Compare Tracfone Prepaid and Cricket Cellular Service
Cricket starts at $30 a month for unlimited minutes and unlimited Texting. They have several different options you can add to your service to spend up to $60 per month.
Tracfone is available everywhere in the US. Online at Tracfone.com you can purchase a Tracfone for every zip code in the US. You can purchase at Cricket.com.
Tracfone Lg 3280 on the left and LG CG 225 on the right.
Tracfone is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator which means they do not own a cellular network. They buy minutes from the major carriers like At&t, Verizon, Alltel and resell them to you.
When there is a problem with a Cricket phone they are able to fix it without dealing with any other company. When activating your Tracfone sometimes the company Tracfone is setting your phone up on is the problem. Also when transferring your old cell number Tracfone is having to deal with your old carrier and the new carrier. It is simpler and often faster for Cricket to transfer numbers.
Depending on where you live Tracfone will sell you a GSM phone or sometimes a CDMA phone if you live in an area the AT&T does not work. All Cricket phones are CDMA for use on the Cricket CDMA Cell Network.
On all the new Tracfones roaming is free on some of the older Tracfones it costs 2 units per minute of use. Cricket roaming is about 15 cents a month on top of your monthly fees.
The Tracfones are always fairly basic phones but they start as low a $15 for a phone. Cricket offers some of the latest phones with MP3 players and web access and all the latest stuff.
Cricket is a great deal if you live in one of the cities where Cricket works. If you talk or text a lot this will be the cheapest service you can use.
Tracfone is a good deal if you use your phone for messages, not for talking. You can spend as little as $10 a month and keep your service active.