Leap Wireless International, the parent company of Cricket Communications, announced that it is launching its Cricket unlimited wireless services in the greater Philadelphia area beginning tomorrow.
Cricket’s coverage area expands from Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, across South Jersey to Atlantic City and down to Wilmington in northern Delaware. The Cricket footprint, which covers about 4,500 square miles and nearly 6.3 million covered POPs, brings Cricket’s total national covered POPs to about 83.8 million.
Cricket says the move to Philadelphia will bring 1,450 jobs to the area, including about 1,200 new positions created through the dealer network. Cricket will open 20 retail store locations in the Delaware Valley, with 12 stores in Philadelphia and the remainder spreading out across the surrounding suburbs, South Jersey and Wilmington.
In addition, Cricket service plans are available at 65 Cricket exclusive wireless dealers and 300 other dealer locations.
Cricket rate plans range from $30 to $60 per month and include unlimited anytime minutes, U.S. long distance, text and picture messaging, text to Mexico, mobile Web, directory assistance and nationwide roaming minutes.
Cricket rate plans also include unlimited use in all Cricket markets across the United States, including Pittsburgh and Chicago, as well as Premium Extended Coverage, which allows unlimited use in a broader area stretching from New York and Boston to California and from Wisconsin to Texas.
The unlimited no-contract plans from Cricket are on par with other services like Boost Mobile and MetroPCS, which offer similar plans at almost identical prices. Earlier this year, the Texas-based MetroPCS, launched its no-contract unlimited plan in the greater New York City and Boston areas.