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Cricket Wireless has released new plan updates today. The biggest changes revolve around hotspot usage. Cricket's flagship $60 plan, now called Supreme Unlimited, saw its hotspot allowance jump from 15GB to 50GB. Cricket's second most expensive plan now includes 15GB of hotspot, whereas it previously offered none. Other updates include pricing changes, some better, some worse, and every plan now has a new name. Cricket believes its plan updates place it ahead of the competition from Metro, Boost and Total Wireless.
Cricket's Updated Phone Plans Explained
Cricket's flagship unlimited plan was previously called Unlimited+. The only other thing that has changed with it is the increase in hotspot allowance. Pricing for single and multi-lines remains the same. It's $60 for a single line without autopay billing and $55 with it enabled.
Smart Unlimited
Next up is the Smart Unlimited plan. The closest comparable plan to this would be what was formerly known as the Unlimited Plan. The Smart Unlimited plan is priced at $50/month for a single line, or $45 with autopay billing. Previously customers had to pay $55/month or $50 with autopay applied. On top of the new 15GB hotspot allowance, cloud storage jumps from just 2GB to 100GB. While single-line pricing is lower, multi-line customers in some cases will pay more than they would have before:
- 2-lines, $75/month, previously $80
- 3-lines, $95/month, previously $90
- 4-lines, $110, previously $100
- 5-lines, $130, previously $125
Select Unlimited
Cricket's $40 unlimited plan is now called Select Unlimited. It was previously known as Simply Unlimited. Changes to this plan include that it now has unlimited calls and texts from the US to Mexico and Canada. This plan also is severely limited. It is only available to new customers. Current customers cannot switch to this plan. An autopay billing discount lowering the price to $35/month, and customers with 5 lines will now pay $120 instead of $130.
Sensible Plan (Replaces Old 5GB and 10GB Plans)
Cricket's base plan is now called the Sensible plan. It includes 10GB of high-speed data before throttling for $30/month with a $5/month autopay billing credit applied. This plan doesn't include any other extras but it does have multi-line discounts as follows:
- 2-lines, $60/month
- 3-lines, $90/month
- 4-lines, $120/month
- 5-lines, $150/month
Previously, Cricket offered a 5GB plan for $30 and a 10GB plan for $40 (with 2GB cloud storage and Mexico/Canada usage). The new Sensible plan is cheaper for single lines, but pricing gets worse for more than three lines. For comparison, here’s the old 10GB plan pricing:
- 2-lines, $70/month
- 3-lines, $90/month
- 4-lines, $110/month
- 5-lines, $130/month
The Supreme Unlimited and 10GB plans both include priority data. The other plans do not.
Shop Cricket Phone PlansEditor's Take
Cricket’s new plans are designed to compete harder with other carrier-owned prepaid brands like Metro, Boost, and Total Wireless. However, given that the cheapest standard unlimited plan is only for new customers, to me Cricket looks like its only giving half an effort. Other carrier owned prepaid brands offer unlimited plans around the $40/month price point that are available to all customers not just new ones. Furthermore, although Cricket is competing with some of its plans on price, it isn't always on features.
For example:
Total Wireless’s flagship plan is actually $10/month cheaper than Cricket for four lines, but $5–$10 more expensive for 1–3 lines. However, Total gives you unlimited hotspot (capped at 5Mbps), while Cricket doesn’t—though Cricket’s hotspot isn’t speed-capped, just data-limited. Metro’s flagship plan is pricier than Cricket at every line count, and includes less hotspot data and no Mexico/Canada roaming.
The Smart Unlimited plan is cheaper than Metro or Total Wireless for 1–3 lines (by $5–$15/month), and matches Total for 4 lines. But Total Wireless includes a 6-month Disney+ subscription and unlimited priority data, features Cricket doesn’t match at this price. Total’s plan also supports HD and can even be 4K streaming capable in some instances, while Cricket caps you at 480p.
Promos & BYOD Discounts:
Where Cricket still falls behind, is on promotional pricing for new BYOD customers including those with multiple lines. Total Wireless gives customers with single BYOD lines 50% off for 5 years, so you can get an unlimited plan through their website for as low as $25/month. Metro by T-Mobile also offers a monthly unlimited plan through its website for $25/month. Cricket does not offer a $25 pay by the month unlimited plan to BYOD customers through its website but you can get one at Walmart or through one of its dealers. Total Wireless also gives better multi-line promotional discounts when the first line is BYOD: Line 1 gets 50% off, others get the standard multi-line rate. For example, this makes three lines on Total’s flagship plan just $90/month instead of $120/month, a significant savings over Cricket and the rest.
Base Sensible Plan Value
Frankly, Cricket’s new Sensible plan is anything but sensible. If you are in the market for a plan with 10GB of data you'll find far better value out there through an MVNO. For instance, US Mobile offers a truly unlimited 5G data plan for $25/month on its Dark Star network whereas Verizon MVNO MobileX offers 10GB for $14.88. There are many other examples out there as well which you can find yourself by using the BestMVNO plan finder.
A special thanks to Stetson Doggett for alerting BestMVNO to these plan changes.