Cricket drops 8Mbps speed cap and adds 5G access to all rate plans

[Shawn Knight]

Editor's take: If you’re looking for an alternative to one of the major wireless providers, MVNOs and pre-paid options like Cricket are certainly worth a look. You may end up making a few sacrifices in the features department, but many find it to be a worthy trade off considering how much money you could potentially save each month.

Cricket Wireless in celebration of its latest subscriber milestone has “tuned up” its rate plans, removing speed caps and adding 5G network access where applicable. Here’s everything you need to know.

From today, Cricket is adding 5G network access to all of its rate plans. Cricket, if you recall, is owned and operated by AT&T, so it’s really just a matter of flipping a few proverbial switches to bring Cricket customers over to AT&T’s 5G network.

Of course, you’ll need a 5G-compatible smartphone to tap into the speedier network. You can check out Cricket’s coverage map to see if 5G is available in your area.

Cricket is also doing away with its 8Mbps speed cap on its $30/mo., $40/mo. and $55/mo. plans. This is arguably the bigger news as Cricket’s 8Mbps cap has been on the slow side for years now.

Read also: The Best Smartphones of 2021

Cricket, which said it now has 12.4 million subscribers, was also quick to point out that those on its $60/mo. unlimited plan can access the ad-supported tier of HBO Max and are eligible for a free one-year Sam’s Club membership. Cricket customer can also get a free 12-month membership to Bark Jr Parental Controls and take advantage of a promo in the Acorns investing app.

Image credit Zz

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92000-cricket-drops-8mbps-speed-cap-adds-5g-access.html

 

[VaRmeNsI]

USA is so backwards, in Europe you can get uncapped 5G for less than $30.

 

[Toju Mikie]

I think 5G is really going to help solve the broadband crisis that the US is experiencing. 5G is finally spreading fast in 2021, and now a lot of people are able to get better mobile internet, oftentimes faster, with better uploads than what the cable company provides. I did a speed test near my area, and I was getting 607 Mbps down and 71 Mbps up on T-Mobile 5G versus the 200 down 10 up with Charter Spectrum. People are already dropping companies like Comcast and going with cheaper and faster 5G with no data caps. I'm about to make the switch myself once 5G home internet becomes available in my area. I'm also fine with using my phone as a hotspot, but that has limitations.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Neat, now if they would allow tethering on phones that are not cricket branded or iphones, like every other carrier.....

I think 5G is really going to help solve the broadband crisis that the US is experiencing. 5G is finally spreading fast in 2021, and now a lot of people are able to get better mobile internet, oftentimes faster, with better uploads than what the cable company provides. I did a speed test near my area, and I was getting 607 Mbps down and 71 Mbps up on T-Mobile 5G versus the 200 up 10 down with Charter Spectrum. People are already dropping companies like Comcast and going with cheaper and faster 5G with no data caps. I'm about to make the switch myself once 5G home internet becomes available in my area. I'm also fine with using my phone as a hotspot, but that has limitations.

That's great, until people start using it and speeds plummet.Every time 5G sees heavy use in an area speeds drop down to 3g tier (EG stadium use, dense areas).

The 5G used for residential are access isnt far off from 4g radios, and bandwidth and packet collisions will be an issue.

 

[psycros]

Neat, now if they would allow tethering on phones that are not cricket branded or iphones, like every other carrier.....

That's great, until people start using it and speeds plummet.Every time 5G sees heavy use in an area speeds drop down to 3g tier (EG stadium use, dense areas).

The 5G used for residential are access isnt far off from 4g radios, and bandwidth and packet collisions will be an issue.

The only people who really benefit from home 4g/5g Internet service are those stuck on the "last mile" without any other options. That's still almost 20% of the population in the US thanks to Big Telecom doing all it can to block competition even in areas it won't bring service to.

 

[hahahanoobs]

From 1MB/s to 5G?
What am I missing? Or is it gonna be 2MB/s on 5G?

 

[hahahanoobs]

I think 5G is really going to help solve the broadband crisis that the US is experiencing. 5G is finally spreading fast in 2021, and now a lot of people are able to get better mobile internet, oftentimes faster, with better uploads than what the cable company provides. I did a speed test near my area, and I was getting 607 Mbps down and 71 Mbps up on T-Mobile 5G versus the 200 down 10 up with Charter Spectrum. People are already dropping companies like Comcast and going with cheaper and faster 5G with no data caps. I'm about to make the switch myself once 5G home internet becomes available in my area. I'm also fine with using my phone as a hotspot, but that has limitations.

200mbps isn't enough for home users, and 5G is killing off traditional home internet.
Fascinating...

I'm more than good with 75/10 unlimited at home. I might even drop down to 50 to save money. 4G+ is more than enough on my phone.

 

[Toju Mikie]

200mbps isn't enough for home users, and 5G is killing off traditional home internet.
Fascinating...

I'm more than good with 75/10 unlimited at home. I might even drop down to 50 to save money. 4G+ is more than enough on my phone.

Cable companies like Charter Spectrum and Comcast are not expanding their service fast enough to compete with fiber providers and 5G networks. I mean they have some fiber, but seemingly not as much as AT&T and Verizon and don't seem to care about expanding their services and making them better at the moment.
People are really leaving cable internet to use 5G. People see that they can get faster internet for a cheaper price with no data caps, and no contract and no bundling required, and they switch.

These companies had a monopoly for far too long and got complacent (Verizon and AT&T will be fine though I think)

The 10Mbps upload speed is too slow for me. If I want to do a web chat or upload a file, it will take too long. I record 4K and 8K video from my phone and transfer other large files, and 10Mbps is trash for that to upload. The great thing about mid-band 5G spectrum is that I can literally upload a large transfer with 100Mbps upload speed directly from my phone, and go out and shop for groceries and by the time I get back to my car, the upload is done in only a few minutes, not hours uploading from the computer. It just saves a lot of time

 

[Toju Mikie]

Neat, now if they would allow tethering on phones that are not cricket branded or iphones, like every other carrier.....

That's great, until people start using it and speeds plummet.Every time 5G sees heavy use in an area speeds drop down to 3g tier (EG stadium use, dense areas).

The 5G used for residential are access isnt far off from 4g radios, and bandwidth and packet collisions will be an issue.

I haven't had any major issues with it and have even gamed on it with the only issue being an extra 10-15 ms ping than on wired home internet, but I'm not really in a dense area. I have been in the big city downtown near me (Atlanta) a few times recently, and it's even more stable and with faster speed (can reach 950Mbps). I really want 5G to continue to be successful and continue the rapid expansion and deployment that is happening, because it will really help with competition.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Cable companies like Charter Spectrum and Comcast are not expanding their service fast enough to compete with fiber providers and 5G networks. I mean they have some fiber, but seemingly not as much as AT&T and Verizon and don't seem to care about expanding their services and making them better at the moment.
People are really leaving cable internet to use 5G. People see that they can get faster internet for a cheaper price with no data caps, and no contract and no bundling required, and they switch.

These companies had a monopoly for far too long and got complacent (Verizon and AT&T will be fine though I think)

The 10Mbps upload speed is too slow for me. If I want to do a web chat or upload a file, it will take too long. I record 4K and 8K video from my phone and transfer other large files, and 10Mbps is trash for that to upload. The great thing about mid-band 5G spectrum is that I can literally upload a large transfer with 100Mbps upload speed directly from my phone, and go out and shop for groceries and by the time I get back to my car, the upload is done in only a few minutes, not hours uploading from the computer. It just saves a lot of time

None of that sounds like problems the average consumer would have.
If you're speaking for people that want more then sure. It just sounded like your original comment was a general one.