AT&T’s Cricket prepaid brand refreshed its unlimited offers with a new Unlimited Extra plan that is not subject to a speed throttle. The carrier’s previous unlimited plans were subject to a 8 Mbps speed cap.
Notably, Cricket continues to promote AT&T’s DirecTV Now streaming service, albeit with a seven-day free trial and an admonishment that customers should “Watch over Wi-Fi to save your high-speed data.”
As for Cricket’s new Unlimited Extra plan, it costs $60 per month or $55 per month with automatic payments. The plan boasts “fast 4G LTE data” and does not carry the stipulation that customer speeds will be reduced to 8 Mpbs, as Cricket’s unlimited plans previously did.
However, Cricket noted on the new Unlimited Extra plan that it may “temporarily slow data speeds when the network is congested” and that “Video streaming at SD quality (about 480p).”
Cricket continues to sell an “Unlimited” plan for $55 per month that throttles users’ speeds to 3 Mbps.
And Cricket noted that it continues to throttle its other plans—which include 2 GB or 5 GB of data per month—at 8 Mbps.
Further, Cricket continues to offer “Stream More” for its 2 GB and 5 GB plans that reduce video quality to 480p, “which helps you save data when watching videos,” the company said.
Cricket’s unlimited tweaks come amid ongoing changes in the prepaid market. Perhaps the most noteworthy change is T-Mobile’s announcement that it will rebrand its prepaid service, MetroPCS, as “Metro by T-Mobile” in an attempt to tell customers that the brand is powered by T-Mobile’s network.
In conjunction with the rebranding effort, T-Mobile’s prepaid service will also refresh its pricing options to include Google One cloud storage services and an Amazon Prime account with its $60-per-month unlimited option.
On its new Unlimited Extra plan, Cricket is offering the Deezer music service, alongside 10 GB of mobile hotspot service, though they both cost extra.
Article updated Sept. 28 to correct Cricket's previous throttling speed and the extras it offers.