Cricket to sell iPhones with prepaid service for the first time

Cricket Wireless will soon become the first prepaid carrier in the U.S. to offer the iPhone 4 and 4S, the company announced Thursday.

Starting on June 22, Cricket’s service will run $55 a month for unlimited data, texting and calling. Data isn’t truly unlimited however: after you use 2.3GB of data, your speeds will be throttled.

“Our customers want the best products available and we are excited to bring iPhone to our pre-paid consumers with an industry leading $55 per-month service plan,” said Doug Hutcheson, CEO of Cricket-parent Leap Wireless, in a statement. “Launching iPhone is a major milestone for us and we are proud to offer iPhone customers attractive nationwide coverage, a robust 3G data network and a value-packed, no-contract plan.”

While the plans are much cheaper than major carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless, you have to pay more upfront for the phone itself. Cricket will charge $500 for a 16GB iPhone 4S or $400 for an 8GB iPhone 4. Cricket’s service is available in about 60 markets across the U.S.

If you end up using a phone for the life of two-year contract like you would on a standard postpaid carrier, you would certainly end up saving some cash. You can sign up here to get more info from Cricket.

iPhone 4S photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

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