samsung Comment costs $89.99, but Cricket does not require you to sign a contract. Plans start at $35 for unlimited talk and text and go up to $45 for unlimited talk, text (domestic and … Read more