Roaming provides customers the ability to use their Cricket service throughout the US and Canada even when outside the unlimited coverage area included in your rate plan. There is an additional charge for roaming calls.
Cricket Wireless customers can use their Flex Bucket or pre-purchased roaming minutes to use Cricket service in roaming areas. Cricket PAYGo customers must use their account balance to pay for roaming minutes.
All customers should update their PRL by dialing *228 before entering a Roaming Coverage area.
You can tell if you are roaming if you see the roaming indicator on your phone (this may be the letter R, the word Roaming, or a roaming icon). In addition, if you place a call while roaming you will hear the announcement “Welcome to Nationwide Roaming.”
To dial a call while roaming, simply dial the 10 digit phone number. If you are roaming, you will hear an announcement that says “Welcome to Nationwide Roaming.”
The voice features that will work while you are roaming include voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, text messaging, *PAY, 611,911, and call forwarding (NOTE: call forwarding is not available for Cricket PAYGo customer at this time).
While roaming, you may not be able to download content, access the mobile web, send/receive picture messages, or use any other data services. Click here to view Cricket's data coverage map.
Cricket customers have a couple of options to pay for Roaming. Customers who have a monthly allotment of Roaming Minutes included with their rate plan pay for their Roaming Minutes through their monthly rate plan.
Customers who do not have Roaming Minutes included in their rate plan can use their Flex Bucket to pay for roaming on a per minute basis.To check your Flex Bucket balance, dial *PAY from your Cricket phone.
Customers must have a Cricket dual or tri-band phone in order to roam (depending on the area). There are a couple of options to add roaming to Cricket Wireless service (all Cricket PAYGo plans include the ability to roam):
-Purchase a rate plan that includes the roaming minutes
-Purchase a roaming minutes as a plan add-on
-Use your Flex Bucket or Cricket PAYGo account balance to pay for roaming minutes a la carte.
This is a list of our Roaming Partners that is stored on the Cricket phone. This listing provides the ability to roam onto the Roaming Partners' networks. This list can change over time, so it is important to dial *228 (and then press “Send”) from your Cricket phone prior to entering a Roaming Coverage area. This will ensure that you have the most up–to-date Preferred Roaming List provisioned on your phone.
To update your PRL complete the following before entering a Roaming Coverage area:
1. Dial *228 from the Cricket phone 2. Press SEND 3. Follow to the prompts given to complete the update
This process should take approximately one minute to complete.
Currently Cricket offers this service with phones that are dual and tri-band. You can purchase a dual or tri-band phone at a Cricket store, Cricket Exclusive Dealer, Cricket Authorized Dealer or online at mycricket.com to take advantage of this feature. If you are not sure if your phone is dual or tri-band, please call 1-800-CRICKET or visit your local Cricket store.
Nationwide Talk & Text Coverage allows you to use your phone without roaming costs in all 50 states (including the top 125 cities nationwide) and Puerto Rico.
Roaming provides customers the ability to use their Cricket service throughout the US and Canada even when outside the Nationwide Talk & Text Coverage Area. There is an additional charge for roaming calls.
Cricket Wireless customers can use their Flex Bucket or pre-purchased Roaming Minutes to use Cricket service in roaming areas. Cricket PAYGo customers must use their account balance to pay for Roaming Minutes.
All customers should update their PRL by dialing *228 before entering a Roaming coverage area.
Customers must be in a Cricket Coverage area to add Roaming Minutes, redeem Flex Bucket services for roaming, or change to a rate plan that includes Roaming Minutes.
Yes. Cricket offers roaming in Canada, with the same rates as in the US.
Cricket Wireless customers must use their Flex Bucket or subscribe to a service plan that includes a monthly allotment of roaming minutes.Cricket PAYGo customers must have sufficient account balance for roaming charges.
All customers should update their PRL by dialing *228 before entering a Roaming coverage area.
Yes. Change the phone settings to “home only” within the phone network settings of your phone. Consult your phone user manual for specific instructions. If you do need to roam, please remember to change your phone back to “Automatic” or “Scan.”
If you do not answer an incoming call while roaming and have the voicemail feature, the caller can leave a voicemail at no charge to you.The voicemail indicator will alert you of waiting messages (even while in roaming areas).When checking voicemail from the Cricket phone, you will be charged for roaming.
If you do not have the voicemail feature, you will hear a message advising you that you are not in a Cricket coverage area.
If you answer an incoming call while roaming, you will be charged roaming rates. If you do not have funds or minutes available, the call will be directed to voicemail or a message will play for you advising that you are not in a Cricket coverage area.
Additionally, you may not receive incoming calls if you haven’t updated your Preferred Roaming List (PRL). Click here to learn how.
Yes. Cricket Wireless customers must have Flex Bucket funds or subscribe to a rate plan that includes a monthly allotment of Roaming Minutes. Cricket PAYGo customers must have sufficient account balance for roaming charges.
To update the Preferred Roaming List (PRL) at any time after activation, simply dial *228 before entering a Roaming coverage area.
Once your Flex Bucket account is activated it may take up to 24 hours before you will have full use of your Flex Bucket funds. To guarantee quick access to Roaming service please make sure that you have updated your Preferred Roaming List on your Cricket phone, have Flex Bucket funds or subscribe to a rate plan that includes a monthly allotment of Roaming Minutes.
Generally if you flash your phone to Cricket, some of your calling features may not work and will not be supported by Cricket. Cricket only supports voice features and text messaging for non-Cricket phones.
The ability to use roaming on phones not purchased directly from Cricket will be dependent on whether the phone can download the Cricket PRL after dialing *228. Roaming coverage in tri-band markets will require a tri-band phone.
This indicates that you are in a Cricket Roaming Coverage area. Depending on your rate plan you may incur additional charges. Click here to see current roaming rates.
If you hear “dead air” and do not reach the prompt “Welcome to Cricket's Nationwide Roaming...” this may be an indicator that you are out of Flex Bucket funds. Please check your Flex Bucket account by calling Cricket's Customer Care Center (1-800-CRICKET) from another phone to add additional Flex Bucket funds.
If you hear a “fast busy” signal and do not reach the prompt “Welcome to Cricket's Nationwide Roaming...” this may be an indicator that you are out of Flex Bucket funds. Please check your Flex Bucket account by calling Cricket's Customer Care Center (1-800-CRICKET) from another phone to purchase additional Flex Bucket funds.
There are some areas where Cricket does not have a roaming partner. If you hear a notification that you have reached a network that requests a credit card or prepaid card, that network is not part of the Cricket Nationwide Roaming network.
