Cricket Review

I love Cricket cell service.  It's completely hassle free.  I don't have to think about running out of minutes and what times are free or calling circles or what areas are free or what network people are on or anything like that.  I don't have to be locked in to a contract commitment.  I can call anyone, anywhere, any time for one pre-set fee that I pay every month.  If I want out,I'm not stuck with a contract cancellation fee.  There's no worrying about how many times people call or how many texts I receive.  I just pay every month and don't have to think. I don't have to fill out a ton of paper work and go through a bunch of credit checks and take on a commitment and such.  It's more like buying a loaf of bread than buying a house.  I like that.  I like being able to just have the service be plain and simple. No negotiations. No red tape.  No fine print.  No math.   I'm a busy person, and having phone service be a no-brainer is good for me. 

The main drawbacks I've felt to Cricket are the payment system and not being elegible for lots of things.  They actually charge you to pay your bill.  If you pay in person at a physical location, they charge you a fee to pay.  If you pay over the phone, you have to pay a fee to pay,too.  It may be free to pay by mail, but I'm not certain.  (I've never tried, as writing a paper check and taking it to the post office is an extra hassle I don't care to have.  I'd rather pay the fee.)  Seems to me a bit ridiculous to have to pay for the privilege of paying your bill. 

The system also doesn't let me participate in things where you text a message in to things to enter or vote.  Like TV contests and such.  Also, you can't suscribe to most services that work that way either, like ringtones and wallpapers and such. 

Though it's not a big deal to me, the choices of handsets are pretty limited.  I like my phone and don't care a whole lot about a whole lot of fancy styles and features and such like some people do.  But there's probably only a dozen or so phones available.  I chose a Motorola SLVR most recently, and love it,but it's one of the higher end ones. I chose it because it's the only bar shaped (not flip or slide) phone they offered.   The one I had before this one (for years) was a Kyocera Energi, a very plain basic cheap phone.  It did fine.  But if you're really particular about your handset, they might not offer one to suit you.

The service is very reliable.  I don't have a lot of dropped calls. Occasionally call reception will be  bit bad if I'm driving in the middle of nowhere, but even that is incredibly rare. And the repair service on broken phones is quick and hassle free.  When I broke the antenna off my old phone, they repaired it right in the office while I waited and were really friendly about it. 

The service seems to be a bargain to me.  I have the completely unlimited everything plan and pay like 60 bucks a month with the taxes and all included.  The no-thinking required aspect is what I like best about it.  It's easy.  No counting.  No thinking.  No hassle.