4G still coming to Cricket...eventually

[Gmash]

Leap Wireless testing the LTE waters by end of 2011, diving in head-first next year By Brad Molen posted Nov 02 2011 at 10:58AM

Cricket's sure making some leaps and bounds, isn't it? That's right, Leap Wireless -- the prepaid provider's parent -- announced that it's making preparations to jump into the world of LTE. The carrier will begin testing the service in Tucson by the end of this year, and aims to blanket two-thirds of its current network (nearly 25 million people) with 4G goodness within the next two to three years. You won't have to wait that long to get your hands on an LTE-capable smartphone, however, as the first ones will begin showing up in the carrier's lineup by the second half of 2012. We knew the company had aspirations for the echelon of 4G when it signed a roaming agreement with LightSquared, so this doesn't necessarily come as a surprise, but it's the first solid announcement we've heard regarding its very own network. It looks like MetroPCS won't be the lone ranger in the prepaid LTE market for much longer. The news comes in line with the company's third quarter earnings report, which you can find below

from Engadget

 

[ShinySide]

Well well well Cricket is trying to catch up! Time to do some 5G Metro! What what?! Ahahaha

 

[KOLIO]

Leap Wireless testing the LTE waters by end of 2011, diving in head-first next year By Brad Molen posted Nov 02 2011 at 10:58AM

Cricket's sure making some leaps and bounds, isn't it? That's right, Leap Wireless -- the prepaid provider's parent -- announced that it's making preparations to jump into the world of LTE. The carrier will begin testing the service in Tucson by the end of this year, and aims to blanket two-thirds of its current network (nearly 25 million people) with 4G goodness within the next two to three years. You won't have to wait that long to get your hands on an LTE-capable smartphone, however, as the first ones will begin showing up in the carrier's lineup by the second half of 2012. We knew the company had aspirations for the echelon of 4G when it signed a roaming agreement with LightSquared, so this doesn't necessarily come as a surprise, but it's the first solid announcement we've heard regarding its very own network. It looks like MetroPCS won't be the lone ranger in the prepaid LTE market for much longer. The news comes in line with the company's third quarter earnings report, which you can find below

from Engadget

I'll check back in w/CRICKET 2yrs from now,when my contract w/SPRINT is up & see how much of their "promised" upgrading to 4G, etc......is actually realized.

The throttling & apparent log-jam of users on the current 3G network is what led me to switching to SPRINT.
CRICKET is a bit late coming to the 4G party & I grew tired of waiting for them to upgrade or improve the existing 3G, which would have been sufficient for me to stick with them.

If you think 1GB of 3G/month gets used up in no time, imagine how fast 1GB of 4G/month will evaporate.If you're still w/CRICKET,might as well stick w/the OG ASCEND/ASCEND II/ZTE SCORE.

 

[ShinySide]

If you think 1GB of 3G/month gets used up in no time, imagine how fast 1GB of 4G/month will evaporate.If you're still w/CRICKET,might as well stick w/the OG ASCEND/ASCEND II/ZTE SCORE.

Absolutely true. On my Esteem (My first one I bought last Thursday some freak thing happened to it I got it replace on Sunday) Ive used 354mb's of data since Sunday and thats not even playing on it THAT much. It adds up quick. Luckily I went with the 60 dollar not cap at 1gb plan.

 

[KOLIO]

Absolutely true. On my Esteem (My first one I bought last Thursday some freak thing happened to it I got it replace on Sunday) Ive used 354mb's of data since Sunday and thats not even playing on it THAT much. It adds up quick. Luckily I went with the 60 dollar not cap at 1gb plan.

EXACTLY! Hopefully CRICKET will offer a similar uncapped or reasonable(5GB-7GB/month of 4G) plan for their upcoming 4G.

It would be a frustrating experience,to say the least,to have a blazing fast superphone,only to have one gallon of gas to put in the tank every month.

Kinda like the situation in the movie 'FRIDAY':

KOOL-AID w/no sugar!

Salt w/no pepper!

Peanut butter w/no jelly!

Ham w/no burger!

You get the picture.................

 

[nuttmeg]

i just cant get over cricket didnt make a unlimited talk plan with non of there plans, and thats where metro will step in and beat them down quick.

 

[Gmash]

Cricket has unlimited talk and text on all of their plans, at least where I live. I did see them selling the ZTE Score on home shopping network one day, and they were offering a 1000 minute plan. That's the first time I've ever seen one that wasn't unlimited. Maybe with their new nationwide status they are limiting in the areas that are using Sprints towers or something. I'm hoping being in direct competition with Metro in some markets will force them to step it up as far as selection and pricing on their phones, as well as maybe raising the data cap some. Honestly, I'm usually against mergers, but if Cricket and Metro joined forces, they would be a force to deal with. Cricket could give them 3g pretty much everywhere, Metro could give a head start on the 4g network, and together they would be in a better position to negotiate for better phones. They could be like US Cellular, a smaller player who gets good handsets regularly, including they are getting the Galaxy Nexus.

 

[Gmash]

 

[nuttmeg]

here in taxas, cedar hill and dallas i get this...

 

[Gmash]

That's the plan they had on home shopping. Only 500mb of data? Ouch! But here they want $65 for the Android +Muve music with 1GB and unlimited minutes. I bet it has something to do with their agreement with Sprint. Seems like Sprint is selling bandwidth to anybody they can to help finance their little iPhone adventure. Problem is, it doesn't seem like they really have it to spare lol.

 

[KOLIO]

here in taxas, cedar hill and dallas i get this...

Is this in a CRICKET store,on-line,or other outlets such as BEST BUY, RADIO SHACK,WAL-MART,TARGET,etc........?

 

[nuttmeg]

That's the plan they had on home shopping. Only 500mb of data? Ouch! But here they want $65 for the Android +Muve music with 1GB and unlimited minutes. I bet it has something to do with their agreement with Sprint. Seems like Sprint is selling bandwidth to anybody they can to help finance their little iPhone adventure. Problem is, it doesn't seem like they really have it to spare lol.

Is this in a CRICKET store,on-line,or other outlets such as BEST BUY, RADIO SHACK,WAL-MART,TARGET,etc........?

seen it online, but also at the store also as cricket just had move to the dallas area not to long ago from my knowledge but if that's the price they are sticking with here, than they will not get any business as metro will blow the away with there unlimited plan plus 4g LTE plan that's the same price with family plan, or $60 for single lines.

 

[KOLIO]

Cricket has unlimited talk and text on all of their plans, at least where I live. I did see them selling the ZTE Score on home shopping network one day, and they were offering a 1000 minute plan. That's the first time I've ever seen one that wasn't unlimited. Maybe with their new nationwide status they are limiting in the areas that are using Sprints towers or something. I'm hoping being in direct competition with Metro in some markets will force them to step it up as far as selection and pricing on their phones, as well as maybe raising the data cap some. Honestly, I'm usually against mergers, but if Cricket and Metro joined forces, they would be a force to deal with. Cricket could give them 3g pretty much everywhere, Metro could give a head start on the 4g network, and together they would be in a better position to negotiate for better phones. They could be like US Cellular, a smaller player who gets good handsets regularly, including they are getting the Galaxy Nexus.

This definitely makes the most sense,I've even seen rumors of a merger some time ago. Especially if the AT&T-MOBILE merger goes through,a larger low cost carrier would be sorely needed to keep the BIG 3 in check.

 

[nuttmeg]

This definitely makes the most sense,I've even seen rumors of a merger some time ago. Especially if the AT&T-MOBILE merger goes through,a larger low cost carrier would be sorely needed to keep the BIG 3 in check.

agreed...

also i just figure this out, if you live near or within cricket zip code that they support you have more phones and plans, but if you live near where they are starting to bring there service you only have 2 choices of phones and a couple plans to choose from, i just tried this zip code from AZ 85007 and had lots of options, and i tried this Random zip code 75104 and only had 4 phones to choose from, but yesterday it was only 2 phones, but there phones are still overprice, they should set the same price that metro have with MIR or instant rebate and or a few dollars less to compete or beat metro and bring in some customers.