Just How Much is The iPhone Costing Cricket?

[Michael Essany]

Earlier today, MMi reported that Cricket will become the nation's first prepaid wireless carrier to offer the iPhone on June 22nd with an unlimited plan costing $55-per-month.

But with all the talk of Apple charging carrier partners a huge subsidy for the device, will the deal for Cricket be profitable? Analyst Brian Marshall of ISI Group believes that Leap - Cricket's parent company - will pay Apple a $150 subsidy per iPhone.

Traditional carriers are thought to be paying roughly $200 in subsidy expenses for every iPhone. So Cricket could make out like a bandit in the long run, assuming the value-driven carrier sells a lot of devices.

According to details published this morning, Cricket will sell the 16-GB iPhone 4S for $500 without a contract. The 8-GB iPhone 4 will cost $400. The unlimited $55 talk, text and data plan applies to both devices.

Preorders for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S from Cricket will begin June 15th.

Source: WSJ

[hank197857]

sign me up! ... if i don't buy a galaxy s3 first!

[TheExtra404]

i would go with this but the coverage here is pretty bad.i had a pretty decent cricket phone a year ago and half the places i went to i did not have coverage. Worst was the fact that anywhere near where i work there is no service at all.
Hopefully they upgrade the coverage then i can join in.

[spooneditr]

Do they need a sim card? Hmm wonder how good they are. Maybe I'd transfer over there!

[ZeRo-cOoL]

Unlimited data? Without any wildcard * ???

[blkcadi]

Do they need a sim card? Hmm wonder how good they are. Maybe I'd transfer over there!

I read that Cricket uses a cdma, so the phones should be like the Sprint/Verizon phones.

Unlimited data? Without any wildcard * ???

Yes, unlimited data in the $55 package.

[jaybeans821]

do we HAVE TO buy the phone from cricket or do you think we can use our own iphone ( thats assuming we have an unlocked iphone) hmmm iwonder???

[n0id]

Unlimited data? Without any wildcard * ???

im curious too, i'm about to check their sites terms & agreements.. always a catch like with h2o, unlimited data for like the first 2-3 months then, 5GB, 3GB, 1GB now.. i was abusing my hotspot and it violated their terms.. this is how they get you to drop your current carrier!

[jaybeans821]

do we HAVE TO buy the phone from cricket or do you think we can use our own iphone ( thats assuming we have an unlocked iphone) hmmm iwonder???

im going to answer my own question and say ....NO!!

i just found out that cricket is CDMA...and i already knew that att is gsm,,, i knew i should have went with verizon!!!...well maybe cricket will have a trade in program so i can trade them my iphone 4 for 200$ and ill credit it to the 4s and wind up paying 300$ out of pocket... would i do that? to go from 110$ a month to 55$ a month??? darn skippy i would!!! but theres also this...what would there unlimited data be before they started to throttle it?? i get 3gbs a month with att right now and i never cracked 2gbs yet so i probably wont have to worry, but i have friends that constantly hit 5gbs a month, and i dont know how they use that much more than me, cause i am constantly on my jailbroken phone downloading themes and what not...we will see!!!!

[Sammarkhin]

The iPhone 5 will be announced by then at the WWDC 2012 ... Who wants an iPhone 4or4s then ?

[ccoltmanm]

I could save over 400 dollars over 2 years doing this instead of my grandfathered plan with ATT and my iPhone 4. Theoretically of course.

However, who is to say that they are going to keep the unlimited thing for 2 years, or however long, without contract.

[n0id]

found it, on their site at the bottom "Terms and conditions of service">"DATA" last sentence "We reserve the right to deny or terminate service without notice for any misuse or any use that adversely affects network performance." so if you go over a little more than 2-3GB your service will be cut off til next bill cycle, so they have a cap their not telling.. I've been through the same BS with h2o. These prepaid companies need to stop advertising unlimited everything plans.

[jaybeans821]

The iPhone 5 will be announced by then at the WWDC 2012 ... Who wants an iPhone 4or4s then ?

im always 1 behind but this time i might be right on time for the upgrade a skip over the 4s..

[Mrteacup]

YAYAYAYAYY i am friends with the owner of cricket and am so excited they are getting it!!!!

[djrobstephens]

In the Bay Area, we have Metro PCS they have pretty good cover and they charge I believe 35 or 40 a month. Unlimited everything. There's no catch beside you need to pay when the due date comes or they cut your **** off. Cricket might be doing the same thing.

[docmagoo2]

YAYAYAYAYY i am friends with the owner of cricket and am so excited they are getting it!!!!

Who is that? And I hope you're getting an iPhone for nothing!

[bstunt10190]

where can i find the real world data speeds for these new iDevice adopting companies (e.g. Cricket, metro pcs etc etc). I want to know if the monthly bills is worth the speeds I will actually get.

[cmwade77]

Umm....at $55 per month, over 24 months (average), the cost will be $1,320 per user, this more than pays for the subsidy. Your total cost, including the 16GB iPhone 4S would be $1,819

Now, if you use Straight Talk at $45 per month, over 24 months, the service would be $1,080 and purchase even a phone locked to AT&T (they offer compatible SIM cards) at $499 (average cost) plus the $15 charge for a SIM card, you can come out ahead of the game with a total cost of: $1,594.

Ok, so Straight Talk doesn't officially offer the iPhone; however, you can bring one with you and they are easy enough to find.

[oneduality]

I read that Cricket uses a cdma, so the phones should be like the Sprint/Verizon phones.



Yes, unlimited data in the $55 package.

The previous article said that data was capped at something like 2gb .. you sure about this?

[Lohand]

Anyone know who their national backbone network provider is? (T-Mo, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon)?