Cricket Communications Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of San Diego, Calif.-based Leap Wireless International, Inc. has announced a series of all-inclusive, flat-rate, unlimited nationwide plans for its mobile phones. The plans are the industry’s first all-inclusive plans for prepaid broadband service.
“Our customers want their wireless to be simple, and there is no reason it can’t be,” said Carrie McKenzie, Wisconsin district director for Cricket. “Our customers typically have lower incomes, but they still need to stay connected to the world around them.”
According to McKenzie, Cricket’s True Rate plans, allow people to pay the monthly rate plus sales tax. No additional taxes or fees are added to their bill, apart from sales tax, making it easy to understand and predict.
“We are no longer passing on any regulatory fees to our customers,” McKenzie said. “Customers will have four rate plans to choose from, they will pay that plus tax. No hidden fees just it is what it is.”
Plans range in price from $45 a month for basic unlimited web access, $55 a month for an unlimited Android plan or $60 a month for an unlimited Blackberry plan.
“Cricket is pioneering affordable mobile broadband access with all-inclusive plans that offer greater flexibility by allowing our customers to pick and choose plans tailored to their budget and mobile browsing habits,” said Al Moschner, Cricket’s chief operating officer. “Data is a strong growth area for Cricket, and we expect that these new plans will result in a more efficient network that should benefit customers.”
Cricket also announced it will release 15 new phone models for its customers including a value-priced touch screen handset, Smart phones and feature phones over the next few months. The Blackberry 8530 version is already available, and the Sanyo Zio Android phone will be available shortly, McKenzie said.