Cricket to integrate monthly plans into PAYGo

Cricket wireless announced yesterday that they are adding new options to their PAYGo service. Introduced about a year ago, Cricket PAYGo is a pay-per-day version of the company’s unlimited services. Instead of paying a flat monthly fee, users can pay $1, $2, or $3 per day, only on days they use the phone, and receive varying levels of unlimited service. Yesterday’s announcement added monthly plans to the PAYGo offering. This brings with it two advantages: the absence of taxes and fees, and the ability to pay for the service with PAYGo top-up cards. Both the $40 and $45 monthly plans are now part of PAYGo. They are basically the same as before. The $40 plan provides unlimited voice minutes, including Cricket’s extended calling area, plus domestic and international messaging. The $45 plan adds unlimited mobile Web and directory assistance. Both plans include all fees and taxes, so they will cost only the flat $40 or $45. Boost Mobile does this with their unlimited plan. Not only can customers now pay for these plans with top-up cards, but they’ll see said cards at more national retailers. The company currently has 2,500 points of distribution, but that will increase to 3,500 over the next few weeks. Cricket also says that the plans will “be available at four of the most trusted names in big box national retail,” though no specific names are mentioned. Figure on Wal-Mart and Target. Not sure which the other will be. Would K-Mart be one? Along with their PAYGo service, Cricket also plans to offer their broadband service to the national distribution chain, though to only 1,000 national retail stores. ]]>