Cricket Wireless review 2026

Cricket Wireless is AT&T’s in-house prepaid brand, positioned against Metro by T-Mobile at the strip-mall and the big-box-kiosk level. The pitch is simple. You pay $30 to $60 a month, no credit check, and you get AT&T’s LTE and 5G coverage with taxes included. No surprises on the bill, no contract, no deposit.

The tradeoff is deprioritization. Cricket traffic sits behind AT&T postpaid traffic when a tower is congested, which in a dense urban setting during peak hours can drop speeds into the single digits. For light and moderate data users on well-served AT&T markets, most of the time you will not notice. For heavy streamers and tetherers in packed venues, you will.

Who it’s really for

Cricket is a budget retail product on AT&T coverage. Every decision flows from that.

The right fit

• AT&T-coverage shoppers on a budget.If AT&T has the best signal where you live and work, Cricket gets you onto it for 40 to 50 percent less than postpaid.
• In-store buyers. Cricket has around 3,500 branded stores plus Walmart and Target kiosks. You can walk in, hand over a debit card, and walk out activated.
• No-credit-check shoppers. Prepaid activation, no credit report, no deposit.
• Multi-line families.Cricket’s 4-line Unlimited More is priced competitively with any postpaid family plan, with taxes already in the sticker price.
• International callers to Mexico and Canada. Most Cricket plans include unlimited talk and text to those countries at no extra charge.

The wrong fit

• Heavy data users in crowded venues. Deprioritization is real. If you stream 4K from a packed stadium or transit hub, expect slower speeds than AT&T postpaid in the same spot.
• Hotspot heavy users.Cricket’s hotspot allotments are small to nonexistent on lower tiers and capped at 15 GB on Unlimited More.
• International business travelers. Roaming outside of Mexico and Canada is pay-per-use and expensive.
• Anyone who needs the fastest 5G. Cricket locks data speeds to 8 Mbps on the Basic plan and deprioritizes Unlimited plans regardless of congestion.

Plans and pricing

Cricket runs three main consumer tiers, with autopay saving $5 a month on each. Taxes and fees are included. There is no contract and no early-termination fee. Bring your own phone or finance a new one interest free through Cricket Protect.

• Cricket Basic, $30/mo with autopay: 5 GB of 4G LTE data, then unlimited at 128 kbps. Unlimited talk and text. No hotspot included. Speeds capped at 8 Mbps, which matters if you push HD video.
• Cricket Core, $40/mo with autopay: Unlimited data at standard Cricket speeds, with video capped to 480p. No mobile hotspot. Unlimited talk, text, and data to Mexico and Canada.
• Cricket More, $55/mo with autopay: Unlimited data with 100 GB of high-speed priority before deprioritization kicks in, plus 15 GB of mobile hotspot. Video streams at 1080p. Includes 10 GB of data for use in Latin America.
• 4-line Unlimited More, $140/mo with autopay: Four lines of Unlimited More, a strong family value if every line would otherwise be on AT&T postpaid.

Cricket runs aggressive in-store promotions, free phones with port-in being the most common. Online pricing is usually stable, with the same plans priced identically across channels.

Network and coverage

Cricket rides on AT&T’s full 4G LTE and 5G network, including the low-band 5G that carries inside buildings and in rural pockets. Coverage maps match AT&T’s consumer postpaid maps almost one for one. In rural AT&T-strong regions, the Southeast and parts of the Midwest, Cricket is often the cheapest way to get working service.

5G access is included on all plans, with no extra fee. What differs from AT&T postpaid is priority. Cricket customers are designated as lower-priority traffic, so when a tower is congested, AT&T postpaid speeds can stay fast while Cricket speeds drop to single-digit Mbps. In normal conditions the difference is invisible.

Data, hotspot, deprioritization

Cricket deprioritizes all plans at all times. There is no hidden priority threshold like some postpaid plans that only throttle after 50 GB. On the More plan you get 100 GB of high-speed priority data before Cricket drops your priority further, which is a small but real improvement. Hotspot is limited: none on Basic and Core, 15 GB on More. Video is capped at 480p on Core and 1080p on More unless you toggle HD mode in settings. International roaming includes Mexico and Canada for unlimited talk, text, and data on Core and More. Other countries are pay-per-use and expensive.

Contracts and fees

• Contract: None. Monthly prepaid.
• Taxes and fees: Included in sticker price.
• Activation: $25 in store, free online via eSIM.
• BYOD: Most unlocked GSM phones work. Cricket provides a free SIM by mail on online activations.
• eSIM: Supported on iPhone and most modern Android flagships.
• International: Mexico and Canada included on Core and More. Other countries pay-per-use.
• Early termination: None.

Vs. the competition

Vs. AT&T postpaid

Same network, different priority. AT&T postpaid buys you priority traffic, hotspot allotments in the tens of gigabytes, phone financing on more generous terms, and premium 5G access on higher tiers. Cricket cuts that by 40 to 50 percent and trades it for deprioritization plus smaller hotspot caps. If AT&T is the best network where you live and you don’t stream in crowded places, Cricket is the better deal.

Vs. Metro by T-Mobile

Metro and Cricket are the same product on different networks. Both are carrier-owned prepaid with strong retail footprints and similar pricing. Pick based on which network is stronger at your address. If T-Mobile 5G is faster in your market, Metro. Otherwise Cricket.

Vs. Mint Mobile

Mint is online-first on T-Mobile’s network. You prepay 3, 6, or 12 months and pay $15 to $30 a month. No stores, no same-day activation, but roughly half the price of Cricket on unlimited. If you’re tech-comfortable and AT&T is not the dominant network in your area, Mint wins on price. If you want a store and AT&T coverage, Cricket wins.

Verdict

Cricket is a good prepaid product for AT&T-coverage shoppers who want a store and don’t push heavy data in crowded places. Taxes are baked in, the plans are easy to read, and the retail footprint is real. For the right buyer, it saves $40 to $60 a month versus AT&T postpaid with no meaningful loss in day-to-day experience.

Skip Cricket if you live in a dense urban market where deprioritization will bite, if you need serious hotspot data, or if you travel internationally beyond Mexico and Canada. Mint and Visible are cheaper for online-first buyers, and AT&T postpaid is the right call for anyone who genuinely needs priority data.