Cricket Offering Prepaid Wireless Broadband

09.12.08 _ by Sascha Segan

Cricket, a smaller cell phone carrier, wants to bring wireless high-speed Internet to the masses. Using a little USB modem that hooks Windows PCs up to the carrier's EVDO Rev A network, they're bringing lower-income households on line for what they call "$1.33/day."

"There is nobody in the market providing wireless broadband to a low-income customer with no contract," said Cricket VP of product marketing Jeff Toig. "These are people under $50k household income, with no broadband Internet in their homes. This becomes their alternative to DSL or cable."

Cricket currently has 3.3 million customers in several dozen cities. They aim to double the size of the company by 2010, with Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington coming on line soon, Toig said. The company's major business is flat-rate, unlimited voice plans, but they're looking at data services as a differentiator especially now that they're competing in some markets with MetroPCS, another flat-rate voice carrier.

While Cricket's $40/month rate is lower than other cell phone carriers' wireless Internet charges, the key isn't just price. It's that Cricket is the only carrier offering wireless PC Internet on prepaid, without credit checks or a contract commitment, Toig said.

Cricket Offering Prepaid Wireless Broadband - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

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