AT&T and Cricket Wireless offer the same coverage at very different price points. As a major cell service provider, AT&T specializes in postpaid phone plans packed with high-speed data. Cricket—also owned by AT&T—offers more affordable plans that operate on the same network. Plus, Cricket includes plan perks customers love, such as a free HBO Max subscription.
Since both carriers run on the same 5G and 4G LTE towers, we think Cricket's budget-friendly plans offer better value for the average user. In fact, we tested Cricket Wireless for a month and were very impressed with its reliable coverage, steady speeds, and practical perks.
However, AT&T offers a greater variety in premium data allowances and better international perks.
Let’s get into the details of AT&T and Cricket Wireless to help you determine which carrier is right for you.
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Get to the point: AT&T vs. Cricket Wireless carrier snapshot
You can get a better idea of what it’s like to be a customer with one of these carriers through our hands-on reviews of AT&T and Cricket Wireless. Before you read all about them, here’s a quick rundown of the pricing and features of each if you want to make a decision right away:
| AT&T | Cricket Wireless | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan prices | $50–$110/month | $30–$55/month |
| Mobile hotspot data | 0–250GB | 0–50GB |
| 5G networks and speeds* | 5G+: 153–472Mbps 5G: 57–337Mbps |
5G+: 114–444Mbps 5G: 46–254Mbps |
| Family plans available | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly plans available | Yes | Yes |
| WhistleOut rating | ||
| Shop plans | Shop plans |
*Typical download speeds
The bottom line: Cricket's pricing edges out AT&T
Cricket Wireless offers top-notch plans on AT&T's network for a fraction of the price. Plus, you get useful perks that help you save on entertainment expenses. Although AT&T offers more premium data and international benefits, Cricket trumps the major carrier's perks with free HBO Max access and cloud storage.
Your individual needs should guide you when choosing between these two carriers.
- Cricket is best for customers looking for a cheaper plan with excellent coverage.
- AT&T is best for customers who need more premium data allotments, which come with a premium cost.
With prices starting at $30/month, you can choose from Cricket's limited and unlimited data plans and pay half what AT&T charges customers. For example, Cricket's top-tier unlimited plan with all the bells and whistles is only $55/month, whereas AT&T's plans start at $50/month.
That said, Cricket only offers one plan with unlimited premium data, instead offering deprioritized data on most of its options. AT&T, on the other hand, offers premium data with more plans, making it ideal for faster speeds that never slow down, regardless of network traffic.
Whichever plan is best for you depends on your priorities, but Cricket's lower pricing makes it tough to beat.
Reviews and ratings: How we scored AT&T and Cricket Wireless
At WhistleOut, we review all carriers using the same five criteria: price, value, speed, coverage, and customer service. Each is evaluated on a 5-star scale to calculate the carrier's overall rating.
- – Price: 2.4 out of 5
- – Value: 3 out of 5
- – Data speeds: 4 out of 5
- – Coverage and network reliability: 4.5 out of 5
- – Customer service: 2.5 out of 5
- – Price: 3.5 out of 5
- – Value: 4 out of 5
- – Data speeds: 4.5 out of 5
- – Coverage and network reliability: 4.5 out of 5
- – Customer service: 4 out of 5
AT&T's rating details
AT&T delivers reliable service and generous premium data allowances on its plans. However, the carrier's higher monthly costs may not align with the needs of budget-conscious users. Our team expert, Kevin Kearney, was an AT&T customer for over 15 years and ultimately decided to leave in search of a more affordable plan. AT&T's fast speeds and 5G network weren't enough to make him stay. However, AT&T's high-speed data plans may be right for you.
You can read about Kevin's full experience and see the results of his network testing in our AT&T review.
Cricket's rating details
Cricket offers competitively priced plans on AT&T's network, and some of the best perks on the market. Our staff writer, Jessica Santero, spent a month testing Cricket's mid-tier Smart Unlimited plan and was impressed by its extensive coverage for only $45/month. She also never saw speeds dip below 190Mbps, eliminating any need for premium data. That said, she noted that Cricket's plan was pricey when compared to other top MVNOs, especially since it lacked premium data.
Check out our Cricket Review for Jessica's full experience during her month on Cricket's Smart Unlimited plan.
AT&T vs. Cricket Wireless: Plan prices and value
Cricket's plans are much cheaper than AT&T's options, while still offering impressive perks.
The cheapest AT&T unlimited plan is its $50/month Value 2.0 plan. It includes the basics, like unlimited data, international texting, and 3GB of hotspot.
Choose from AT&T's upper-tier unlimited options for more perks.
- The $70/month Extra 2.0 plan
- The $90/month Premium 2.0 plan
- The $110/month Elite 2.0 plan
These plans go all in on hotspot data, offering 50GB, 100GB, and 250GB of hotspot, respectively (that's the largest hotspot allowance we've ever seen). Each planl also includes full roaming in Mexico and Canada. Premium data is reserved for AT&T's three pricier plans. The Extra 2.0 plan includes 100GB, while the Premium 2.0 and Elite 2.0 plans provide truly unlimited premium data. It's important to note that AT&T's plans include a $10/month AutoPay discount, so expect to pay more when you first sign up.
Cricket Wireless offers four prepaid plans, including a 10GB option and three unlimited offerings. For only $30/month, Cricket's Sensible 10GB plan is the cheapest, including 10GB of premium data and 5G access. For a step up from this bare-bones option, Cricket offers three unlimited tiers:
- The Select Unlimited plan for $35/month
- The Smart Unlimited plan for $45/month
- The Supreme Unlimited plan for $55/month
Cricket's AutoPay discount isn't as steep as AT&T's, but you can still save $5/month with automatic payments.
Compare specific AT&T and Cricket plans
Check out the prepaid plans offered by AT&T and Cricket Wireless below:
| AT&T | Cricket Wireless | |
|---|---|---|
| Select plan | ||
| Mobile data | ||
| Coverage | ||
| Hotspot | ||
| Speeds | ||
| Price | ||
| Shop plans | Shop plans |
*Subject to deprioritization
Unlimited premium starting at $25/month
US Mobile is another AT&T MVNO (like Cricket), which offers truly unlimited premium data starting at only $25/month. You can get the exact same coverage as you would from an AT&T plan, but only pay a fraction of the price. US Mobile's Unlimited Starter plan on the Dark Star network (AT&T's network) includes unlimited, uncapped premium data and 20GB of hotspot data—all for just $25/month.
Read up on how to switch and start saving now with US Mobile in our guide.
|
US Mobile
Unlimited Starter Plan (Dark Star)
$25.00/mo
$20/mo. for 6 months; $25/mo. thereafter
|
Unlimited data plans
AT&T offers more premium data, but it costs twice as much as Cricket.
Starting at $50/month, AT&T's Value 2.0 plan includes unlimited data and a 3GB hotspot. Note that this plan lacks premium data, so your speeds may be slowed when the network is busy.
For more perks, opt for either the Extra 2.0 or Premium 2.0 plans. At $70/month and $90/month each, you get 100GB of premium data with the Extra 2.0 plan or unlimited premium data with the Premium 2.0 plan. The hotspot allowance is also bigger on these plans, offering 50GB or 100GB of hotspot data. Plus, all of AT&T's unlimited plans include data roaming in Mexico and Canada, with over 20 more countries included in the Unlimited Premium plan.
Cricket has more cost-effective plans with equally great perks. Select Unlimited is its base unlimited plan, costing $35/month. It includes unlimited (albeit deprioritized) data that may slow at high-trafficked times, and unlimited talk and text to Mexico and Canada. For an extra $10/month, Smart Unlimited includes a 15GB hotspot, data roaming, unlimited text to 200+ countries, and 100GB of cloud storage. Lastly, Cricket's most expensive plan sits at $55/month, and ups the ante with unlimited premium data, 50GB of hotspot data, and an HBO Max subscription.
Jessica's experience with Cricket
Jessica was impressed with the consistent speeds of the Smart Unlimited plan:
"I never experienced dips in my data speed, never had a dropped video call while on the road, and enjoyed seamless streaming wherever I went.”
Learn more in her full Cricket review.
When compared head to head, Cricket's and AT&T's unlimited plans are very similar. But at $55/month Cricket's premium plan is $25-55/month cheaper than AT&T's, and includes more impressive perks.
Does Cricket get deprioritized compared to AT&T?
Yes, Cricket data speeds can be deprioritized compared to AT&T, but it depends on which plan you choose. Cricket's top-tier Supreme Unlimited plan is the only option that includes unlimited premium data that never slows. Otherwise, your data might slow if the network is really busy. However, in our experience, we didn't see any dips in speed over a whole month.
That said, AT&T also offers unlimited plans with deprioritized data too. Both its Premium 2.0 and Elite 2.0 plans offer premium data. Even then, for truly unlimited premium, you'll need to shell out $90-110/month for AT&T's most expensive options.
Plan perks
Both carriers' perks are almost identical, with Cricket's free streaming subscription and cloud storage offering a slight edge over AT&T.
AT&T offers data roaming in Mexico and Canada with all of its unlimited plans, a perk that is limited to Cricket's Smart and Supreme offerings. The same goes for the international texting feature, with unlimited messaging to over 200 locations. The star perk at AT&T is included with the $110 Elite 2.0 plan: Data roaming in 20 different Latin American countries. That means you can use your plan in Guatemala, Brazil, and more too.
Cricket may not offer data roaming in as many countries, but Cricket storage and entertainment perks are more practical. You get 100GB of photo storage with Smart Unlimited, and a whopping 150GB with Supreme Unlimited. To top it off, the Supreme Unlimited plan shows its superiority with a free HBO Max Basic with Ads subscription. That's a value of $109.99/year included free of charge. Cricket is one of the only carriers that gifts HBO Max to customers. In fact, AT&T used to offer HBO Max as well, but has since discontinued this perk.
AT&T Prepaid vs. Cricket Wireless
AT&T's own prepaid brand offers more plan options, but Cricket generally provides better value. AT&T Prepaid's entry-level plans start with a 5GB plan for $30/month and a 15GB plan for $40/month.
Despite this variety, Cricket's unlimited plans offer more attractive perks. With generous hotspot data (up to 50GB) and streaming perks, Cricket's plans are enticing. And at comparable—or lower—price points, Cricket’s great value makes it the ideal choice for most users.
Family plans
Both carriers offer solid family plan options, whether you want to purchase multiple lines of the same plan or mix and match your options.
AT&T’s Unlimited Your Way allows you to customize your multi-line family plan to fit your needs, while also snagging you some great savings. Choose from AT&T’s unlimited plans, and your total price depends on the number of lines you choose from each.
AT&T Unlimited Your Way monthly pricing
| Value 2.0 | Extra 2.0 | Premium 2.0 | Elite 2.0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 line | $50 | $70 | $90 | $110 |
| 2 lines | $90 (or $45/line) |
$120 (or $60/line) |
$160 (or $80/line) |
$200 (or $100/line) |
| 3 lines | $105 (or $35/line) |
$150 (or $50/line) |
$195 (or $65/line) |
$255 (or $85/line) |
| 4 lines | $120 (or $30/line) |
$160 (or $40/line) |
$200 (or $50/line) |
$300 (or $75/line) |
| 5 lines | $150 (or $30/line) |
$200 (or $40/line) |
$250 (or $50/line) |
$375 (or $75/line) |
The best Cricket family plan includes its unlimited data plans. While you can add multiple lines to the carrier's 10GB plan, you won't see any per line discounts. For real savings, look to Cricket's unlimited plans for multi-line discounts. For example, four lines on both Cricket's Smart Unlimited and Select Unlimited plans are actually cheaper per line than Cricket’s Sensible 10GB offering. That’s less than $30/month for unlimited data when you get four lines.
Cricket family plans and pricing*
| Sensible 10GB | Select Unlimited |
Smart Unlimited |
Supreme Unlimited | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 line | $30/month | $35/month |
$45/month |
$55/month |
| 2 lines | $60/month (or $30/line) | $65/month (or $32.50/line) |
$75/month (or $37.50/line) |
$90/month (or $45/line) |
| 3 lines | $90/month (or $30/line) |
$90/month (or $30/line) |
$95/month (or $31.66/line) |
$110/month (or $36.66/line) |
| 4 lines | $120/month (or $30/line) |
$100/month (or $25/line) |
$110/month (or $27.50/line) |
$130/month (or $32.50/line) |
| 5 lines | $150/month (or $30/line) |
$120/month (or $24/line) |
$130/month (or $26/line) |
$160/month (or $32/line) |
*All plan pricing includes a $5 AutoPay discount
AT&T vs. Cricket coverage and speeds
Among the major carriers, AT&T has the second-most 4G LTE nationwide coverage behind Verizon and the second-most 5G coverage behind T-Mobile. Since AT&T and Cricket both operate on AT&T’s network, Cricket has the same excellent coverage. The AT&T network blankets 68% of the nation with 4G LTE coverage, and reaches 41.11% with top 5G speeds. If you want wireless service backed by a powerful network, both Cricket and AT&T are great options.
AT&T and Cricket offer consistent speeds, with AT&T performing slightly faster. In our hands-on testing of AT&T's Value plan, we saw speeds around 226–236Mbps, whereas speeds on Cricket's Unlimited Smart leveled at 190Mbps with a peak at 314.40Mbps.
Jessica's experience with Cricket Wireless
Jessica had a great experience with Cricket's data speeds and had excellent coverage throughout her hometown.
“The Smart Unlimited plan offered consistently fast performance, with speeds measuring between 190–200Mbps across the San Diego area. Even with possible deprioritization, these speeds remained strong. ”
Check out her full Cricket review for more details.
Check out our interactive coverage map below to see just how widespread AT&T's (and Cricket's) coverage is. Zoom in on your neighborhood and toggle between 4G and 5G coverage. Wherever you see purple, you're covered.
Customer service
Both AT&T and Cricket Wireless offer many options for customer service. They include chatbots, service phone numbers, and apps to get you connected to help. However, where both really stand out is the abundance of physical stores where you can find in-person help.
While neither is renowned for its personal customer service, both should be able to fix any problems that pop up. Your experience with both carriers will probably come down to your individual store or agent’s knowledge. In fact, while testing AT&T, our expert noted, "AT&T has exceptional customer service—when they finally get around to calling you back." He found it difficult to speak to an agent in AT&T's system, taking three days to hear back from a representative.
Bottom line: Cricket's pricing beats AT&T's premium data
AT&T offers higher data thresholds and more premium, but Cricket offers much better perks for half the price. So, if you're wondering if Cricket Wireless is as good as AT&T, the answer is undoubtedly yes: We think it's better.
Cricket makes the overall best choice, offering cheap unlimited data and fan-favorite perks. The $55/month Supreme Unlimited plan scores you unlimited premium data, 50GB of hotspot data, 150GB of cloud storage, and free HBO Max. That's the same price as AT&T's cheaper Unlimited Starter offering, without any perks. Plus, Cricket's family plan pricing drops the price even lower to just $32.50/line for a family of four.
Yet, AT&T offers more premium data across its plans, making it a smart choice for heavy-data users. For guaranteed fast speeds, choose between AT&T's Extra 2.0 and Premium 2.0 plans for premium data. That way, your speeds won't slow down when the network has lots of traffic. Plus, 100GB or unlimited premium data might be unnecessary since the average American only uses 10–12GB of data each month.
Switch to AT&T or Cricket Wireless
If you’ve made your decision and are ready to switch, we can help walk you through the process. Choose whether to upgrade to a new phone or bring your own device to Cricket Wireless. You’ll generally need to make sure your phone is paid off and unlocked, and any outstanding bills are up to date.
Check out our AT&T switching guide and Cricket Wireless switching guide for complete instructions.
|
Cricket
Supreme Unlimited Plan
$55.00/mo
with AutoPay; $60 for the first month.
+ $9.99 Upfront
|
FAQs: AT&T vs. Cricket
Why is Cricket Wireless cheaper than AT&T?
Cricket plans are cheaper because they’re prepaid and include fewer premium perks compared to AT&T’s postpaid plans.
Is Cricket Wireless the same as AT&T?
Does Cricket Wireless have the same coverage as AT&T?
Yes. Because Cricket uses AT&T’s network infrastructure, both carriers offer essentially the same nationwide coverage and access to AT&T’s 5G and LTE towers. Actual speeds and performance can still vary depending on congestion and plan type.
Is AT&T faster than Cricket Wireless?
AT&T can offer faster speeds on some plans because its customers often receive higher network priority. Cricket users may experience slower speeds or data deprioritization during heavy network congestion.
Can I bring my AT&T phone to Cricket Wireless?
Yes, you can bring your AT&T phone to Cricket Wireless. You just have to make sure that the device is unlocked. Since Cricket is an AT&T MVNO, it is compatible with AT&T's service, making transferring your service easy.
How WhistleOut rates cell phone plans
WhistleOut evaluates phone plans based on the following criteria:
- Price & value: Not all cheap plans are “bad,” and not all expensive plans are worth it. We look at everything a plan includes and compare it both to other plans from the same carrier, as well as similar plans from competitors in the market, to determine whether the value is consistent with the price.
- High-speed data: Also called “premium” data, this is how much data you get at full 4G/5G speeds before they can or will slow down. The more guaranteed high-speed data the plan includes, the better experience you’ll generally have—but there’s also usually a limit to how much you actually need, and we ensure that you’re not overpaying for data that will go unused.
- Coverage & network reliability: The breadth of each carrier’s 4G LTE and 5G networks determines your reception and service. Particularly in the case of 5G, some carriers offer far more robust coverage than others, which affects how their phone plans perform in different parts of the country.
- Plan extras and perks: In addition to the basics—talk, text, and data—some plans throw in freebies like hotspot allowances, cloud storage, entertainment subscriptions, or service discounts.
Our mobile experts tested AT&T and Cricket Wireless for at least a month each, in addition to leveraging proprietary data and real-world customer feedback. We compared the two carriers by analyzing their coverage, cost, and plan options. We considered plan-specific elements, including perks, premium data allowances, and mobile hotspot allocations. After performing hands-on testing and extensive research, we picked the best carrier we felt met the needs of most people, where we were able—in some areas, each carrier stacked up equally. We only compared AT&T vs. Cricket; no other carriers, big or small, were included in our examination.
Visit our guide to choosing a phone plan to learn more about cell phone carriers and plans and find the one that best meets your specific needs.
Jessica Santero
Staff Writer
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