Late last night (02/06) at 2 am I received a text from Cricket stating that: "This device is not eligible for activation on the Cricket network. Cricket's High-Definition voice network requires use of a compatible device..." The next morning, less than 12 hours later, my call, text and mobile data was promptly shut off. I'm just at a lost for words. In the course of less than 12 hours, my phone is unusable on their network. I currently have a unlocked Oneplus 7 Pro. When I bought the phone last year, I made sure that it would work with Cricket, who uses the GSM band. The phone has high-definition voice over network, and voLTE. It's a 4G LTE phone. Everything checks out. I should have been able to use the phone for awhile on their network. I've honestly loved Cricket with their cheap, (at least in my location) reliable service, unlimited talk/text and data. So to say the least, I'm pissed off. I'm writing this here to ask if others are having the same problem or heard of this. For now, I've called Cricket, and drove out today to talk to someone in person. They all told me the same thing, "we are cancelling the 3G service" and vague information on their BYOD program. Once I gave them my information and IMEI number, they all said that everything checks out and the phone meets all requirements to run on their network, but for some reason my 500 dollar, unlocked, to spec phone, doesn't work. They literally can't tell me why. I'll be switching to a new carrier ASAP as I need my phone for work and everyday life. I am truly shocked with the route Cricket has gone and how today has turned out.
Same EXACT problem, except I’m on a Xiaomi Mi9, I even asked the guy at the store if they were supported, he said “as long as it’s unlocked, GSM and uses the right bands, you’re good to go”. Well, looks like that was a lie. I’ve been using the same phone for the last year or so on cricket, just fine. It’s a GREAT phone and I love it.
My bill wasn’t late. I checked, said it wasn’t due until the 12th, I paid it early anyways to see if that would fix it, no dice (so I guess I’m just out that money, too).
I’ve got movers coming at 8am to get me into my new apartment. They said they were going to call and confirm, first. If I don’t answer (because I can’t) and they decide not to show and disappear with my deposit and I’m stuck “squatting” in my old apartment, I’m going to have an attorney “throw the book” at cricket. This is BS. Cell phones aren’t just “luxuries” anymore, we need them for everything now. You can't just do this to people out of the blue with no warning, it can literally cost people their jobs/homes etc.
You aren’t going to get people to buy new phones with you with this TERRIBLE business model, we’ll just leave and open accounts with your competitors, and sue if need be ...because this is going to cost me a TON of money and time and stress THAT COULDN’T HAVE COME AT A WORSE TIME.
I think I'm gonna switch over to T mobile tbh, what about you?
I think I'm gonna switch over to T mobile tbh, what about you?
The reason I came to cricket was T-mobile basically did the same thing to me on an old Sony Xperia phone I had. At least there was more warning, and I could still get the phone to work some of the time, it wasn’t 3 conflicting errors, no explanation, nobody answering the tech support line, and my entire living situation literally on the line at the last moment. This is completely absurd.
I loved Cricket up until this point, but I’ll leave in a heartbeat and go to a different network that supports my phone, if this isn’t some sort of freak mistake that’ll be fixed TODAY.
Honestly, at this point it seems like some REALLY cheap ploy to get everyone to spend their coming stimulus checks on some new phone they didn’t need.
dang. Yeah, this is some horrible PR for Cricket. I loved them too and it’s sad I’m gonna have to leave
I got mine reactivated.
Basically, if you brought your own device, and it has 3G capability (even if you only ever use 4G/LTE), they're dropping support in favor of pushing things into 5G.
If your sim/account was active before January 19th, then they should be able to reactivate you and give you a "grace period" until the end of the year.
Funny timing with the stimulus checks about to get sent out again. Probably why they didn't warn us... Seems to me like they could have easily just stopped sending 3G signal out and make us just use 4G/VoLTE all the time. So that seems like an obvious money grab (especially considering this seems to only effect people who brought their own devices). "Your phone is broken, buy a new one from us".
Shady, shady, shady.
I loved cricket, too. But if I've still got this phone and l don't break or lose it by the end of the year, I'm out.
How’d you do that? I've tried to contact them and they said they couldn't...
The call center has scripted responses, they only can do so much. This is how they make money. The call center may as well be setup like the chat mode. Frustrating times, where did real customer service go.
The only way to have any chance of fighting this money grab is to file a complaint with the FCC
https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us
Cricket and ATT are trying to force consumers to buy “approved” phones from them even if you already have a device that supports all their LTE bands (“HD Voice”) Limiting the use of public cell frequencies and towers is not legal and trying to force people into buying a new phone is just wrong, especially when there are thousands of compatible phones which do not appear on the short list
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