Updated March 09, 2009
About 3.5 months after reporting this looming unlimited wireless news, today marks the launch of all-unlimited Cricket Wireless service in Chicago.
The company is riding the increasingly popular bandwagon of wireless plans at a flat rate with no contract and with no credit checks required. Cricket rate plans range from $30 to $60 with an unlimited plan for $45 that’s among the lowest in the industry.
Cricket wireless service includes unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text messaging, unlimited picture messaging, unlimited texting to Mexico, unlimited mobile Web use and unlimited directory assistance.
“Now more than ever, it is important for wireless carriers to demonstrate value to their customers,” said John Noelker, regional vice president for Cricket, in a statement on Feb. 17, 2009.
He added: “With the launch of Cricket service in Chicago, consumers now have an honest, affordable wireless carrier that respects their time and wallet without sacrificing great service and features.”
While Cricket’s launch in Chicago comes with the promise of excellent service coverage in that major metropolitan city, Cricket isn’t a true nationwide cell phone service carrier in competition with the likes of Verizon Wireless, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.
Cricket’s coverage area ultimately is the one factor that can give consumers pause. With Cricket, your calls are unlimited to anyone on any network (cell phone or landline) anywhere in the U.S. so long you’re calling from a Cricket home coverage area.
If you’re not in a Cricket home calling area, your handset would indicate this to you in the form of a “roaming” message. Cricket, which doesn’t guarantee coverage in every city in the U.S., does offer nationwide roaming at an additional cost.
Many of the major cell phone service carriers now offer roaming for free. If you’re on a $50 or $60 rate plan with Cricket, Cricket offers “premium extended coverage” outside of the traditional Cricket home area to 4,600 cities and towns across the U.S. You can add this feature to other Cricket plans for an additional $5 per month.
As for its Chicago launch, the company says: “Cricket’s coverage area spans approximately 8,400 square miles across the greater Chicago area with contiguous coverage stretching from more than 60 miles south of Chicago in Kankakee, Ill. to as far north as central Wisconsin as well as northwest Indiana to South Bend and Goshen, Ind.”
In addition to Chicago-based U.S. Cellular, Cricket now claims the title as one of the few Chicago cell phone carriers to offer service in all underground Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train lines. Cricket also claims to now offer consistent service throughout Chicago’s McCormick Place, which is one of the largest exhibition halls in the world.
While Chicagoans have been noticing Cricket stores sprouting up around the city, the expansion has come during a time of economic recession. This is big news to area employees, though, because Cricket says it has put 2,400 new workers to work.
This number includes more than 400 retail Cricket employees, according to the company, as well as nearly 2,000 new positions “created through its operation and distribution partners throughout the entire metropolitan area”. Such partners resell Cricket’s service. The 2,400 figure is up from an estimated 2,150 back in a Nov. 2008 announcement.
Cricket says its products and services are now available at 160 stores and dealers around the Chicagoland area including 10 Cricket-branded retail stores, online and via phone at 800-922-9169. The company says additional stores and dealers will open their doors over the next 30 days. At that time, Cricket says its products and services will be available at more than 650 dealers and 26 Cricket-branded retail stores in the Chicagoland area.
In this world of partner or be eaten, Cricket knows it needs to team up. Cricket service is offered in the greater Chicagoland area by Denali Spectrum Operations LLC. Cricket Communications has a majority, non-controlling beneficial interest in Denali.
Cricket also offers Cricket Broadband. The service provides customers with unlimited high-speed wireless Internet usage with speeds comparable to DSL along with the ability to use it from home, work or on the go anywhere in Cricket coverage areas.
The service is priced to be competitive with DSL from AT&T and the other major providers at $35 per month for existing Cricket wireless customers or $40 per month as a standalone service. Its required UTStarcom UM100C tri-band USB modem, which is compatible with Macintosh and PC laptops or desktop computers (or anything with a USB port), costs $59 after rebates. This piece of hardware is typically free with other DSL providers.
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