The first pre-paid iPhone is now available through the popular cell phone carrier, Cricket. The iPhone, of course, has been available for many months through the big three carriers, but these all came with required contracts. Now that Cricket is offering the iPhone, the ease of getting and using Apple’s iPhone has become much better. Starting June 22nd, 2012, the iPhone will be made available to the public through Cricket without the hassle of signing an expensive and lengthy contract.

While there are some drawbacks—customers need to pay nearly full price for the phone itself since Cricket is not subsidizing the cost—this presents a better opportunity for people to start using this amazing piece of technology. For the newest iPhone 4S, customers will need to pay $500 for the phone itself, but then will be entitled to all of the freedom that comes without having the burdensome contract that the major cell providers mandate. If you want to get the older model iPhone 4, the cost is only $400.

The usage of the iPhone, regardless of which model you select, will be about $55 per month through Cricket. If you compare this to the price of the other cell providers, you are saving anywhere from $20 to $30 per month. this will ultimately save you a lot of money over the course of time. Cricket might not be able to pick up the majority of the cost of the actual phone, but you are paying a bit more upfront in order to save money down the road. This is the most economical choice if you plan on using the iPhone for an extended period of time. According to one estimate, the average iPhone user pays about $2,775 over the course of a two year period. With Cricket, that same period of time will cost about $1,719. This is a savings of over $1,000 every two years.

As you can see, Cricket will be offering the iPhone to a much larger segment of the population. Pre-paid phone sales have been on the increase lately, and by offering such a great product for so cheap, Cricket is making the usage of top of the line technology much cheaper and therefore, more accessible.

There are other drawbacks to going with Cricket’s iPhone package. They have a smaller geographical area of coverage than a Verizon or AT&T would have. This means that you definitely need to check out Cricket’s area of coverage prior to buying the phone. In most urban and suburban areas, however, there will be no problems. About 90 million Americans have Cricket coverage—compare this to the 275 million that are covered by the other major carriers.

If you are covered, this presents a great opportunity for you to experience the very best in cell phone technology. Apple and the iPhone has revolutionized the way cell phones are used in our country and with Cricket’s help, the iPhone looks like it will continue to be the dominant cell phone used all over.1