Cricket Broadband Cards

For the most recent info, check out the 2011 Cricket Broadband Cards & Mobile Hotspots Review.

At the time of this review, there are 3 Cricket modem cards:

1. A600 (USB Broadband Card)
2. UM185C (USB Broadband Card)
3. EC1705 (USB Broadband Card)

While both all USB broadband cards, there are slight differences between the three (and we’re not talking about the colors).

 

A600

Around the same size as the UM185C, the A600 Cricket Broadband Card is also has a swivel USB broadband card that we tell people to look out for. It’s a feature you want on a broadband card so it doesn’t stick out and get broken off so easily.

Something the A600 has that the UM185C doesn’t is a microSD slot for up to an extra 4GB of storage. Pretty handy if you like multi-functional devices. Like its cousin, it’s compatible with a wide range of operating systems (with support for 64bit versions of Vista):

• Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 1 or later (Service Pack 4 is recommended), with high encryption support.
• Windows® XP
• Windows Vista™ (32-bit & 64-bit)
• Windows 7
• Mac OS® X Tiger (10.4 & up)
• Mac OS® X Leopard (10.5 & up)
• Mac OS® X Panther (10.3.9 & up)
• Not compatible with Linux

Like we mentioned above, we’ll skip the minimum requirements. If you’ve just absolutely got to have them, you can get them here:

While there is no web discount for the A600, it does have a mail-in rebate of $50. Starting out at $119 on the spot, after the web discount it’s $50 and if you add the rebate it’ll be free. Not a bad bargain and definitely cheaper than an iPhone. To sum it up:

The A600 Cricket Broadband Card is free after mail-in rebate (you pay $50 on the spot). Like the UM185C, shipping is free.

If you like to comb through the minutia of details like I do sometimes, here’s where you can grab the A600 User Manual. As a very nice feature, you can also download the preloaded software for your PC or Mac for your Cricket broadband card. This is extremely handy if you have a netbook and no CD drive.

Good looking out on this one Cricket.

 

UM185C

The UM185 is a swivel type USB Broadband Card. That means it’ll point up instead of horizontally to decrease the chance of it bumping into something.At around the size of a credit card, the UM185 isn’t that big. Being a USB broadband card, it’s pretty compatible with a wide range of operating systems such as:

• Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 1 or later (Service Pack 4 is recommended), with high encryption support.
• Windows® XP
• Windows Vista™ (32-bit & 64-bit)
• Windows 7
• Mac OS® X Tiger (10.4 & up)
• Mac OS® X Leopard (10.5 & up)
• Not compatible with Mac OS® X Panther (10.3.9 & up)
• Not compatible with Linux

While we could get into minimum requirements, if you have a computer that’s less than 10 years old, you’re pretty much good to go. The fact of the matter is that if you laptop can run one of the operating systems above, it should be able to handle the UM100.

After a web discount & mail-in rebate it’s free (you’ll pay $50 on the spot).

 

EC1705

Similar in size to the UM185 and the A600, the EC1705 is Cricket’s latest addition to their line of broadband cards:

Supported operating systems:

• Windows Vista (SP1) or higher
• Windows XP (SP2) or higher
• Windows 2000 (SP4)
• Mac OS X (10.4.11+) and (10.5+)

For instructions on how to install on Windows as well as Mac operating systems, see the instructions on Cricket’s site.

There’s nothing spectacular to report about the EC1705. There isn’t a microSD port and doesn’t include a swivel port. It’s a basic device that’ll get you connected to the internet for $65 on the spot(but free after a mail-in rebate).

 

 

Overall Impression

For a prepaid mobile broadband carrier, Cricket offers a decent variety of plans and devices.

With mobile broadband plans starting at $40 ($1.33/day) without contracts of early termination fees, they’ll be a viable option for a good time to come. If they had more coverage, they could give just about anyone a run for their money. Heck, it even makes more sense than most mobile broadband rental for a month.

While I recommend Cricket, I would like to see a stronger offering in the near future. Here’s where you can get some Cricket broadband cards in your life.

 

Looking for a Comparison?

Check out the Prepaid Mobile Broadband Comparison to see how Cricket Broadband matches up against the other prepaid mobile broadband carriers out there.

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