about type subsidiary industry wireless telecommunications founded march 17 1999 ; 17 years ago 1999 03 17 chicago illinois u.s. headquarters atlanta georgia area served united states key people john dwyer president janna ducich vp and cmo george cleveland vp of customer operations products mobile phones tablets mobile broadband devices services wireless communications parent at & t website www.cricketwireless.com cricket wireless is a prepaid wireless service provider in the united states . cricket wireless offers voice text and data and is a wholly owned subsidiary of at & t inc. as of 2011 it provided prepaid wireless services to approximately 5 million subscribers in the united states . cricket wireless was founded in 1999 by leap wireless international inc. on july 12 2013 at & t inc. agreed to acquire cricket s parent company leap wireless international for 1.2 billion . the merger was approved by the federal communications commission on march 13 2014 1 and later that same day leap wireless announced the completion of its acquisition by at & t. 2 contents 1 history 2 coverage area 3 service rate plans 4 end of cdma service 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit typical cricket retail store in hillsboro oregon . leap wireless launched cricket wireless s first market in chicago illinois on march 17 1999 . 3 on september 4 2007 competing carrier metropcs announced a 5.3 billion bid to merge with leap wireless . 4 leap informally rejected the bid less than two weeks later . 5 metropcs officially withdrew the bid less than two months later on november 1 2007 . 6 former cricket wireless logo before merger with aio on september 17 2007 cricket launched wireless broadband service using ev do . 7 on december 12 2007 cricket agreed to acquire hargray communications group s wireless telecommunications business . 8 on april 8 2008 cricket launched in oklahoma city . 9 on september 29 2008 cricket announced that they had entered into a 10 year roaming agreement with metropcs covering both companies existing and future markets . the companies also entered into a spectrum exchange agreement covering licenses in certain markets 10 and on november 13 2008 cricket launched premium extended coverage a roaming partnership with 14 wireless companies . 11 on february 2009 cricket launched in chicago . on march 10 2009 cricket launched in the philadelphia market including eastern pennsylvania south jersey and delaware . 12 on june 23 2009 cricket launched in the washington dc and baltimore markets . 12 on september 28 2009 cricket changed its domain name to mycricket.com . 12 on april 13 2010 cricket launched cricket navigator a gps application that offers audible turn by turn navigation hyper local search and maps . 13 on august 2010 cricket and sprint signed a five year wholesale agreement mvno which allows cricket to utilize sprint s nationwide 3g evdo network in the u.s. on august 12 2010 cricket was a launch operator for the kyocera rio low cost touch phone . 14 on may 31 2012 cricket announced the iphone 4 and iphone 4s availability on its network . 15 on september 5 2012 electronic retailer radioshack in partnership with leap launched radioshack no contract wireless the service is powered by cricket . 16 on july 12 2013 at & t inc. agreed to buy cricket wireless parent for 1.2 billion and on march 13 2014 the federal communications commission approved the acquisition between at & t and leap wireless . 1 on may 18 2014 cricket s website mycricket.com and aio wireless s website aiowireless.com were redirected to the new cricketwireless.com site . this signaled the beginning of operations as the new cricket . gsm operations for cricket wireless began this day as well all aio wireless dealer stores were officially converted to the cricket brand and the aio wireless brand was retired . on september 24 2015 cricket wireless launched their variants of apple s iphone 6s and 6s plus smartphones . cricket wireless s advantage is their cricket protect insurance plan covering users from physical damage water damage loss and theft . coverage area edit cricket s cdma subscribers were previously covered in about 97 % of the united states using its home network and roaming agreements with sprint among other cdma carriers . however cricket s cdma network is currently in the process of being shut down and converted into an lte network . this transition will benefit all at & t and cricket wireless customers and further progress at & t s plans for volte . following the acquisition by at & t cricket wireless released devices using at & t s 2g 3g 4g hspa and 4g lte network . cricket wireless customers have coverage in 98 % of the united states on the at & t network which runs off the jasper networking system . cricket often boasts about their new strong network since its coverage is larger than that of t mobile sprint metropcs boost mobile and virgin mobile . cricket wireless users on the smart and pro plans can roam in mexico and canada at no additional costs . service rate plans edit cricket offers a variety of rate plans that include data allowance . plans start off at 30 for 1gb 40 for 2.5 gb of full speed data 50 for 5 gb of full speed data 60 for 10 gb of full speed data or 70 for unlimited full speed data . exceeding high speed data allotments results in reduced data speed throttling up to a maximum of 128 kbit s with the exception of the 70 plan which has no limits on high speed usage . 17 the base monthly price is reduced by 5 mo if auto pay is set up . 18 cricket s throttling use follows that of its competitors t mobile boost mobile virgin mobile etc. . the 128kbit s speeds reflect typical 2g edge data speeds . 19 standard lte network speeds are 8 mbit s while hspa network speeds are 4 mbit s. as of october 2015 cricket also offers unlimited talk text and data roaming in mexico and canada on plan tiers starting at 50 mo. 20 cricket also offers competitively priced family plans with the following prices 21 2 lines 70 month 10 off 3 lines 90 month 20 off 4 lines 100 month 30 off 5 lines 100 month 40 off end of cdma service edit cricket wireless noted on their old website 22 that cdma service will be terminated as early as september 2015 . most devices prior to the merger will not be compatible on the gsm network except the iphone 4s iphone 5 iphone 5c and iphone 5s . compatible iphone devices will only require a new sim card provided free of charge at any cricket wireless store or through customer service . see also edit aio wireless company that merged into cricket wireless . at & t inc. cricket wireless parent company . at & t mobility another subsidiary of at & t inc. at & t gophone at & t mobility s prepaid service . leap wireless international company that merged into cricket wireless . references edit a b welch chris march 13 2014 . fcc approves at & t s purchase of leap wireless says it s in the public interest . the verge . retrieved march 13 2014 . at & t leap merger march 13 2014 . leapwireless.mediaroom.com . 2014 . retrieved 2014 03 13 . about . leap wireless . retrieved 2009 08 27 . humer caroline 2007 09 04 . metropcs bids 5.3 billion for leap wireless . reuters . retrieved 2008 05 09 . leap rejects metropcs merger offer . thestreet.com . 2007 09 16 . retrieved 2008 05 09 . dano mike 2007 11 01 . metro ditches bid for leap . rcr wireless news . retrieved 2008 05 09 . leap wireless media relations press release press release . phx.corporate ir.net . 2007 09 17 . retrieved 2009 08 27 . leap wireless media relations press release press release . phx.corporate ir.net . retrieved 2009 08 27 . leap wireless media relations press release press release . phx.corporate ir.net . retrieved 2009 08 27 . leap wireless media relations press release press release . phx.corporate ir.net . retrieved 2009 08 27 . leap wireless media relations press release press release . phx.corporate ir.net . 2008 11 13 . retrieved 2009 08 27 . a b c cricket wireless news and coverage . prepaid reviews . retrieved 2011 10 10 . cricket launches new navigation solution . business wire . 2010 04 20 . retrieved 2011 10 10 . kyocera rio e3100 coming soon phonewebz moren dan may 31 2012 . prepaid carrier cricket leaps onto iphone scene . macworld . retrieved may 31 2012 . radioshack no contract wireless confirmed launches september 5 with exclusive huawei mercury ice prepaid mobile phone reviews 2012 09 04 unlimited data plan faq . cricketwireless.com . 2016 04 28 . retrieved 2016 04 28 . get a cell phone plan discount . cricketwireless.com . 2016 04 28 . retrieved 2016 04 28 . acceptable use policy . cricketwireless.com . 2014 05 18 . retrieved 2014 07 01 . plans & features faq . cricketwireless.com . 2016 04 28 . retrieved 2016 04 28 . best family cell phone plans . cricketwireless.com . 2016 04 28 . retrieved 2016 04 28 . cricket cdma network shutdown scheduled for september 15 has arrived prepaid mobile phone reviews 2015 09 15 external links edit official website cricket newsroom cricketnation on twitter cricketnation on facebook cricketnation on youtube at & t radioshack no contract wireless unofficial cricket wireless user forum cricketusers.com v t e at & t corporate directors chairman ceo and president randall l. stephenson gil amelio august busch iii martin k. eby jr. james a. henderson charles f. knight lynn morley martin john b. mccoy mary s. metz toni rembe s. donley ritchey joyce m. roche laura tyson patricia p. upton acquired companies at & t corporation ameritech bellsouth directv pacific telesis southern new england telecommunications at & t mexico unef n bell operating companies bellsouth telecommunications illinois bell indiana bell michigan bell nevada bell ohio bell pacific bell southwestern bell wisconsin bell competitive local exchange carrier sbc telecom long distance services alascom at & t corporation bellsouth long distance sbc long distance at & t mobility alltel ameritech cellular at & t wireless services bellsouth mobility bellsouth mobility dcs centennial wireless dobson communications houston cellular pacific bell wireless pacific bell wireless northwest sbc wireless snet mobility southwestern bell mobile systems southwestern bell wireless internet services ip services voip iptv u verse at & t internet services ameritech interactive media services pacific bell internet services prodigy southwestern bell internet services other isps at & t business internet bellsouth fastaccess dsl directories anywho.com yellowpages.com television channels at & t sports networks root sports northwest 40 % pittsburgh rocky mountain southwest utah other game show network 42 % mlb network 16.67 % audience telephone directories yp holdings 47 % at & t intellectual property at & t intellectual property i at & t intellectual property ii at & t intellectual property marketing at & t properties ameritech properties research and development at & t labs v t e united states wireless communications service providers national at & t mobility sprint corporation t mobile us verizon wireless public regional atlantic tele network gci u.s. cellular private regional c spire wireless cellcom cellular one claro puerto rico gta teleguam iconnect indigo wireless iwireless open mobile united wireless west central wireless mvnos virtual list of united states mobile virtual network operators defunct defunct virtual operators advanced mobile phone service airtouch alaska communications alltel at & t wireless services cincinnati bell dobson cellular edge wireless element mobile first cellular of southern illinois houston cellular midwest wireless nep wireless nextel communications northcoast pcs ntelos pocket