AT&T Boosts Miami Presence With New Cricket Stores, Upgrades

MIAMI, FL — AT&T has boosted its presence in the Miami area, taking the wraps off four new Cricket stores for budget-minded customers in the Miami area since the start of the year, including the most recent location in North Miami Beach. AT&T has also announced improvements to its local network, which benefits all of its Miami area customers. The new Cricket stores are in response to growing consumer demand for prepaid plans.

"We’re continuing to invest in the market because South Florida is a growing, thriving market, and this prepaid segment is very strong," explained Kelly Starling of AT&T, which owns Cricket. (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Patch.)

The most recent store is at 190 N.E. 167th Avenue in North Miami Beach. The other stores opened in Miami-Dade this year are in Florida City, Hialeah, and Downtown Miami. Three Cricket stores also opened in Broward County and three in Palm Beach County since the start of the year, according to Starling.

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Nationwide, the number of Cricket stores has grown by 50 percent since 2014 with more than 4,600 Cricket Wireless stores throughout the United States, including some 100 stores from southern Miami-Dade County to Vero Beach.

AT&T has also upgraded more than 130 cell sites in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties to improve mobile service for all of its customers. Extra capacity has been added to the cell sites so they can accommodate more network traffic. The result is faster data speeds and better overall network performance for customers, according to Starling.

"The investment we’re making in our South Florida networks is paving the way for 5G mobile services AT&T will be offering in the years ahead," Starling told Patch.

Here are areas in Miami-Dade and Broward counties that have benefited from the network upgrades, according to AT&T:

• Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Coral Ridge, Cutler Bay, Doral, Downtown Miami, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Homestead, Kendall, Medley, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, Norland, North Miami, Opa-locka, Pinewood, South Miami, Sweetwater, Virginia Gardens, West Miami, and West Perrine in Miami-Dade County.
• Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Davie, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Hillsboro Beach, Hollywood, Lighthouse Point, Margate, Miramar, North Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Pompano Beach, and Sunrise in Broward County.

AT&T spent nearly $975 million from 2014 to 2016 to upgrade its wireless and wireline networks in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The 2016 upgrades included:

• Upgraded to about 1,000 cell sites with extra capacity.
• Turned up five new cell sites.
• Rolled out mobile cell sites for four large events.
• Turned on an outdoor distributed antenna system at Hard Rock Stadium to boost coverage in the parking lot for tailgaters.

AT&T's newest Cricket Wireless store in Miami-Dade County recently opened in North Miami Beach. Photo courtesy of AT&T.