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.
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How to choose a cell phone plan
Read morePicking a cell phone plan can be tough, though not impossible. We have a market where there are multiple cell phone carriers, various data plans, and myriad charges and call rates. How do you choose a cell phone plan that suits your needs? Well, good news – here are some of the tips helping you on how to choose a cell phone plan.
Before you scurry off towards getting that Verizon subscription, check which smartphone you are using. Are you actually using a smartphone or just a basic phone for calling and texting? Your lifestyle plays an important part in choosing the right plan. Whether you are an avid online gamer or an occasional web user can determine how much monthly data you need. You can use online data consumption trackers to find out how much data you actually consume.
There is actually a lot more to this than just the technical aspect of things. Here are four considerations you need to keep in mind in order to choose the right cell phone plan for you.
Data Consumption: The average user in the US consumes up to 733 MB of data per month just on their phones. Installing data consumption tracking tools on your PC or smartphone can help you track your monthly data usage. Whether you 500 MB or 5 GB, knowing how much data you actually use can come in handy and make sure you don’t spend for what you don’t use.
Budget: Budget plays an important role here. Stick to your budget since you don’t want to fall into credit card debt. Go for pre-paid plans since they are safer for students. If you run out of data, you can simply add more. This can help monitor your total data usage over the month and avoid overspending. The con of postpaid plans is that you get billed whenever you cross the FUP limits or the cap on data usage. This can lead to higher bills and more debt. If you’re a student, it can spell disaster if you don’t take caution.
Features: Every cell phone service provider offers various plans and features. AT&T offers the user the option to pay per text unlike other carriers like Verizon and this can be handy if you don’t text often and very rarely. Some carriers are great for unlimited deals whilst others are geared for the frugal users. Not only that, but carriers have their coverage limits and ranges.
Do some research on the various cell phone carriers and base your decision wisely on what they offer and decide if it’s worth the price. You should also consider how much security and privacy the carrier provides. You don’t want your privacy to be breached or files to be accessed unauthorized. Every carrier has different policies regarding storing and sharing personal information. Be sure to read the terms and conditions and decide accordingly.
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Top 3 Asus tablets you can choose from
Read moreAsus has been one of the most formidable brands in the world of technology. In 2011, they were one of the frontrunners when they released Android Honeycomb 3.0 tablets, known as Eee Pad Transformers, into the market. Subsequently, they have released some good products on the market and have had some pretty impressive sales. Listed below are some of the noteworthy tablets that have been on sale from Asus:
- Asus ZenPad S 8.0 Z580CA
An elegant, stylish, and luxurious tablet with a reasonable price tag. The device is solid with a metallic rear panel with a diamond hairline pattern. It comes in two variants, i.e., white and black. The 8-inch screen has an LCD IPS panel with amazing brightness level and saturation. The touchscreen is covered by a Corning Gorilla glass. Depending on the variant, the device that supports Android Lollipop 5.0, comes with either a quad-core or the Intel Atom Z3580 or Z3560 processor. The other configurations are 4GB RAM, up to 64 GB of storage and a PowerVR G6430 GPU. The storage can be increased up to 128 GB by adding a microSD card. The battery on this device is Li-Po and has a rating of 15.2Wh and the battery is non-removable. The primary camera is 8 megapixels while the front camera is 5 megapixels. - Asus ZenPad S 8.0 Z380CA
This tablet looks more like a mobile phone than a tablet, in the sense that it is more taller and less wide for a tab. The advantage of this design is that it is easy to access and can be held in the hand. The processor in this device is the Intel Atom C3230RK and the graphics adapter is ARM Mali-450 MP4. This device has an 8-inch display with an aspect ratio of 16:10 and 1280×800 resolution. - Asus ZenPad 3S 10
The device is fashionable with a metallic panel and diamond cut bezels in the corners. The edges are curved enabling the user to handle the tablet in a much easier fashion. The screen is a 9.7- inch 1536 x 2048. The device is powered by a MediaTek hexacore chipset. The other configurations are 4GB RAM and the battery on this device is 5900mAh.
- Asus ZenPad S 8.0 Z580CA