Cricket Wireless entering OKC market

I thought I read an industry article awhile back stating that new players would be allowed in Oklahoma. I've seen Cricket Wireless back east before and I've seen one under construction in the Asian District for a few weeks now. I did a search and looks like no one posted it yet. Anyhow, I went to their website and we're on the bottom of the front page, it says "Cricket Wireless is coming to OKC". I posted a link to the OKC page below:


Cricket - Oklahoma City - The real unlimited

Cricket has been in Tulsa for years

They seem to be building their stores in lower income areas.

Cricket is the welfare child of the cell phone providers. They target the the lower income market directly. I want to say they were in the OKC market before, some 10 years ago, but maybe I'm off on that.

Nothing exciting about them...unless your credit is in the toilet and you have no decent income.

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OR.... you have a teenager and now you can get them a phone with unlimited local minutes (without the ability to call long distance) for one low flat monthly rate.......

I saw a "Cricket Wireless Coming Soon" banner on the SE corner of 4th and Telephone Rd in Moore.

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Yeah, unlimited local minutes is what every teenager needs. Cell phones are great babysitters. They are perfect for keeping you from knowing about that 38 year old sex offender they met on my space.

jbrown84, I don't really call the SE corner of 4th and Telephone Rd in Moore a low income area. Nor do I call the 7300 block of S Western a low income. The latter is near the wealthiest zip code in the city.

And teenagers don't need cell phones.

I was given my first cell phone when I was 16 and started driving. However it was given to me under the assumption that it was for emergencies and if I needed anything from my parents or the other way around. Honestly, it comes down to how parents are with their kids and if certain boundaries will be respected.

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I agree venture. I personally wouldn't give my child a cell phone if they're under age 16. But, if they're driving, I'd rather they have one in case their car breaks down or something. I think it's more of a safety issue for me.

Venture, that in my book is the time a teenager needs a cellphone. I can see the purpose of a cell phone for a first time driver or for a daughter going out on a date. Those are the only times a teen needs a cell phone.

This nonsense of "I need to be able to get a hold my kid in an emegency" is bogus.

Before, the cellphone kids still got emergency messages with little or no problem. When I was in school a parent could call a school secretary, the secretary would pass the message on to the child.

If you think about it, cell phones have actually hindered school safety. Anytime something happens kids and parents jump on there cell phones causing mass hysteria.

The next thing you know a small situation that was under complete control by school staff and local authorites turns into complete chaos. All because of this wonderful invention called the cell phone.

Yeah, keep cell phones out of schools. There's no need for them there, and they just distract from the learning process.

And when they're not in school... ?

hey guys. I work for Cricket here in OKC. We are coming. we have 5 Cricket Stores that are full service here in the metro. the Classen store, My store off 23rd and Meridian, we have a sw 29th and around May, sw 74th and western, and 29th and Air depot in Midwest City, we have tons of indirect dealers that will sell for us all over the city. And to clear some things up for everyone. We will launch with 45 dollars a month will get you unlimited local calling, text and pix messaging, Long distance, and voicemail, caller id/call waiting and 3 way calling , and web access. We do have long distance here. Cricket is the 8th largest wireless company in the country and growing very fast. In the past we have not had long distance in certain markets. That is true. But not here. Also a huge thing for us is our Wireless Aircard. It is a USB device that is mobile from computer to computer. The speed IS faster than our competitors, and comparible to that of Cable speeds. Its going to be 99 dollars for the device and 40 dollars a month (which is cheaper than everyone else here in OKC), 35 if you have a voice line with us as well. Any more questions let me know. And I will be glad to try and answer it.

I've heard tons of promises of "high-speed wireless" and seen very little delivery. AT&T's EDGE network is abysmal, T-Mobile's is horrid, and Sprint is merely passable. All the poor saps (myself included) running around with iPhones are jumping from one to the next free WiFi spot just to check e-mail because of AT&T's crappy bandwidth. That's even without the line-of-sight issues that seem to plague Oklahoma with respect to wireless.

From what I see, Cricket is just another CDMA-EV/DO network. There's already a couple here in town, chiefly Sprint. What makes Cricket any faster than Sprint, given the same standards?

I have a T-Mobile Blackberry Curve and I have great performance with email and even internet with the T-Mo Edge network.....

My daughter is a Cricket customer in Kansas City, and she swears by them.

well our actual network is on a new bandwidth, AWS, which we are the first cellular company to launch it, I cant go into to detail because of confidentiality but its great. our Aircards are proven to be faster than the competitors, I really want to say exactly who because i do know. But I dont want to lose my job, But I can say that I have tested the speeds of ours compared to several here in OKC and ours is considerably faster than all. And No Cricket has never been here in OKC before just Tulsa. We have been in Tulsa for 8 years now. As far as our network coverage goes, you guys can check this out, this is true. I cant tell you where to look but i know its out there. There are 3rd party tests done for coverage between all the cell phone providers around and in every cricket market our coverage is either ranked #1 or #2 in EVERY single test done. I know Cricket posts these results I just dont know where. But i may be able to find out for you guys. I know there is a HUGE misconception about Cricket because of past markets. I will admit they used to not be as good as they are now. Heres a huge one that people think. Most people think we are a prepaid service. NOT true. We are pay in advance. BIG difference. With us you pay the first of the month, and you get a month of service. Which means no overages. AT ALL. you cannot go ov er on anything. you can run out of roaming minutes. but if that happens you can refill over the phone instantly. Yes it is an inconvience but nothing is perfect. Another thing is that people hate the stupid fees we charge sometimes. But its not our fault. EVERY cellular company has them. if you pay your bill late you have late fees. SO if you dont have the money use our feature called Bridge pay that lets you pay 20 bucks and it gives you a week to get up the rest of the money for your bill. But its easy (and common sense) to use Automatic Bill Pay and you never have to worry about it. :-) okay and last( I think) for now. Warranties and Insurance. all others require you to go to the store and get it diagnosed, Then they send you a new phone, THEN you have to send yours back in. (prolasped time about a week). With us its done at CRICKET retail stores in a matter of minutes for you. PERIOD. but people come in to our stores cursing because they may have to wait 30 min because we do that for customers. People just dont understand what we actually do to be customer friendly within the Company. I know i just typed a novel, but it needs to come out here so people lose the misconception of cricket. And we will also be the first to say to someone that if they travel alot. the service is not for you. At least I will. Sorry this is so long and taking up your time to read.

Sincerely,
Lance

Lance, does the wireless aircard just work where Cricket has service or will it work anywhere in the US?

It will only work where we have coverage. But our calling area here is huge. We will have service from El reno to Shawnee, and from Guthrie to north of Norman. Then all the way up the Turner Turnpike to Tulsa. And you can use it anywhere where we have service at, your not restricted to just OKC. OH yea I forgot to mention that Cricket has doubled in size last year. And going to do it again this year. SO the coverage is only going to get better. But for the most part its going to be sold to people who do not want to pay for cable internet, or especially the people who live in the country and have to go with satellite internet(SUCKS). Either way its a great deal. And by the way to the guys talking about speed. You people are welcome to come into the stores here and run the speed test on our card. But we are faster than the competitors. Keep asking questions and I will keep on answering. thanks

I was always expected to check in every so many hours or give mom and dad the phone number to whomever's house I would be at. I do not see why parents cannot set that same rule.

We are considering Cricket for our kids. The only reason we still have a home phone is for the kids to use.

I also think Cricket is excellent as a home phone replacement for just about anyone. It is also a good idea for very small businesses with only one line. I'm even considering getting one for my parents. They pay $39 a month with a bigger carrier for only 300 or so minutes. They never leave the city so coverage is not an issue.

Radio Shack offers boost. About the same price and uses Sprint's network.

Cricket i