Lumia 650 is currently free for new Cricket Wireless customers, $50 for everyone else

Confirming previous rumors, the no-contract carrier Cricket Wireless is currently selling Microsoft's Lumia 650 phone with Windows 10 Mobile for free for new customers who switch their old phone number from any carrier other than AT&T. The phone is priced at $49.99 (opens in new tab) for all other buyers.

Both the free and $49.99 offers for the Lumia 650 come with a one-time activation fee of $25, although our tipster indicated that some brick-and-mortar Cricket Wireless stores could wave that fee. This offer is for a limited time "while supplies last" according to the carrier. Keep in mind that getting the phone from Cricket will lock the user with the carrier for six months before an unlock code can be sent to the phone. That code can also be provided if the customer signs up for the carrier's $70 unlimited plan for one month.

Thanks again to RumoredNow for the tip!

See at Cricket Wireless (opens in new tab)

John Callaham
40 Comments
  • Not worth it. Why pay 25$ for phone with no apps?
  • why bother asking this question if you already know most people buy a Windows phone buy it because they like the metro UI, slick built in features, and because Windows Phones are just all around fun to tinker with.
  • because he has to reach his "stupid" quota for the day
  • STUPID QUOTA. I like that. I totally agree.
  • I think he's accumulated enough stupid for a decade
  • You do know this is Windows Central right. Also I I works better than a $25 Android phone. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Really? A $200 phone works better than a $25 one? Very insightful. A $200 Android phone will run circles around the L650 in every way imaginable. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • not really do your research even the best  200$ droids, struggle a lot to match up interms of display, battery, smoothness. droids even with 3 gigs of ram and marsh mellow, take 1.2-1.5 for system and with app open you hit the bar easily. I do wish Microsft had put 2 gb of ram in 650 and 640 buit they do hold their own even with just 1 gb.   Also going by purely hardware, 650 was way overpriced in this age, when i could snag a redmi 3s prime, with snap dragon 430 arduino 505, 3gb ram, fingerprintenor thats super snapppy, decent cam. HD IPS diplay thats crisp, 4000 mah battery, great looking unibody metal finish for about 120$. Ideally 650 hould have been a 90-120$ phone on lauch, right now about 70$ for it aound fine.  from my usage of both window mobile and android, Most of the android good experience come from the apps and google chrome browser and its ecoytem of app rather than droid itef which purely a an o i find it to be unwieldy, reource hungry. and clustered alllover, windows as an os is mile ahead purely as os, its unclustered, UI is unmatchable by neither ios or droid, performance wise the os is great in memory mangement,  battery yes, llumia 640 with 2500 mah has great creen on time than dorid with higher battteries. The down fall of the os is both in hardware and app ecoytem, ofthen the hardware very underpowered, oems only compund it with bad makes, and lack of proper firmware update, apart from lumia 640, 950xl, 950 at the moment i cant recommend any other windows mobile. The apps exosystem i well knopwn, i mena uber till has old logo which i the best btw  in window mobile, all paps just work bnetter in dorid and are updated more, which i what is makign it feel great rather than dorid on its own.
  • Who needs apps? They will eventually be replaced by bots. Also, smartphones are dead.
  • Almost every person has a smartphone in their pocket so smartphones are hardly dead. Jason Ward and Microsoft as well have a "vision" of where personal computing is going that is far from proven. Time will tell but I think they are horribly wrong. Smartphones aint goin anywhere anytime soon. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Can't tell if you're being sarcastic? But I'm pretty sure that bots won't help deliver me BBC iPlayer offline downloads on Windows Mobile. It certainly won't deliver me a Waze equivalent. & I'm not sure how bots will help when I want to send Snapchat a friend. Bots are an almighty big straw that people are clinging to for unknown reasons. Phones will always need apps in the same way Windows will always need apps. Bots change nothing.
  • Of course I'm being sarcastic. Both the idea that bots will replace apps and the death of smartphones were suggested here in Windows Central, and of course both are false.
  • You never can tell on Windows Central :). There's a lot of MS fans that are happy to smoke whatever MS is offering.
  • They forgot to mention. The $50 version is locked to cricket. The unlocked version is still $200
  • Yeah, and Cricket is stricter than ATT with their unlock codes apparently. You actually have to use the service for a time with the phone.
  • Locked phones isn't the issue it used to be. Plenty of services on the net that would unlock your device for as low as 5 bucks US. Youtube is full of links to services that do that. I unlocked a ZTE Max Pro on Cricket for about 14 bucks. Put my AT&T sim in and it works like a champ. I think you void your warranty but on the device I unlocked, it don't much matter since I got it for 60 bucks on craigslist.
  • Yep, but Microsoft/Nokia phones have always been expensive to unlock. ~£30 in the UK (unless you can do it via the operator)
  • I didn't know that, I barely knew about carrier unlocks. Thanks.
  • Sorry, but John did include the locked information in the article and I give the details in my Forum post. Here they are again from Cricket: https://www.cricketwireless.com/legal-info/device-unlock-policy.html
  • Why not? There are those for whom their entire existence, and general happiness, isn't based around apps. Not everybody requires the ability to continually post negative posts, to validate their existence. Not everybody jumps in the sheep pen and gets led along. Not everybody has the time to continually post negative posts in an effort to portray superior intelligence. Not everybody jumps ship but still find the time to visit a forum for a particular OS they left, and then berate / ridicule / troll said forums. ' thou does protest too much'
  • Re: Mad Cabbie,
    Thank you for saying this. I agree.
  • +640, soon to be 650 thanks to this offer.
  • Stop acting like the only apps of merit are the social media ones. I switched to Android and couldn't be happier. Why? I now have access to BBC iPlayer downloads - both for radio and TV stuff. It is so nice to be able to catch up on such things wherever I am. Windows Mobile just doesn't have an equivalent. Things like Waze are also incredibly helpful time saving apps. Why use the naff W10M maps app to navigate when you can have something like Waze? I also have a Sony action cam. It is so useful to be able to change settings from my phone rather than via the convoluted menu system. All of those things are time saving or life enhancing. To forgo them simply because you think Microsoft is fundamentally better than Apple or Google is just odd. Microsoft have demonstrated as much as Google a desire to harvest user data...and have also demonstrated a flagrant disregard for those users that have bought into their product ideas (Band/phone/RT/Zune etc)
  • Amen to that mad cabbie if I had a android id be spending my time following the trending news on the os and phone i used daily. Some would call it getting an attention fix i guess. Lol
  • Funny, W10 mobile has plenty of apps. The whole app gap argument is so overblown.. I just wish I didn't have to switch to cricket..
  • Cricket is quite good. The only downside is the 8MB speed cap, but even that is plenty for most anything you would do on a phone. You can stream HD video easily and even torrents run fast. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • it has plenty of unpotimised apps, lets take major players like uber, instagram, etc they suck and then add in the more regional apps acorss the worls that are available in droid..  I mean uber on widnwos is nowhere near that on droid, even still uses the old logo shows,.. icould go on therei s huge list of apps  that just work well on droid and ios becaue they are updated often. Its not windows fault but that app ecoystem is just not there for devs to support. I use  my lumia as daily driver, but  there is always time when you feel you misout on certain apps, and even the features and experience of the once available. But beign not a heavy app user im content with windwos Ecoytem connect i get with wm10 and tick with it.  
  • I have used Cricket since I bought 3 Lumia 640's last Black Friday. Had a couple of minor service issues initially. However, service has been excellent since then. I previously had Verizon. At least in my area, I would rate them above Verizon, and at half the cost.
  • My Wife and I both use Cricket. We Love it. Best move we've ever made.
  • Yep, so much cheaper for more data.  Switched from ATT and am saving $25/month.
  • Is the 650 any good?
  • Best $130 I've spent in the last year, cheaper than a car tire or battery, same price as dinner for two with drinks.
  • LOL
  • Loving this phone....in love with the black and blue combination..some problem i am facing with autobrightness and quick actions not working sometime. Example : Today i couldn't switch on the mobile data using quick action menu. Had to go to the actual option inside settings and switch it on. Otherwise i don't care much bout apps as long as i have WhatsApp, ola and uber.
  • You can get this phone unlock from B&H Photo today for &99.00 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=lumia+650&N=0&InitialSearch=ye...  
  • Man, wish they were as lax as AT&T. I got the L640 for $30 a while back for me an my wife and unlocked it for free using their website so I could use it on T-Mobile. The main reason I want this phone is because it's design is a step up from the 640 and I believe it's approved for payments.....unlike the 640 which seems to have the required hardware....but just not approved. :/
  • I'm a 640 owner myself.  Can you tell us what you like better about the 650?  Just wondering if it would be worth the hassle to get one.
  • Got it today. Lumia 650 + Mozo Glam case (clear with gold trim) + Clear Coat screen protector... All in my local Cricket store. One stop shopping. Very happy.
  • Been on Cricket with my Lumia 950 for 6 months. Love the low priced plans, underlying ATT network coverage and haven't noticed the speed cap at all. Moving 3 family members over from Android/Sprint to get this Cricket Lumia 650 deal. W10M has all the apps we really need. :)
  • Scored a free one. Not sure if it's an actual upgrade from my 640. Build quality is fantastic and it looks much better, but battery life compared to the 640 leaves a lot to be desired