Despite its closed ecosystem and 3G connection speeds, the iPhone's relentless popularity shows no sign of slowing down. Now, even more people will be able to use the device in more flexible ways.
After AT&T killed prepaid plans for the iPhone, no US carrier has allowed anyone to go with a prepaid, no contract plan when it came to the iPhone. Not anymore. Come June 22nd, Cricket will be selling the iPhone and offering a $55 month-to-month unlimited voice, text and data plan.
That's right. No contract, no nothing. Just buy an iPhone 4S or 4 for $500 (16GB model) or $400 (8GB model) from Cricket and you can have an "unlimited" voice, text and data plan by prepaying 55 bucks a month. That's a pretty good deal! Combing through the fine line though, you'll notice that "unlimited" data actually means up to 2.3GB a month, which at the very least, is more than what Verizon's data cap offers.
Cricket's coverage map looks to be putridly anorexic so you'll have to see if that tradeoff works for you but having the flexibility of a prepaid iPhone might. Who wants to free themselves from the shackles of cellphone contract? On June 22nd, you can.
Maybe less in the long run, given the expensive data plans on Verizon and AT&T, this might be a value many will run to.
[Source: Gizmodo, The Christian Science Monitor]