What is an MVNO?
An MVNO is the abbreviation for Mobile Virtual Network Operator that is a smaller carrier for telecommunication. Here, the parent company (The big 4- T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc.) owns all the network towers and the smaller carriers piggyback on the parent’s network which then resells the services to consumers at a cheaper price. Cheaper price because the maintenance, advertising, and other charges are added to the parent’s expenses. In addition, the smaller carriers do not have any tie-ups with cell phone models which means no contract fees. Hence, the service offered by the MVNO will be same as the parent and charges will be lesser. For example, AT&T is a parent company and the MVNOs that run on its network are Cricket Wireless, Straight Talk, TracFone, H2O Wireless, Net10 Wireless, FreedomPop, Consumer Cellular, Red Pocket Mobile, Good2Go Mobile, and 420Wireless.

About Cricket Wireless network
Cricket Wireless is a wireless service provider in the United States offering voice, text, and data services majorly through prepaid plans. It was founded by Leap Wireless International in 1999 and was later acquired by AT&T in 2014.

Prior to the acquisition, Cricket was popular with its CDMA network covering about 96% of the US. Post the take-over, the carrier caters to almost 99% of America through its devices that use AT&Ts network in the LTE and HSPA+platform. Cricket still continues to be a preferred carrier over its MVNO competitors, (T-Mobile and Sprint) through its cheap, reliable, strong network, and enhanced speeds for data usage with 3G and 4G services. There are also plans offered by Cricket which makes roaming in Mexico and Canada friendly on the pockets.

Why choose Cricket?
Cricket also offers phones that are relatively inexpensive than its competitors and that run on its own carrier. This may help the consumer in making a quick decision if one is looking for a cheap cellphone without breaking his/her head too much on doing a comparative study.
If one already owns a mobile device and is looking for a good network (similar to AT&T), then choosing Cricket adds a better value in terms of cost. Primarily because Cricket is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, all the additional costs goes into its parent’s bucket thereby making it cheaper compared to other carriers who also run on the same network.
Any unlocked phone including most Android and iPhones that are compatible with AT&T’s GSM network will run well with Cricket too. Hence, you will be able to use the device of your choice without compromising on the network.