Cricket's monthly plans cost $5 more in month one; paying for a year upfront costs $25 a month

Cricket Wireless’s monthly plans are $30 to $55 a month with Auto Pay, taxes included, and the first month costs $5 more on every one because the Auto Pay discount hasn’t started yet. Paying ahead is cheaper: 12 months of unlimited is $300 upfront, $25 a month. Cricket’s own Broadband Facts label says the higher first-month figure “is not an introductory rate.” So unlike most budget carriers, the price you see isn’t a promo that ends: it’s the price, one month late. I’m not a Cricket customer; this is Cricket’s plan page and labels, read on September 22, 2026.

What does each Cricket plan cost?

From cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans, one line:

Taxes are included, which is worth more than it looks when comparing against Mint or Tello, whose prices are before tax. There’s a $25 activation fee, but only if you sign up in a Cricket store.

What about paying for several months at once?

From Cricket’s multi-month page, both for new single-line accounts bringing their own phone:

At $25 a month, the 12-month plan costs less than any Cricket monthly plan, with the same slowdown line, SD video and no hotspot. The 3-month plan is the one Cricket plan here with a real intro: $15 a month for the first three months, then $40, which is more than Select Unlimited month to month.

What does the cheaper tier leave out?

The gap between Select at $35 and Smart at $45 is where most of the trade-offs sit:

• Priority. None of the plans states a priority allotment. Select and Smart carry the line that Cricket “may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy” on their plan cards, and Supreme’s Broadband Facts label says the same; Supreme’s card lists “unlimited high-speed data”, which isn’t the same promise.
• Video. SD on Sensible, Select and Smart. Supreme says video “may be limited to SD.”
• Mexico and Canada. Usable on Smart, Supreme and both multi-month plans. Sensible and Select list “Usage in Mexico and Canada unavailable.” Select still includes calls and texts from the US to those countries; on Sensible those are listed as unavailable too. Cricket’s pages list no roaming anywhere else.
• Hotspot. None on Sensible, an add-on on Select, 15 GB on Smart, 50 GB on Supreme.
• Lines. Every line on the account has to be on the same plan, and Select Unlimited is for new lines only.

Why leave Cricket?

Mostly for price per gigabyte of priority data, or for travel. Cricket is AT&T’s own prepaid brand, so the network is AT&T’s, and the trade on Select and Smart is the same one every prepaid line makes: slower when the tower is busy.

Staying on AT&T’s network:

• US Mobile on Dark Star is AT&T. Unlimited Starter works out to $22.50 a month paid yearly, taxes included, and includes 1 GB of roaming abroad.

Leaving it:

• Visible is $25 a month on Verizon’s network, taxes included, with Visible+ at $35 for unlimited premium data.
• Tello is $25 a month on T-Mobile’s network, before tax, with 50 GB at full speed.

The AT&T network page ranks every plan on AT&T’s network at its regular price, and the calculator does it against your own bill.

Why stay?

Because on the monthly plans there’s no month 13 to fall off. There’s no first-year discount to lose, taxes are in the number, and apart from $5 more in the first month, the bill is what the plan page says. If you’re on Smart, Supreme or a multi-month plan and you drive to Mexico or Canada, the included roaming there is worth something too.

What to check before leaving Cricket

• Your phone. Cricket unlocks a phone only after 365 days of paid service on it. The unlock guide has the policy.
• Your transfer PIN. The PIN guide covers Cricket’s.
• Everyone on the account. All lines share one plan, so moving one line may change what the others pay.

---

Prices and terms read off cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans and its Broadband Facts labels on September 22, 2026. A script checks that page daily and the log records the day anything moves.