unlimited. Yes, that’s meant for you, Verizon, you of the “we say unlimited, but we really mean 5 GB.” Now that that’s settled and others in the industry are considering data caps, a perfect opportunity is presented to Cricket: Truly unlimited data. And that’s what they’re doing with their mobile broadband laptop cards.
“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.This is on the EVDO Rev 0 network, so it’s not quite as fast as Verizon’s mobile broadband. However, what it lacks in speed it makes up for with peace of mind. No longer will you have to keep some foggy mental record of your Internet usage, as to avoid some 5 GB cap. I still can’t decide what the best part is: The unlimitedness, or the price? It’s just $35 a month. Unfortunately, it’s only available in a few regions: Nashville, Spokane, Central Valley of California, Santa Fe/Albuquerque New Mexico, and Portland Oregon, with Tulsa Oklahoma coming soon. It’s a damn shame that Leap didn’t win any spectrum in the 700 MHz auction. That could have helped this mobile broadband initiative a bit. [Gearlog]]]>
Posted in Cricket
..correction joe. ya cricket is cool for offering prepaid broadband on laptop cards (finally) but they do still have that 5GB cap:
“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.”
check it out for yourself: http://www.mycricket.com/cricketplans/details/broadband
(p.s.- alltel is the best prepaid company even over boost, metro, etc. for cost sake. for $20 a month i get unlimited nights/weekends and unlimited text with the option of unlimited mobile to mobile and to add any number to call unlimited all day and night and every day you can switch the number. all the features/benefits of a contract on prepaid..)
I got mine two days ago, and the service is horendous in Colorado Springs. I have posted some screen shots of traceroutes to popular sites. Google, Progressive.
Last night it was taking minutes(no exageration) to load a web page. I am getting 600ms times on a new server that was low usage for world of warcraft. My godaddy mail after 6 minutes still did not return. I tried it on a mac, a vista machine. In my hours, where I had three green bars. I also tried it on the south side of town, where I had full bars. I emailed level3’s customer support. It appears they are the provider for Cricket. It was 17 hops just to get to Google. I use to own an ISP, and I have never seen response times this bad or traceroutes that looked so off for sits on the backbone. I will be posting more pictures http://wer2chosen.blogspot.com
cricket is the worse company to do business with, their services are always minimum speeds and tech support/customer support is aweful. They are the biggest scamming/lying company on the planet. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMANY!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
cricket broadband is horrible and no good for halo 3 online, downloading takes and awfully long time. jorge
Cricket doesn’t need to have a cap. It takes 30 days to down load 5 gb of data because its so slow. 2 months now with their service and I don’t think I will be sticking around for 3. The “HIGH SPEED” comes in spikes. Most of the time the Dowload rate is less the 10kbps. Thats a 1/5 of dial up! WORTHLESS SERVICE!
I think people are forgetting what this service is really for… WoW & Halo 3? The ability to download e-mail or remote into a work network would be better tests for a cellular network. 10kbps I can live with, as someone who actually used dialup would tell you that you were lucky to max out at 5kbps.
Wow. Cricket sucks. FOR REAL. I did research, but unfortunately, I didn’t see this page before signing up for their service. And I made the mistake of believing the part of their Web site that said it was compatible with Macs. Granted, I am online right now with cricket service, but though it is incredibly slow here in northern colorado springs, that is the least of my frustrations.
it all began when I tried doing the “easy install”…let’s just say that hours later, I finally called customer service and found out that though the install disc said it worked on a mac, I would have to go download the software to install in on my mac because what was included on the disc wouldn’t work after all. For pete sake, if I already had the ability to just go download the software off the internet, I wouldn’t have signed up for cricket in the first place.
Now, I finally have it working…and tried to go set up my account online, and again after hours of trying to make things work and talking with clueless CSRs on the phone, they finally told me that they don’t have the technology to allow mac users to have accounts and passwords online. Are you kidding me? Utterly ridiculous, especially when they want all business for my account handled online. Oh sure, they said they’d be happy to send me a bill in the mail, but I’d be charged $2 each month. I realize it’s a measly $2, but it’s the principle of the matter.
Unless they get their head in gear and start providing the actual service they claim to for macs, someone needs to step on this cricket.
This service is great if you don’t like being able to download or surf the web. It’s great if you enjoy paying for horrible service and slow downloads. I hate this service. I’d rather pay for a 28.8 modem service than this. Doesn’t work during hours of 9am to 9pm on weekdays. Often comes up with cannot display screens.
Customer service is awful, and they hosed me on the $140 rebate. I hate Cricket. I have no choice to use this for a little bit, but when I get the chance I will switch to another company. SCREW CRICKET!
it moves slow and cut off when i be on the computer and very hard to watch movies during evening hours why is that can someone tell other service to use
CRICKET IS A BUNCH OF THIEVES!!!
Had this piece of junk for 3 weeks, told I could get a full refund if I cancel under 30 days if not satisfied. Not told of any “cap” and that I was in an excellent signal area. Couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Ridiculously slow, almost dial-up half the time. Pages would close on their own. Connection would drop suddenly. Instructions specified you MUST click “remove hardware safely” icon in system tray prior to unplugging unit. Icon never appeared. Time to call support already.
Knew I was in trouble when tech answered and spoke in some middle eastern accent that was gibberish to me. Explained my situation. Lo-o-o-ng periods of silence while she was looking up an explanation. Repeatedly told I had to go to “Dacumas”…Where? Who? What the……? Do you mean ‘Documents’? There are no settings in documents! Enunciate clearly please! Asked to speak to someone I could understand and knew what they were doing. Hung up on me!
Final straw…camel’s back broken…
Called today to cancel the account, well within the 30 days. Was told there would be money deducted if over a certain amount of minutes used. Hidden fee.
Confirmation email then informed me there would be a $35 restocking fee, never told about that at sign up. Full refund my butt. Another hidden fee. Anymore surprises Cricket?
Thought it was a good time to save a couple of bucks, and tried these morons after my Millenicom (Sprint) card went dead due to some contract problem. Which bummed me out. Millenicom is a 100% USA based business, techs that speak clear and precise English, great speed connections. Lesson learned! Went back to Millenicom.com and now have a Verizon based unit that is 3 to 4 times faster than Cricket. True you get what you pay for.
MORAL: LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE AND DO NOT GO CRICKET!!!
NEXT STOP-BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU
Cricket Broadband does work with Macs. to download the software, just go to http://www.mycricket.com. then go to phones, then go to the broadband card. and follow instructions
Well, I’ve had Cricket Broadband here in Denver for almost 3 months now and needless to say, it’s a bunch of crap. I think I could send smoke signals faster than 10 kb/s. Come this Monday, my broadband service with Verizon will start. A little more expensive to be sure but at least I’ll have my sanity.
Wow. I was thinking about getting Cricket today, because of the price (why else?).
After reading these reviews, I will not. Thanks to all who took the time to tell their story; you prevented me from going through what you went through-sounds like a very infuriating experience.
It’s too bad that companies get to keep lying to people and making profits, and the true stories about the service are not given a louder voice.
Cricket’s website makes it seem like it’s downright superior to all other ISP’s, and leaves one with very little doubt.
But I had to ask myself-why does Cricket-a bottom of the barrel company charge $40, when Verizon charges $60?
That was a good question, and I found out why here. Thank you.
Cricket preys on the most financially unstable people in the country.
People tell me I shouldn’t use wireless signals-that I’m “stealing internet”
Well, seems like if I don’t steal internet, then internet steals from me.
I have cricket and it works great. I don’t know what city you people are from but in St.Louis it works fine. It plays video fine and is fast. No problems at all.
You guys are crazy. I just purchased the cricket broadband modem today and it’s working JUST FINE (i’m in Kenosha, Wi). I haven’t tried to download any applications or music yet, but so far just surfing the internet it’s working just as fast as when i had my cable modem! I did have to tape it up towards the ceiling a little bit maintian a 3/4 bar signal, but that’s just fine with me. I discontinued all services with Time Warner Cable my bill was getting out of control every month. At least i’ll know exactily how to manage my bills more easily every month without any surprises!
i dont think i have ever had a worse connection i also called cricket for a refund they tgold me they dont give refunds so in so many words im screwed this thing is almost as slow as dial up
I was considering purchasing Cricket Broadband…but thank goodness I came across this. I have verizon and trust me when I tell you this. Yes they charge $60 a month, but once you go over 5GB’s your looking at $200-$400 extra a month. This has happen to me 3 x’s now. I’d rather pay an early termination fee instead of coming out of pocket like that!
This is interesting… I probably should have come here before buying it.
So far it seems ok. In certain areas I can get 1mbps. At home I get 750kbps. That is not to be confused with BYTES however. The old bits-per-second measurement is kept around for advertising purposes. The real speed for me is between 90 and 100 kilobytes per second.
This is why “56k” dialup users only got 5 kilobyte per second downloads.
So when other high speed services claim 8meg, they mean 8mbps, AKA 1 megabyte per second downloads.
Back on subject, the software is my main complaint. I havn’t updated it yet, but what was given to me on the CD doesn’t work entirely right. It’ll keep detecting and loosing the device, graying out the connect button over and over. You’ll have to click Connect when it becomes green and hide the error message window when it comes up.
After that you’re connected.
The software problem I had was because QuickLink doesn’t play nice with NetLimiter Pro. Everyone else should be fine I guess.
You have to watch them. I purchased a braodband from Cricket and I could not get it to work. I called their “Customer Svc/Tech Support” and it was anything but. I was told to wait 48 to 72 hours for a Level 2 tech to call back,that past uninstalling and re-installing, she could not help me. (this by the way, leaves you with having to forfeit your $27.50 activation fee” for not returning the same day. I purchased on a Sat. afternoon and the Level 2 Tech called back on Monday evening. He was no help either—-uninstall, reinstall, ? version of Windows, do you have Svc pack 2—–same stuff I had already been through. I ask if it’s a port setting, answer-doubt it. I turned Norton Anti-virus, and my firewall, off—still same problem. I was advised to return to the same store where purchased—went through all the same steps at the store with their people onsite……….still no luck. It would get to the part of the installation where you have to plug in the broadband device, and the computer would see the new hardware but never let you finish. After 45 min. of this I was instructed to possibly visit one of their corporate stores. I refused at this point and asked for a refund. They actually tried to keep the 27.50 for the activation and told me it was policy. At this point you have to be very persistent about a “full” refund. The store manager did not want to do this. I insisted we call his boss and after much discussion he had one of the girls do this. They put me on the phone with him and we went through a whole checklist of how to install and my version of Windows. He wanted to know if I had a Wireless phone through Crickett. Which, I am happy to say, two years ago I had, had enough of their bad service and moved on. Then at this point he tried to sound like he was doing me a favor by refunding the Activation fee. I told him I could see if the service worked and I had been using it for a couple of days but, it Never worked. Add to this, their support tech instructed me to wait 48 to 72 hours for another tech to help resolve the issues. The long and short of the story is there customer service policies and general practices are sub standard and deceptive at best. Add to this their spotty service area (I live in the Houston, Tx area). It’s really not worth the hassle. Being persistent, I did finally get a full refund. And, I will not use them again.
Hi again, it’s been a couple days now and I think I got the hang of it. In the manual it says to use “Safely Remove Hardware” before unplugging the modem. If it were there, this would be what you would use to prevent the detection problem I was having.
Unfortunately, it’s not there. For those who do not see the device listed, Go to the Quicklink window and click on Options, Power Off WWAN Device, before unplugging. This will allow you to plug it and unplug as many times as you want to without causing problems or needing to restart or log out and in.
NetLimiter works fine with it, and in fact I recommend it for managing your bandwidth usage… to hopefully prevent Cricket from disabling your account (read the terms of service!!)
Sorry to hear about everyone elses troubles. I actually got Cricket internet because my neighbor was fed up with Comcast and I had my own troubles with them. All along, they have been a decent cell phone carrier for me, so I figured getting their modem might be a good idea. I still think its ok, certainly not the greatest, but the alternatives aren’t too great. I don’t want the Comcast cable guys coming into my home and installing software on my computer, asking if I have more than one TV or pushing “home networking”
Anyway, good luck everyone!
Wow, this service is horrible. I wish I had found this website before I purchased the service a few hours ago. When I connected to the internet, I only had one signal bar and it constantly would kick me off every minute or two. It’s funny because the Cricket coverage area map clearly covers where I live. The few minutes it would stay connected did not impress me. The speed was slow. Not what I expected from a broadband modem. I called customer service, HORRIBLE, do not waste your time calling. All they do is give you the run around. I’m returning this garbage tomorrow. I know I won’t get a full refund but I’ll take my losses. This is not worth $40 a month. I’d rather use dial up.
Boy, am I glad I read the web-page. I almost fell in the dungeon with, it sounds like, a whole bunch of other people. I have their phone service which is ok as long as you don’t need to contact customer service. Like many have stated they have no clue as to whats going on and if you are lucky enough to find someone that does you can’t understand them. Anyone that does not need Cricket due to credit problems you will save your sanity by going else where.
I have had this broadband service for 3 months and can’t get the damned thing to stay connected for more than a few minutes before it just kicks me off. sometimes within seconds of reconnecting. CUSTOMER SERVICE IS BEYOND ATROCIOUS. E-mail cust. serv. and they said to call. When I called the guy said to call him back when it was doing it again. I told him it was randon so he’d have to wait on the line with me. HE WOULDN’T!! And told me to call back yet again. To what end? So he could say “It just cut off on you? well it’s too late now. you should be able to predict when it will disconnect and be on the phone with me at THAT time so I will still be unable to help”. Uninstall/re doesn’t help. Full signal. No one will help me. I wish I knew who to contact.
I’ve had the service for a week and it works fine for me. I’am in the Nashville area and my signal is 100% all the time but Iam also downtown. In fact I can put the modem in my desk drawer and still have 100% signal? I think it really depends on the area. But the 5g thing is confusing think I will cap it before the month ends and see what they limit it to. Cricket is shady though.
I just started service with Cricket n the Pittsburgh area. No issues to speak of other than only seeing a max of 3 bars (75%)signal strength at home. I went to speedtest.net and averaged about 550 kbs down and 120 up but the latency is terrible with the ping rate in the 300 to 500 ms range. It is not cable but a decant solution for what I need to do with a mobile connection.
I only need wireless connection for 6 months for a job I’m working. I wold have preferred Verizon but the up front fees for month to month or ETF on a contract is costly so I thought I would give Cricket a try. I’ll post back in a few weeks to let you know how things are going.
Ok, well too bad because I just bought the Cricket broadband modem yesterday and it was working good as soon as the guy installed it and everything so i was all excited because i was finally gonna have fast internet!! lol.. yeah then i came home and connected and only got two freakin bars and was super slow!! even when i was on myspace it was taking forever to load my home page! THAT’S HOW SLOW IT IS!! I AM GOING TO RETURN THIS CRAPOLA TOMORROW!! lol.. SO ANYONE OF THINKING OF BUYING THE BROADBAND MODEM!? DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS!! it is not worth 45 bucks a month!! It is super slow.. maybe for like 5 min. it will be fast and all..and you can’t even watch videos on youtube because it takes forever to download.. ok.. well i don’t know about the phone service but the internet sucks! and i also tried calling customer service.. and then they told me to call to some number, and then they told me to call another, and so on, and then they just leave you on hold! all their doing is stealing your money!!! ok well if anyone can refer me to a better internet modem or broadband i can buy and that works feel free to email me at starzy10dc@yahoo.com
i am in need of internet for college! someone help!
No interface with the Cricket Broadband and Vonage service. Good signal on my desktop, but very, very slow. Service is cut off numberous times per hour. Videos, like news clips, start and stop muliple times making viewing very hard to do. 100 Kpms seems to be the standard when running. I needed internet in move to new house quickly. I am paying the price for impatience.
Good for casual user, would not recommend for anyone on the net one or more hours per day.
Cricket broadband here in houston,is the slowest service I ever wasted my money on,never thought anything could be slower than dialup til now.forget ever watching any video online,lucky if web page loads up enough to check email
I like cricket i’m in st.louis and i use it in illinois and the service is just a bit slower than dsl.the only problem i have is i can’t access my on-line banking from cricket for some reason. that’s the only reason i may switch
Thank God! I was just on live chat with an agent and she couldn’t give me any stats. I live in the Phoenix area and the couple reports i heard were good but scetchy. does anyone have it in the Phoenix areA? I love their phone service cause i talk alot but other services were well but not if u talk alot like me
Ok,I am going to have to jump in here…
I just got Cricket today & it gave me a lot of trouble,the guy said to bring the modem and my computer to his store tomorrow and he will set it up for me.
I tried it on an old Dell desktop I have,windows xp,but needed to connect to the internet to update everything.
it detected and ran the setup software,but then disapperaed because like i said,i just wanted to make sure the modem was okay,which it is.
I then ran it on my laptop computer,it detected the modem,but did not show up in My Computer.
There probably was another way to turn that back on,but i just did a complete system restore,re-ran the setup again..it works like a charm.
Just make sure the computer actually SEES the modem in My Computer,or you’re screwed. Then,after the computer detects the modem,all you have to do is run the setup program,reboot,and you should be fine. make sure your computer is new or updated enough to support this.
Any1 needs any help,please email me at noreneol@juno.com.
Signed up last week. So far working great. Fast enough that I can’t tell it’s wireless.
like the fact no contract and first month is free, so they basically cover the modem costs.
You tube is a bit slow, but acceptable.
I’m in Chicagoland area so my signal might be stronger than some people in the fringe coverage areas.
So I bought this service a few days ago and it’s actually pretty decent. I was paying 10 dollars a month for my previous dialup service plus another 70, (yes 70 dollars) for the home phone line I used the dialup for. It’s only slightly faster than dialup in my room, but a lot faster when I move my laptop to my living room, plus 40 a month was better than the stupid 70 I was paying for slower service.
The download/upload rate is good, ping is horrible but still workable.
I would recommend this only for the casual internet user though.
Anyone tried this in Kansas City?
Just bought the A600 Cricket Mobile Broadband USB card here in Overland Park, KS (Kansas City) and it works great for what it was made for. I typically get 80 – 110 KBps and it was an easy install on all 5 of my computers. (Windows 7 beta( build 7000.xxx), WinXP SP3, Windows Vista 32bit & 64bit(sp1), Windows Media Center SP (sp3). Admittedly I am an expert user, but I did not experience anything during install on any of my machines that would require any more knowledge than a basic user would posess. My only problem with Cricket was that they included an Extended Warranty ($4.95/mo) without my knowledge or approval, and they also included a printed bill to my home address for another 55 cents per month. I called up Cricket customer service and talked to a barely intelligible person (most likely in India somewhere) and had both charges removed and refunded immmediatley. My monthly bill will now be $40 even. Other than that, I am very satisfied with the service so far.
my husband works for antenna towers that provide the signal for cell phones, etc.. and they cover t-mobile, verizon, sprint, and they started with cricket last year, he said that cricket spent the least amount in their products (antenna wise) and that sprint is putting extra effort to improve signal. I dont have cricket but was considering it, from reading your reviews it seems that you all are not satisfied, which makes me think twice, and knowing that they put so little effort and money into their investments versus the other companies out there it really comes down to if you want good service you have to be willing to pay more money for it.
wow. great! I was about this close to getting one.I think I will stick with sprint aircard.
Cricket has instituted a 5GB soft cap since this thread began. 100 meg files that took 20 minutes to download now take between 2 and 3 hours. For the sake of truth in advertising Cricket should adopt a new slogan.
Cricket – Dialup speed at broadband prices.
Cricket – Where “unlimited” really means “limited-to-5-gigs-of-total-transfer-per-month-and-then-we-put-the-brakes-on-for-no-reason-whatsoever-other-than-“we can”-because-we-want-to-be-total-dicks-to-our-customers.”
…to all of the cricket broadband card owners out there…I keep hearing the same thing about a “connection” problem and I have to admit I had one too, however, if you have the newer A600 broadband card…this is what you must do…go to the menu board click on options then preferences then wwan place a check mark in the ncis box…this allows your computer to stay connected always until you log off.
I have to say that the stories here are alarming but I have never had any major issues with my Cricket and I have had it for several months now. Of course, I am not a big time gamer and I don’t download huge amounts of data, but for surfing, e-mail and music it seems to work just fine. The only complaint I really have is that when the network is really busy, I have been kicked off a time or two. No biggie, I just reconnect and keep going. I live in the Albuquerque area and connection strength is just wonderful. I do wish that the coverage areas would expand. I do spend some time traveling and it would be nice to have in the outlying areas.
wow, if i’d seen all of these comments i prob wouldn’t have gotten the broadband. but, it’s been strong connections, stays connected, set up was fast (Mac). HOWEVER: i have no icon/link/ANYthing that helps me power off the device to remove it. guy at store helpful but could only give me 800#. first “customer service” was kind of an asshole; she insisted all i could do was shut the entire computer down to remove it, then hung up on me! next call: nice guy; also says unless i find Mac has a “remove hardware” thing (he knows not Mac) that i must shut down to remove. well, that’s just stupid. but since it’s all we can get here in farmland CO, & we aren’t always here, i suppose it’ll do for now….
* anyone know how to easily get Mac to allow me to just remove modem while keeping computer on?? thanks
Cricket is without doubt a 100% ripoff company. Right now I’m on hold (10 minutes and counting) trying to find out why they are still billing me after I already canceled. The Internet service was incredibly slow. They DO NOT want you to call them so their number isn’t listed ANYWHERE. This is a company that shouldn’t exist…
Has anyone tried Cricket’s wireless broadband in the Memphis/Bartlett, TN area?
the fact you guys are ready to form a lynch mob on cricket and storm the gates is a good indication that i should stay away..i was thinking of getting this cause my bundle package of phone,internet and cable bill was getting out of control. specially if you miss one payment.so i decided to cut cost and go to cricket.i had a cricket phone 2yrs ago it was decent but i just decided to pay 10-20$ more a month with sprint to get a phone that had better features. I figured that with in 2yrs that service would get better especially with the broadcom..i think ill just either get my time warner cut back on or just pay 50$ for sprint broadcom..
thanks for the head up and steering me clear of Cricket !
Austin, Texas area.
Worst than dial-up!
Big rip off!!!
Cricket Broadband sucks. It’s slower than dialup and the service is totally rotten – if you get service at all. Don’t be gypped. Also, their modem is way overprices and the base phone you have to buy to get the service, stinks for the high price, too. They stink. They rot. I hate Cricket Broadband
cricket is horrible. mine keeps saying connection interrupted. Shit half the time im using a unsecured wireless signal from someone else. i talked to a tech and after taking me thru countless steps she ended up making my issue worse. she said someone would come out to check some tower issue but no has come. and my bill has not been credited like she said. i am upset to say the least…
I was thinking of getting this for my son so that he could go to high school online. I think I will go another route. This will not be just for fun but a required part of education. This sounds like such a hassle and waste of money!
I don’t understand why so many people are so down on this service!
I got it today and I am very pleased with the results. I am not getting dropping signals or any of the problems mentioned. I have to admit I didn’t know about the 5gb ‘cap’.
The manager at a Cricket store told me their support is located in India so he said ALWAYS ask for a supervisor as these people are sharp and can actually help you!
My speeds are running about 230-260 KBPS and it is a solid connection. Also, they came out with a new device so after the rebates the ‘old’ unit is free!
To Jim Mooney,
You had to buy one of their phones to get the service? That’s funny,because I didn’t,just got the modem and that’s it.
So far I am satisfied with this service,it fucks up sometimes but I can deal with it. In fact I’m thinking of switching my plan to include a phone from them,having to pay 40 bux a month plus another 30 seperate from the phone I have now is just too much.
N.Y.
I am having trouble with video on my desktop at home but when i try the card on my desktop at work it’s just as fast as my ethernet connetion with only two bars showing. I connected my work laptop and again having horrible download speeds. I’m searching the net for a configuring solution. Can’t hang cricket just yet.
I just purchased a modem, but after hearing all of this, I pretty sure that mine will work fine. I seem that people in certain areas have problems. And most of the people that have left comments, have nothing but positive things to say. So heres hoping that it works and is worth what I paid for!!
I now have the modem and it is working perfectly fine for me. I still think that there are certain areas that are affected by slow speeds. I love it so far!! CRICKET ROCKS
LJ from Tennessee
wow having some contract problems with sprint broadband card right now but i must say is amazingly fast. from the reviews i just read imma try to patch my shit up with sprint as quick as possible. i mean really for the price you got to know somethins up there sleves. i would just like to thank the people for the reviews posted and pulling the blanket off this crap broadband scam.
It arrived and never worked with my Dell XPS even though I met all the tech requirements and was in the right platform for Vista with Sp1 – needless to say, it does not work at all – cannot install. Any thoughts? They will not reimburse me my activation fee thus far but I am pursuing consumer fraud and other avenues. CRICKET SUCKS and I would NEVER recommend them to anyone because their customer service is nonexistent and tech support? HA! What a joke!
I’m planning to go with Cricket. Right now I’m using free, public Wi-Fi that happens to be near my area, but it comes and goes. As long as Cricket works, I’ll probably be okay, understanding that I’ll be using it when I can’t get internet otherwise.
It’s true that Cricket preys on poor people (like myself!), but I’m just thankful they’re out there. And yes, it does appear to depend on where you’re from. I have family in Idaho that uses Cricket phones, and they get coverage everywhere. My T-Mobile sucks!
Do not use this service until you check for service in your area. I bought this phone for my daughter and she has no service in her home at all and Cricket will not refund your money if you cannot use the phone.
Big ripoff.
If you’re thinking of getting Cricket broadband listen to this first: I am right now trying to watch a video on you tube that’s 3 minutes long – it’s been buffering for about 45 minutes now. Yeah. 45 minutes to watch a 3 minute video. While it doesn’t always do that, there’s a much better chance that you’ll have to wait at least 20 minutes to watch a clip on you tube than not. Also beware of the rebate offers.. I did get mine eventually but they made me jump through hoops to do it.. I think they do it on purpose so you’ll just give up and decide you don’t need the 50 bucks. I sent in all the paperwork, bar codes, etc that they said was required.. about 4 weeks later they sent me a letter saying they could not find the account # anywhere on the forms. ???? they’re your own damn forms with the account # clearly stated on them. They said I had 3 days to re-submit the info or the offer would be void. It’s a scam, pure and simple. I’ve read other rebate horror stories from others who have dealt with Cricket.
Do yourself a favor and pay a little extra so you can actually use the internet when you pay for it.
If you call Techincal support a rep. will explain to you that cricket wireless allows 5gb per month at a high speed mode. Even though it is unlimited it is not as fast after you use all of your 5gb. I asked if they had a better plan and he advised me that you can purchase a 10gb for $60.00 a month. Tech support is 1800-274-2538. Also there is no contract or any terms & conditions so this info is nver relayed at the time of purchase. Hope this helps you out
Cricket Broadband is a joke! I got it to help in a job hunt, spending money I didn’t have on it. Funny thing is that on any entertainment site or video, it will eventually load in given time to buffer, BUT anytime I need to use a job search or email(even webmail) utility, it WILL NOT WORK. This seems to be a large lack of RESPECT for their customers. Customer service is ATROCIOUS and I have been regularly hung up on for something as simple as changing my address. DONT DO IT!!!
Just wanted to put in my 2 cents and you can keep the change. I have been with cricket for 5 years now. I did this because I got tired of continuing to reload a pre paid and getting taken by contract wireless dealers.I recently tryed the broadband because they advertised it being on the 3G tip. I was really disapointed when the old wireless card was faster than the 3G. You have to realize that these cards run off a dial up system which your broadband speeds are no better than your dial up. I’m a videographer and run an internet business so I’m on the go alot. This card doesn’t work for me. I recently got on with clear wireless and my God what a difference it made. Fast uploads and download speeds that make me very happy. I will continue to use cricket for my moble phone cause I communicate alot but use wisdom and do your research before you just buy what sounds good on a TV or internet advertisement. By the way Clear wireless customer service is A1. Cheers
Cricket broadband basically sucks.
10 % of the time, it doesn’t work- at all.
60 % of the time, it is WAY slower than dial up (like, 5-10 k BITs per second- not BYTES).
20% of the time it is a little faster than dial up (50-150k BITS)
10% of the time, it is 20% as good as a cable modem.
The problem is, it switches by the second- and during high call times (like evenings), it won’t even log on.
It’s cheaper than 20c/minute at Kinkos, but that’s not saying much.
CRICKET IS HORRIBLE….
I have their phone service and internet service. Lets start with the phone service I have the top of the line EVOKE the touchscreen phone which was $300 I should have gotten the IPHONE but anywho everyone I talk to cant hear me when Im talking I have to repeat mtself over and over and over very loud people around me looking at me like I am crazy. Oh and customer service is the worst and did you know they chearge you $2 on your bill everytime you have to talk to a customer service rep live. And half the time when you talk to them you dont get anything done because they are not from the USA and dont know what the hell they are talking about. Now for my broadband card pages never load or are very slow to load( 10 minutes or more). It just disconnect for no reason. Pages close for no reasons. Links dosent work. Its so horrible Im in Washington,DC.
Oh yea and I suppose to got a rebate from them from my broadband card and it never came
You don’t get a TOS until you purchase the service. They lie at the the store straight to your face. I asked if there was a limit of any kind and they said no, the ads said no limits. After installing the modem the TOS comes up and the you see the limit. This is illegal and has been prosecuted with Verizon in New York. Verizon had to pay one million in damages to 13,000 users for saying unlimited and having a 5gb cap. Just a matter of who will pick up the case at this point. The sad thing is Cricket wants and is getting Federal stimulus grants to pawn this garbage off on the poor as a cheap connection option. DSL is $19.99 truly no real limit and Cricket slow band $40.00 a month with cap. Where would our tax dollars be better spent? Corporate creeps are destroying this nation. No better than common criminals really. Stay away from Cricket unless you want to pay $45.00 a month for three days of 200kb and 28 days of slower than dial up. The full service does not even reach federal rules for broadband speeds. How they can lie like this both for broadband and unlimited is a joke. Cricket is breaking the law. Criminals. I will file with my DA for fraud charges. That should get some notice.
Oh boy…slower than dial up, sudden disconnects…It works okay at radom sporadic times, (just not when you are depending on it.) I’ve been plugging along super slowly for several months. I thought I was saving money but, this slower than dial up is insane. Time to ditch it. Now I realize that the billing is going to be a bear to cancel as well d/t customer service. Sigh, you DO get what you pay for or rather you do not get what you do not pay for, they are selling hype and we are buying it.
I have had cricket phone service for about 6 years now. They have cheap plans but awful service. I am looking at going with page plus cellular since they run on verizon towers for the same unlimited price that I am paying now! as for cricket broadband,I am staying away from that mess. Don’t have money to waste. I would advise anyone thinking of purchasing this to steer clear of it.
Very glad to see your reviews! I’m in McAllen, Tx. Wanted a back-up for my flaky AT&T DSL service, which I use for distant education classes at college … which goes out in wet weather. Mobility was also appealing. Had the service for 3 months. I would *never* risk taking a test online with it. I get about 75000 to 95000 “average RX rate,” which varies with time of day. And some simple web pages — like Yahoo comics — just load agonizingly slow. Before next semester I’ll move to Time Warner Cable. Cricket wideband is definitely not worth $42/month. Cricket-Can-Stick-It!
Thanks for saving me from a disaster!
Thanks for the comments- I was seriously thinking of getting the broadband- but- I am very impatient & would go crazy waiting for something slower than dial up- dial up is for dinosaurs- let it die!!
Being in Washington DC an just recently getting with Cricket, I’ have to say Im a bit dissapointed in the signal with the cellphone service, but that’s expected; it’s a company based around the notion of cheaper prices.
Sure, you get what you pay for. The service is not horrendous as some people claim it to be. It’s not as fast and reliable as Verizon or AT&T or other leading companies in the country, but it’s not nearly half the price for the same features as theirs either.
People who want to pay cheap for something yet complain when it isn’t as comparable to the ‘top’ companies need to…stop being so cheap with it and just go to those other companies.
I have the wireless modem and in my location, it works perfectly fine. Perfect signal as long as I am not in the basement and I can browse pages and load videos within seconds.
Check the signals of the service with the company if you want to be safe, but don’t diss the entire thing because it’s not working out for you. People tend to be a bit too overcritical and forget what the purpose of these things were for in the first place…
A cheaper service for standard unlimited calls/text/broadband(5 GB as most anyways)…not a cheap service for downloading movies all day long and music while performing ur web show and playing video games on ur ps3
Cricket in NJ is very slow. Even have to keep restarting it over and over again if using it during the day. Now if I want to be on it in the middle if th night it is ok. Except for downloads, really slow, takes over an hour to download some programs over 3 hours for others. Guess I’ll try verizon.
I just wanted to leave the REAL phone number for Cricket Corporate Offices. The broadband is horrible, anyways I’m not dealing with anyone from the 611 number…go to the top!!1-858-882-6000
Ask for the escalations department, file a complaint with them, and then the BBB. I’ve had it for two weeks, and its a nightmare.
Im in baltimore. The store rep took 45 minutes to install the software….that should have been my first sign that something wasn’t right. The modem works half the time, logs off, ect. Its very fragile and can easily be broken ( I have a rambunctous 8 year old) sigh. I am going to look into other options.
My Cricket broadband USB modem works great in the DC area. We have two MacBooks and a PC tied in to the Web through it using an ad hoc network with little degradation for IM, browsing and email.
I’ve also used it to view programs and movies on Hulu with little degradation or pausing for downloads of the signal. It’s not as high speed as cable or DSL but for remote uses (like in our RV) it can’t be beat at the price offered.
Cricket Broadband is a Scam. They falsely advertise unlimited monthly service. After a few days of regular internet use–a few hours a day at most–my service was cut because I apparently went over a monthly usage “cap.” The internet was unusable as no pages would upload, but they claimed that since the modem reported a connection, I still “technically” had internet access. To actually use the internet, I would have had to pay them a series of additional fees. Avoid the scam.
I’m taking an internet class is it worth getting cricket broadband?????
Beverly, I just broke down and got Cricket broadband for that exact purpose. DO NOT DO IT!!!!!!! I have had mine less than one week and have already reached the maximum download cap. I am seriously furious with Cricket and their lying ways and I guarantee you they will try and screw me out of a refund when I take this piece of crap back! I have spent hours today trying to find an expensive comparable service…try Qwest they have a “fair” deal going but no great deal for us starving students!
Signed… Just another Cricket Hater
I have used Cricket phone service for years and like the phone, but not so much the costumer service. Anyway, I wanted to get a cheaper internet option, so I bought the broadband internet. I most have gone over my limit because it keeps cutting me off and is very slow. I am currently looking into getting my DSL back. What is the point of having internet if you cannot watch Youtube or Netflix.
Cricket it THE WORST service in the world. I suggest anyone that has Cricket Broadband call and get a FULL REFUND from the first day you paid. I am in Salt Lake City and I should get at least 700k speeds. I get 25k to 80k. THAT IS TERRIBLE. Cricket Broadband sucks. I hate Cricket Broadband. I will never use Cricket again for anything. When I try to call the local store, or the local corporate store, they NEVER answer and when I go there and ask why they don’t answer thay say they are too busy to get the phones. I intend to go to the corporate office in SLC on Monday and demand a full refund.
I am fed up with my cricket broadband! I have an online class and I need to see video explanations BUT I CANNOT FRIGGING DO THIS
Cricket is AWFUL! Don’t waste your money or your time. Doesn’t work half the time and when it does, it’s so slow you will want to shoot yourself. Service is a non concept- file an issue online- noone to call- so hopefully you can find someone with a reliable broadband connection to borrow in order to file your issue.
Cricket does not display anywhere on their service cards that they will “slow down your service” after you reach 5gb of downloads. I don’t even check my email at home with Cricket, I do it at the library. I watched three days worth of short movies on netflix, and then the service started going slower than dial up. I contacted customer service, over in India (no offense to the Indian people), but they were rude, and basically giving me the finger would be the equivilant of what they told me. They said I reached my cap. I went over the card I bought for $50.00 that said 3G unlimited fast broadband service and there is nothing written on it anywhere about a cap. ( But it does say it is perfect for downloading videos and movies.
I signed up with Cricket on May 25, 2010. Gave them Autopay authorization. June 27th was cut off. Had a dealer get me back on but they billed me $17.00 for late pay. Did same in July. August worked okay. Sept cut me off again. I saw a 1$ charge on my credit card but they never charged me, just dropped the account. Poor business management.
Cricket SUCKS!!!! If you read there fair
usage policy you will see that its their way to legally rob you! Something
has to be done against this gang of corporate thieves. If there is anyone out there that knows of ANY way to get even with these crooks please email.
aesg5o1@yahoo.com
Heads up you guys, Cricket is now doing data compression on websites. What does this mean? This means that images that once showed up crystal clear now appear fuzzy and blotchy. In some cases the images are totally useless and unreadable.
Please for the love of pound cake, stay away from cricket. I supposedly used up my bandwidth cap in 5 days, but upon actually looking at the usage log, which is found on the quick link icon, I found that I had used only approx. 3.5 gigs of data. DO NOT GO WITH CRICKET.
I am so saddened to see this, im a gamer who lives in the sticks, i have had cricket broadband internet for over two years, and i have hated everyday of it. I always thought it was faster than standard dial up but here lately the service has been horribly sloooooow, so after looking into it i have come to the conclusion that for the past two years i have been getting the ole in &out treatment from them. i have never once seen my signal strength go past two bars, it averages one, and my download speed runs a constant 10-27 kbs, i have a very upto date computer, this service is awful, and to make it worse after i reach the “unlimited” cap web pages as a whole become unviewable, and i get flagged with error messages such as your internet connection has timed out… and it shows a big 25%signal strength. i have had all i can take and i will gladly go back to dial up before i ever make a payment to them again. and after hundreds of calls to customer support nothing has ever improved, the day after “cap reset” i was once again greeted with horrible download speeds and a high ping reading, ic alled them once again, and the superviser told me my address shows to be just out of their network coverage, which was a blatant lie, i live in chas SC, i unfortuantely live on the outskirts of charleston on a dirtroad out of state maint, which means no cable, city water, sewage, but none the less im in the middle of a huge metropolitan area, and according to crickets coverage plan i am in the middle of it, then i told him about the weak service signal which i was told should always bt at full service if not there could be a problem with the device, so i bought a new device, same problem persists, luckily they didnt give me any greif about returning it, the bottom line is dealing with this company goes against the moral fabric of my well being, they are lias, cheats and theives who will stop at nothing to steal our hard earned money, ive never felt so violated as a customer, not only does cricket not tell you about the cap, they have really crappy service signal and when you exceed the cap, dont bother getting on the net til it resets, screw you cricket, i hope a freak cataclysmic event sucks everyone of your stores and towers into a hot firey grave. and to everyone on your board of directors, may you all live in eternal damnation.
sorry for rambling i am just so putout right now knowing i would of been better off with dial up
they also screwed me out fo the rebate when their dealer told me the only thing i had to do was buy the device, but the fine print says you must have an active phone line through cricket to be eligible for rebate, the corruption is not just at a corporate level, even the dealers are scam artists
CRICKET IS THE WORST COMPANY YOU DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH!
Never any support, just pass the buck excuses for no internet access. NO american support, just a bunch of robot type broken english indians who are taught to pass the buck. UNlimited is not unlimited unless you want worse than dial up. Save your money and stress pretend cricket does not exist!
Cricket broadband is the biggest rip-off going. it take 10-15 attempts to log on. states device has been disconnected or other b.s. THEY HAVE THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE IMAGINABLE. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO SPEAK WITH ANYONE THAT SPEAKS GOOD ENGLISH AND FINALLY AFTER 15 MINUTES OF BEING ON HOLD, THE FRUSTRATION HITS AND U JUST GIVE UP N HANG UP. It takes 5 mins just to log onto Ebay n then usually u just lose service completely. im going to cricket tmorrow to stop my fon n internet service n request a full refund. DONT GET CRICKET BROADBAND OR U WILL BE SORRY.
this broadband is a piece of shit.At first it was fine ,then the internet got slow and sometimes it doesnt respond at all.Also i have four bars and its still shit.I regret buying this.