Cricket Wireless, a wholly owned prepaid subsidiary of AT&T, has announced two new unlimited smartphone plans: Cricket More and Cricket Core.

The Cricket More and Cricket Core plans replace the previously offered Unlimited and Unlimited Extra plans in Cricket's line-up.

These two new plans offer a few changes - with hotspot data inclusion at no extra fee on the Cricket More plan being of most interest to an audience of mobile internet seekers.

In addition, phone-based plans with capped data (2GB/5GB) no longer offer data that can be used via mobile hotspot - or the ability to add mobile hotspot data capability for an extra fee.

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Cricket More

Cricket More is Cricket's latest top tier unlimited plan offering - now offering 15GB of mobile hotspot data. Previously, the mobile hotspot data feature had to be added to unlimited plans - at an extra fee.

Cricket More includes unlimited high-speed 4G/LTE data for on-phone use, with 15GB of high-speed hotspot/tethering data included. Data on this plan is always subject to network management.

The Cricket More is priced at $60/month, or $55 with autopay.

Policies & Perks:

• Price: $60/$55month for a single line
  • 2 lines for $90, 3 lines for $110, 4 lines for $130 and 5 lines for $160
• Carrier Networks Used: AT&T
• Carrier Relation: Prepaid Carrier Subsidiary
• Plan Type: Phone
• Device Types Permitted: Phone
• Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
• Mobile Hotspot Use: Plan includes 15GB mobile hotspot use, throttled to 128kbps after 15GB data cap is reached.
• Throttling: None except video streams are capped at 1.5Mbps
• Network Management: Always
• International Roaming: Includes 50% usage of data in Canada & Mexico. These plans also include unlimited texting from the US to 38 different countries.
• Domestic Roaming: None - native coverage only
• Plan Period: 30 days
• Streaming: No streaming services are bundled with Cricket service. Video is capped at 1.5Mbps, good enough for SD (480p) streaming.

Cricket Core

Cricket Core is Cricket's newest lower-tier unlimited plan offering. Speeds on the plan are always throttled to 3mbps, and no mobile hotspot data is included on this plan. However, a mobile hotspot data feature can to be added for $10/month for 10GB of mobile hotspot data (at 3mbps).

The Cricket Core plan is now always subject to network management.

The Cricket Core is priced at $55/month or $50/month with autopay.

Policies & Perks:

• Price: $55/$50month for a single line
  • 2 lines for $80, 3 for $90, 4 for $100, and 5 for $125
• Carrier Networks Used: AT&T
• Carrier Relation: Prepaid Carrier Subsidiary
• Plan Type: Phone
• Device Types Permitted: Phone
• Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
• Mobile Hotspot Use: None included in the base price - can add 10GB of mobile hotspot data for an additional $10/month
• Throttling: always to 3Mbps (video streams are capped at 1.5Mbps)
• Network Management: Always
• International Roaming: Includes 50% usage of data in Canada & Mexico. These plans also include unlimited texting from the US to 38 different countries.
• Domestic Roaming: None - native coverage only
• Plan Period: 30 days
• Streaming: No streaming services are bundled with Cricket service. Video is capped at 1.5Mbps, good enough for SD (480p) streaming.

Previously Offered Plans

Unlimited & Unlimited Extra

Up until August 11th, Cricket offered two different iterations of unlimited plans: Unlimited, and Unlimited Extra.

• Unlimited ($55/month) offered unlimited on device data at 3mbps speeds. You needed to add the Hotspot feature to allow for the use of hotspot data, at an additional cost $10 for 10GB high-speed MHS data.
• Unlimited Extra ($60/month) offered high-speed on device data which was always subject to network management. You needed to add the Hotspot feature to allow for the use of hotspot data, at an additional cost $10 for 10GB high-speed MHS data.

Capped Phone Plans (2GB/5GB) and Data-Only Plans

Previously, Cricket's phone plans with capped data allowed their data to be used via hotspot. As of August 11th, this is no longer the case. Additionally, these plans have throttled download speeds up to a maximum of 8 Mbps for compatible 4G LTE devices.

Cricket also continues to offer data-only plans - with all data available for use via a mobile hotspot device.

Available data only plans include:

• 30GB: $70
• 10GB: $35
• 3GB: $25

Analysis

Cricket's new top tier unlimited plan - Cricket More - is an upgrade to their previously offered Unlimited Extra plan.

While single line pricing for Cricket More technically remains the same as the Unlimited Extra plan that it replaces, for those that wish to use hotspot data with the plan, the inclusion of 15GB of mobile hotspot data within the $60 package reduces the price by $10.

Previously, those who wished to enjoy mobile hotspot data on Cricket's top tier unlimited plan needed to tack $10 onto the base price of the Unlimited plans - bringing Cricket's top tier comparable plan for Cricket More (Unlimited Extra) to $70/month. Multi-line pricing on Cricket More is also better than with that of Unlimited Extra.

If you are currently on a Cricket Unlimited Extra plan, there isn't a clear reason not to switch over to the Cricket More plan.

Cricket's lower-tier unlimited plan, now called Cricket Core, remains mostly unchanged - except for always-on network management. Previously, this Cricket bottom tier unlimited plan (formerly known just as Unlimited) was not subject to network management until 22GB.

That is on top of always being throttled to 3Mbps - and not including any mobile hotspot data. Mobile hotspot data can still be added to the Cricket Core plan, but it's $5/month cheaper to just jump up to the Cricket More to get more hotspot data as well as high speeds.

All unlimited Cricket plans have video streaming caps of 480p - or Standard Definition (1.5Mbps). This is typically fine for small screens, like phones, but mirroring or hotspotting to a larger screen could be a bit hairier for those that enjoy some definition.

While not of much interest to our core audience of mobile internet seekers, Cricket's phone-based capped data plans (2GB or 5GB) no longer include the ability to use their data allotments via mobile hotspot - and are not eligible to a mobile hotspot data tack-on at +$10/month.

Cricket phone plans are prohibited from use in a dedicated hotspot data device - they can only be used in phones. There is no option to add a tablet to any of Cricket's plans. Cricket does offer data-only plans for data-only devices - up to 30GB of data is available ($70).

Cricket is known to run promos on pricing - and phone devices - so be sure to check what their latest promo is before jumping into a prepaid offer.

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