Phone Broke, Panicked & Bought New One At AT&T: Wanted to Move to Cricket, Help!

[Acg]

I wasn't totally sure how to title this thread, so I'm sorry for the long and confusing title.  I'm currently on an family plan with just my wife on AT&T and pay $160 per month and have been looking into Cricket for the past month or two but I was being lazy and hadn't made the switch yet.  My iPhone has been having issues the past week or so and then yesterday it just started acting weird and I was convinced it was about to die on me completely so I panicked and went to AT&T and ended up buying a new phone because I NEED my work email on my phone (Unfortunately I always need to be connected, I can't go a day without it).  Now that the hangover is starting to wear off, I realized what a dumb move it was.  I still want to try and make the move to Cricket and I was wondering if you could confirm the below plan is the best course of action.  Let me know if you would do anything differently:

1.) Buy a phone off of craigslist/eBay today.
2.) Sync the iPhone I got from AT&T to my computer and then sync that back onto the phone I get from Craigslist/eBay.
3.) Activate the iPhone from eBay/Craigslist with Cricket.  Will I have any problems porting my number over to Cricket since I just bought this phone and haven't returned it to AT&T yet?
4.) Return the iPhone I just bought to AT&T.  I have 14 days to do this, right?


I had another related question.  My wife is hesitant to make the move to Cricket from AT&T - she think it sounds shady because she doesn't know anyone using it and doesn't know why nobody she knows would be using it if it's such a great deal.  Just to make her comfortable with it all, I was thinking about just signing up for Cricket myself and porting my number over and using it for a month just to show her that everything's cool before she moves over from AT&T?  Then she could totally close out the AT&T account and join me at Cricket.  Does that sound right?

Sorry for all these questions.  It feels stupid when I type it out but I just want some validation that I'm going about this all correctly.  Thanks.

[Daley]

First, if you haven't already... I'd recommend you read the guide (unabridged here).

Second, buy a used, carrier unlocked GSM phone now (have a guide on how to shop used if you need one). Physically transfer your SIM card (if it'll fit - it might not due to being too small), otherwise obtain a new SIM card from AT&T for your new used phone and perform any necessary data transfer between handsets at this point. Do this before the 14 day window is gone.

Third, return the new phone to AT&T before the 14 day window closes and ensure that your contract is terminated.

Fourth, buy a SIM card from whatever MVNO you choose to switch to and proceed to port your number only at this point. I no longer recommend AT&T's Cricket Wireless for the same reasons I no longer recommend GoSmart Mobile (or technically Sprint's Boost Mobile which was never in the guide), details on why starting here.

If you don't think you can manage a data diet sufficient enough to make any AT&T MVNOs work for you in alternative to Cricket's prices, review your usage and mull over this. The reality is, you probably need far less data than you think, and it's really easy to cut back through deliberate, conscious usage.

Best of luck.

[Acg]

THANK YOU

[Acg]

I wasn't totally sure how to title this thread, so I'm sorry for the long and confusing title.  I'm currently on an family plan with just my wife on AT&T and pay $160 per month and have been looking into Cricket for the past month or two but I was being lazy and hadn't made the switch yet.  My iPhone has been having issues the past week or so and then yesterday it just started acting weird and I was convinced it was about to die on me completely so I panicked and went to AT&T and ended up buying a new phone because I NEED my work email on my phone (Unfortunately I always need to be connected, I can't go a day without it).  Now that the hangover is starting to wear off, I realized what a dumb move it was.  I still want to try and make the move to Cricket and I was wondering if you could confirm the below plan is the best course of action.  Let me know if you would do anything differently:

1.) Buy a phone off of craigslist/eBay today.
2.) Sync the iPhone I got from AT&T to my computer and then sync that back onto the phone I get from Craigslist/eBay.
3.) Activate the iPhone from eBay/Craigslist with Cricket.  Will I have any problems porting my number over to Cricket since I just bought this phone and haven't returned it to AT&T yet?
4.) Return the iPhone I just bought to AT&T.  I have 14 days to do this, right?


I had another related question.  My wife is hesitant to make the move to Cricket from AT&T - she think it sounds shady because she doesn't know anyone using it and doesn't know why nobody she knows would be using it if it's such a great deal.  Just to make her comfortable with it all, I was thinking about just signing up for Cricket myself and porting my number over and using it for a month just to show her that everything's cool before she moves over from AT&T?  Then she could totally close out the AT&T account and join me at Cricket.  Does that sound right?

Sorry for all these questions.  It feels stupid when I type it out but I just want some validation that I'm going about this all correctly.  Thanks.

Are you still on contract with AT&T? Did getting the new phone reset your contract?

If yes, I'd consider returning the phone. Be aware of any termination fees.

I believe that AT&T phones are compatible with Cricket. You should be able to sign up for Cricket, buy a Sim from them, and put it in your AT&T phone. The Cricket website will help, I think.

We've been on cricket for two months and are very happy with it. They run on AT&T's network, so it's been like AT&T but at half price. (I was nervous too, but it's been great.)

Here is a thread with more detail for you and your wife: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/cricket-wireless-users-worth-the-savings/

I wasn't eligible for an upgrade so i did the AT&T Next program which doesn't extend our contract.  It ends in November so I'm good.

[Acg]

Here's the thing I need to answer to convince my wife: "Why wouldn't everyone on AT&T switch to Cricket if it was just as good and half the price?" Any help?

[Daley]

Here's the thing I need to answer to convince my wife: "Why wouldn't everyone on AT&T switch to Cricket if it was just as good and half the price?" Any help?

Well, there's no roaming off of AT&T towers, customer service is even worse than mainstream AT&T support, and they charge extra for certain customer support features.

On the flip side to defend going with an AT&T MVNO, strictly AT&T coverage without roaming is pretty solid most areas... but I still can't recommend Cricket over other options like Airvoice, H2O Wireless, Consumer Cellular, and PureTalk USA no matter how much cheaper the data is at the moment. Customer service is going to be superior with the alternatives, and if you can go on a data diet, it becomes quite trivial to drop monthly costs below $30 per line and still keep data access, which is impossible to do using Cricket.

Again, I'd recommend you give the guide linked above (and in my sigline) a read.

[Acg]

Here's the thing I need to answer to convince my wife: "Why wouldn't everyone on AT&T switch to Cricket if it was just as good and half the price?" Any help?

Well, there's no roaming off of AT&T towers, customer service is even worse than mainstream AT&T support, and they charge extra for certain customer support features.

On the flip side to defend going with an AT&T MVNO, strictly AT&T coverage without roaming is pretty solid most areas... but I still can't recommend Cricket over other options like Airvoice, H2O Wireless, Consumer Cellular, and PureTalk USA no matter how much cheaper the data is at the moment. Customer service is going to be superior with the alternatives, and if you can go on a data diet, it becomes quite trivial to drop monthly costs below $30 per line and still keep data access, which is impossible to do using Cricket.

Again, I'd recommend you give the guide linked above (and in my sigline) a read.

Thanks.  I've been reading through the guide and I'm not finding anything about why it's so much cheaper than post-paid services like AT&T.  Am I missing a section?

[capital]

Here's the thing I need to answer to convince my wife: "Why wouldn't everyone on AT&T switch to Cricket if it was just as good and half the price?" Any help?

Well, there's no roaming off of AT&T towers, customer service is even worse than mainstream AT&T support, and they charge extra for certain customer support features.

On the flip side to defend going with an AT&T MVNO, strictly AT&T coverage without roaming is pretty solid most areas... but I still can't recommend Cricket over other options like Airvoice, H2O Wireless, Consumer Cellular, and PureTalk USA no matter how much cheaper the data is at the moment. Customer service is going to be superior with the alternatives, and if you can go on a data diet, it becomes quite trivial to drop monthly costs below $30 per line and still keep data access, which is impossible to do using Cricket.

Again, I'd recommend you give the guide linked above (and in my sigline) a read.

Thanks.  I've been reading through the guide and I'm not finding anything about why it's so much cheaper than post-paid services like AT&T.  Am I missing a section?

AT&T has a bunch of fixed investments. They are trying to make as much money as possible by getting maximum utilization out of those resources, preferably by selling access to people with a high willingness to pay, but barring that, to whomever they can. But if it were obvious Cricket were nearly as good for half the price, fancy people wouldn't pay the AT&T premium. So Cricket is marketed to poor/cheap people. Mainstream AT&T is marketed and sold to fancy people by a store full of slick salesmen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination