Many telephone companies also keep information about where you've been, historical information about the towers your phone connected to for periods of several years." Advertisement For example, AT&T keeps records of who you call and who calls you for between 5 and 7 years. The norm in the telephone industry is to keep lots and lots of data.
"Cricket keeps the bare minimum necessary to provide you with telephone service," Soghoian said in that 2012 talk. Cricket does not keep records of phone numbers called, retain the contents of text messages, or store IP address records, he said, noting that the ACLU had uncovered this information with Freedom of Information Act requests. However, privacy policies on company websites typically don't reveal exactly what data companies collect, Soghoian said. In a 2012 TEDx talk, privacy researcher Christopher Soghoian praised Leap for keeping fewer records of customer activities than AT&T and other wireless companies.Ĭricket's privacy policy says it "may use your call usage patterns and the other information you have provided to us to determine the number and frequency" of personalized messages and ads sent to customers. Cricket was unusually protective of consumer privacyĪnother question resulting from the acquisition is whether Cricket's privacy policies will change under AT&T.
And, a call’s time ends after you press the end button and your phone’s signal to disconnect is received by the network and the call disconnect signal is confirmed." The company also said that accessing voicemail and transferring calls could add to the amount of time customers are charged for. A call’s time begins when you press the send button.
WHAT NETWORK DOES CRICKET MOBILE USE FULL
While it's common for wireless operators to charge customers for a full minute of call time for each fraction of a minute used, "it now appears that even calls that end before a minute is up are also getting treated as two-minute calls," the story said.ĪT&T responded to the Post as follows: "The time displayed on the phone does not necessarily reflect the actual start and end periods recorded for the time charged to the customer. The Switch's tests also turned up a similar phenomenon with T-Mobile's prepaid phones." Advertisement In the case of one AT&T subscriber, the network added as many as 33 seconds to his call after he hung up, allowing AT&T to bill him for an additional minute of usage. "According to the Switch's hardware tests, as well as a formal complaint lodged with federal regulators, wireless companies are reporting longer call times than what a customer's device will show. "Fans of Cricket's service may have a reason to be wary of their new corporate overlords," the Post wrote on its tech policy blog, The Switch. Is there reason for those customers to be worried? The Washington Post today said that there might be in a story describing AT&T's alleged practice of billing prepaid customers "extra for minutes they don't appear to be using." While, among other things, AT&T has committed to offering a $40, unlimited plan for feature phones for 18 months, the best guarantee of consumer protection is competition, not promises."Ĭricket has 4.57 million customers in 35 states, who will be migrated to new service within "18 months after the launch of the new Cricket," AT&T said. "The removal of Leap (which operates the well-known brand Cricket) from the marketplace is troubling, because its low-cost, prepaid price plans are particularly attractive to low-income consumers. "Although we're pleased the Commission has required specific spectrum divestitures of AT&T in accordance with its existing spectrum policies, this proceeding highlights the need for new policies that better address the problem of spectrum consolidation," Public Knowledge Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer wrote. The FCC placed some conditions on the deal, but consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge said it still has troubling aspects. Further Reading In move for spectrum and prepaid customers, AT&T buys Leap for $1.1 billionAT&T was able to complete the purchase eight months after it was announced because the Federal Communications Commission approved the deal yesterday.