Cricket Phones for Seniors: Plans, Prices, and Reviews

Cricket Wireless Pros and Cons

Cricket Wireless Plans Compared

Cricket Wireless offers four plans. Two of them offer a limited amount of data, while the other two have unlimited data usage. With the Unlimited plan, you can get a deep discount by paying for three months or an entire year in advance.

Cricket Wireless Plans for Seniors

Cricket Wireless does not offer a specific plan or discount for seniors. But, we think the 5GB plan is a great option for people who want a simple plan at an affordable price.

The 5GB plan costs $30 per month per line, and it includes unlimited talk, text, and 5GB of data. That amount of data is likely enough for older adults who aren’t intent on viewing constant content. In other words, the reduced data speeds are still enough to browse the web for practical matters such as emailing and streaming YouTube videos.

How to Purchase Cricket Wireless

To purchase a phone or plan from Cricket Wireless, you can either visit the company’s website or check out one of its stores. From there, you can take a closer look at each of its cellular plans. Cricket used to offer plans with monthly allowances of talk minutes and text messages. Now, all of its plans offer unlimited talk and text. This offer means you won’t pay overage charges for talking on the phone too much or sending too many text messages.

The primary difference between each of Cricket’s plans is the monthly allowance of high-speed data. Its most affordable plan provides 5GB of high-speed data. After you exceed that amount, however, you will not be charged extra. Rather, your data speeds will simply slow down.
Cricket’s most expensive plan comes with no limits on high-speed data, unless the network is busy. It also includes nationwide 5G access, 15GB of mobile hotspot usage, 150GB of cloud storage, free texting to 37 countries, usage in Mexico and Canada, and a free subscription to Max with Ads.

Cricket Wireless Prices

The most important thing to know about Cricket Wireless’ pricing is that the company requires no long-term contracts. That means you can cancel your service at any time without incurring termination fees. Another key factor to consider is the provider’s highly discounted rates when you purchase multiple lines of service. The Unlimited + 15GB Mobile Hotspot plan, for example, costs $60 per month for one line. The price, however, drops to $32 per month per line when you purchase five lines.

Extra Fees

We’d be remiss if we didn’t tell you about all of the fees you’ll pay for Cricket, aside from your data plan. Fortunately, no plan includes overage charges, and the unlimited plans let you send texts to 37 countries for free. For everything else, you’ll pay the following fees:

• International charges: With the 10GB plan, you have the option to pay extra for Cricket International. For $5 a month, you can call landlines from the U.S. to 35 countries. Or, for $15 a month, you can send pictures and video messages as well, plus call mobile-to-mobile for 1,000 minutes per month. For unlimited text, video, and picture messaging, you can add individual countries for $10 to $15 a month.
• Activation fee: If you purchased your phone in a Cricket store, you’ll pay a $25 activation fee. There is no activation fee for online purchases, however.
• Non-compliant return fee: If you purchased your phone in a Cricket store and you return it without its original components, you’ll pay a $25 fee.
• Reactivation fee: If you miss your payment, your phone will be deactivated. Plus, you’ll have to pay $5 for the reactivation of one line, or $15 for the reactivation of multiple lines.

Cricket Wireless Network Coverage

Since AT&T has owned Cricket since 2014, the company uses AT&T’s network and offers 5G coverage throughout the U.S., along with 4G LTE coverage. 5G coverage is available in more urban and suburban environments. In many parts of the country, you will only be able to get 4G LTE coverage. You can enter your ZIP code on Cricket’s website to see whether or not your area gets coverage. You can expect coverage of at least 4G LTE for most locations. However, in some very rural parts of the country, you won’t get coverage; this outage won’t apply to the vast majority of U.S. locations, though.

Data Speeds

Based on the Broadband Facts labels, you can expect the following speeds with Cricket Wireless, no matter which plan you choose:

• Download speeds: 114 to 444Mbps on 5G+, 46 to 254Mbps on 5G, and 7 to 61Mbps on 4G LTE
• Upload speeds: 6 to 35Mbps on 5G+, 4 to 23Mbps on 5G, and 1 to 9Mbps on 4G LTE
• Latency: 22 to 40ms on 5G+, 27 to 47ms on 5G, and 31 to 56ms on 4G LTE

Let’s compare Cricket’s typical speeds with its parent network, AT&T:

• Download speeds: 167 to 474Mbps on 5G+, 53 to 304Mbps on 5G, and 12 to 78Mbps on 4G LTE
• Upload speeds: 6 to 33Mbps on 5G+, 3 to 22Mbps on 5G, and 1 to 12Mbps on 4G LTE
• Latency: 23 to 39ms on 5G+, 26 to 45ms on 5G, and 29 to 52ms on 4G LTE

As you can see, AT&T has faster typical download and upload speeds, as well as lower latency. That being said, download and upload speeds of about 25Mbps are required even for 4K streaming; it only requires 10Mbps for uploading photos and videos, video chatting, or streaming in HD. So, you should be fine with either provider.

Cricket Wireless Phones

Cricket allows you to use your own cell phone with its service. All you have to do is choose a plan and purchase a $10 Cricket SIM card, which you’ll insert into your device with older models. Most recent models require an eSIM card, not a physical object. With either SIM card option, you can keep your current phone number.

Cricket also has a variety of phones you can buy directly from the company. They cover a wide range of the latest smartphones, including devices from Android, Nokia, TCL, LG, Apple, Samsung, and Motorola. If you want a basic flip phone for seniors, however, Cricket offers only one device: the Debut Flip. Overall, the company’s prices are pretty consistent with other providers, costing anywhere from about $50 with the Debut Flip all the way up to $1,120 with the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Cricket also offers a decent selection of certified pre-owned phones at discounted rates.

Cricket Financing and Leasing

If you can’t afford to pay the total cost of a phone upfront, Cricket gives you two options:

• Financing: By paying through Affirm, you can spread the cost of your phone out over three, six, 12, or 24 months, with interest rates of 10 to 30 percent. We would recommend this as a last resort given the high interest rates, which vary based on your credit score.
• Leasing: If you have bad or no credit, you can use the lease-to-own program with any device costing $150 or higher. You can pay either weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Once you complete the purchase price, you own the phone.

Cricket vs. AT&T

Cricket Wireless uses AT&T’s cellular network, which means they share the same nationwide coverage. The two providers differ, however, in terms of price, contracts, and extra features.

AT&T’s unlimited plans start at about $51 per month, slightly less than Cricket, which starts unlimited plans at $55 when you pay monthly. However, Cricket offers more affordable plans if you sign up for three or 12 months, as little as $15 a month paid upfront as $45.

If you’re looking for an affordable and simple wireless provider, Cricket is your best bet. If you want faster upload and download speeds, a more reliable signal, and premium features like 4K UHD streaming, however, then AT&T phones for seniors are the better option.

Bottom Line

When it comes to affordable and reliable cellular service, there are few options better than Cricket Wireless. For households in need of multiple lines, Cricket offers affordable unlimited plans with fast speeds and some extra perks like HBO subscriptions and mobile hotspot usage.

To learn more about cell phones and plans for seniors, check out our guides.

• Mint Mobile Review
• Consumer Cellular Review
• Jitterbug Phones for Seniors
• Best Cell Phones for Seniors
• Senior Cell Phone Discounts
• Best Cell Phones for the Visually Impaired