Cricket Wireless adds HBO Max with ads to its unlimited plan for free

What you need to know

• Cricket unlimited customers will get HBO Max with ads for free starting August 20.
• You must have or upgrade to Cricket's $60 unlimited plan.
• HBO Max with ads costs $10 per month separately.

Cricket Wireless is a prepaid phone service that is owned by AT&T that provides a wide range of plans whether you need unlimited data or just a couple of gigs. Starting on August 20, Cricket Wireless is adding HBO Max with ads to its top $60 unlimited plan. The price comes down when you add multiple lines with four lines bringing the cost down to $33 per line. This plan also comes with 5G access, no speed limit, and 15GB of mobile hotspot data.

This HBO Max plan normally costs $9.99 per month and comes with all of HBO's programs except for Warner Bros. movie premieres. All of HBO's original programming as well as its other movies and TV shows are available to this tier of customers. Unlike other HBO subscriptions, however, ads will be shown for HBO original programs and will not be longer than four minutes per hour of watching. You can also check out a free trial of HBO Max if you're not sure whether it's worth the upgrade.

Cricket Wireless isn't the only carrier to offer streaming perks for its customers. AT&T postpaid's Unlimited Elite comes with ad-free HBO Max, Metro by T-Mobile comes with Amazon Prime on its most expensive plan, and some Verizon postpaid plans come with Disney Plus for example. In fact, many of the best cell phone plans come with some streaming extras though it's not as common with prepaid carriers.

The Cricket wireless $60 unlimited plan is a great cheap cell phone plan thanks to its large amount of data including nationwide 5G, and 15GB of hotspot data. You can bring the price down to $55 per month with autopay and you can also get some great multi-line discounts if you bring the whole family. This plan also comes with 150GB of cloud storage and works in Mexico and Canada (up to 50% usage.)