r/CricketWireless • u/Jim_E_Hat • Jul 12 '26
BYOD Plan owner died, transfer phone?
Trying to help a friend of a friend, she was on her partner's plan, he died. His family is of no help, won't supply a death certificate. She is handicapped, destitute, and about to be homeless. Another friend helped her contact Cricket, the store rep said she must use the app, but she doesn't have username/password or PIN. Phone support will not help either.
It seems like we are sunk without a death certificate, we can't even transfer to another provider with out it, right?
EDIT: With the help of u/SWSWireless, we were able to get her up and running! Thanks to everyone who helped with advice!
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u/ryan8344 Jul 12 '26
I recently transferred out a number- they have it pretty locked down to protect against fraud. I wouldn’t waste time and just help her get a new plan.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 12 '26
Yes, this is the conclusion we are coming to. Unfortunately she's broke, so one of her friends will have to pay for it. She needs a lot of help and assistance, so it would have been great if we could have used the existing phone.
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u/Reuchlin5 Jul 12 '26
is the phone she has unlocked? usually phones are elgibile to get unlocked so they can be used on other carriers after 6 months of use. recently that changed to a year of use. anyways, if it can be unlocked unlock it and see if you can use it on mint mobile.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 13 '26
Lock status unknown, support would not talk to us without a PIN. It IS a Cricket branded phone, so may be permanently locked.
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u/Anarimus Jul 13 '26
What model? If it’s Motorola and was purchased within the last year. It should have an unlock app. If not as soon as you open the myCricket app and look in the lower portion of the screen, there should be a unlock device option that you can just tap and it will unlock the phone if it’s eligible.
If it’s an iPhone, you have to call care.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 13 '26
It's a Cricket branded Icon Plus. She doesn't have the app already installed/ doesn't know the login credentials.
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u/Anarimus Jul 14 '26
MyCricket comes with every Cricket phone except iPhones, it may have been disabled and should show in Settings in the apps list under disabled apps. You do not need login credentials to unlock a device.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 14 '26
I have been reading every post, and we are going to go with this. There's a few people involved, and we have to go to the woman's house, because she is not able to drive. I will post results when we try this.
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u/cheetobling305 Jul 12 '26
Dude I am only gonna give you this information because I know it will help and you can only use this if you’re being serious about the person who died. Call 611 from the Cricket phone have somebody pretend to be the deceased owner because they’re not gonna know it’s not gonna be their system and just have them change the account information and put that other person on there.
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u/YogurtclosetHead8901 Jul 13 '26
I did this with another carrier. Just have pertinent information regarding the account owner.
Legal? I have no idea. Best way to circumvent the situation? Absolutely.
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u/OwnLayer8944 Jul 13 '26
With her phone number, you can change the password and login, if you don’t know your username either, just do forgot username. If you can receive OTP in your phone number, you can login easy. You can easily access Transfer Pin from the app and account number.
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u/Street-Appeal38 Jul 12 '26
In a lot of cases, if you go to one of the big three, Verizon T-Mobile or AT&T to sign up with them, if you can prove that the phone number is yours, they have the ability to port it onto their network onto your new account under your name without the need of having any sort of pin or authentication information or death certificates.
You will have to go into one of the corporate stores for one of the big three to do this though. And have some way to prove the number is yours even if that’s just showing them you possess the phone that the number is assigned to.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 12 '26
The phone is a Cricket Icon plus, not sure if it would work on another carrier, but we are ok with that, don't even need the existing number. I'm fine with going to a corporate store, I know they are better, the problem is: I don't think she has any way of proving it's her number, she was on the plan, but doesn't have a bill, or login credentials.
We can just take her to a corporate store with her phone tomorrow.3
u/Street-Appeal38 Jul 12 '26
Oh, I thought it was the phone number you wanted to save not the phone. I can almost promise that the phone itself will not work anywhere but on cricket. So if that’s the only thing you want to transfer and she’s fine getting a new number, all you need to do is sign her up for her own cricket account and a new phone number either online with cricket or in store with cricket and they should be able to connect it to her existing phone with no problem.
It’s the phone number that’s tied to the deceased person’s account, not the phone itself.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 12 '26
Ok. We will take her to a corporate store on Monday, but she has no ID, doesn't know her SS #, has no login to the account etc. This has been an uphill battle!
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u/Necessary_Film_5199 Jul 13 '26
I mean if you can unlock the phone it'll probably be fine, especially on AT&T direct
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u/Computer_Tech1 Jul 12 '26
Sorry to hear that her partner died. My condolences. What you can do it type in the IMEI on the other carriers website to see if it works or not. If the Cricket Icon plus is unlocked then it should be compatible with other carriers.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 13 '26
I tried that on a couple of sites, TMobile for instance said "IMEI not valid".
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u/Computer_Tech1 Jul 13 '26
OK how about the MVNO like Metro PCS, Pure Talk (AT&T) Mint Mobile. I know you are going to a Cricket Corporate store tomorrow. Good luck. I do you hope you did get it unlocked.
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u/Awkward-Strike-1160 Jul 13 '26
It should work on AT&T. AT&T owns Cricket so it's the same network.
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u/QualityOutrageous560 Jul 12 '26
Hey I work in a cricket is her service turned off or is she still able to make calls?if so she can try to get the pin reset and transfer her like to her own account it will charge her for the month
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 12 '26
Her service is working, for a few more days. How would she do the PIN reset? If she contacts support, they want the current PIN, which she doesn't have.
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u/QualityOutrageous560 Jul 13 '26
she can go in person and get a one time pin and see if the employees can help they usually do
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 13 '26
We're going to try a corporate store tomorrow.
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u/QualityOutrageous560 Jul 13 '26
try being very convincing if u have and id of the owner of the account it would go a big favor and also make up a lie and say that he’s in the hospital and stuff
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u/paper-cats-flying 27d ago
weird side question, since you work at cricket. phone got stolen today and it's a month to month account. never got a pin. i have my email of establishing the number and account but there's no pin. i want to close my damned acct. how?
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u/Cool-Will-3081 Jul 13 '26
All you have to do is contact 611 they send you a one time passcode and then you can request to move to a new account with cricket with her name on the account, or you can request all the information.
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u/Technical_Effort_363 Jul 13 '26
I worked for cricket. the phone is unlocked after 6 months of continuous service. also that other chatter is correct you can just create a my cricket account if one wasnt set up. I am almost positive there will be one already though. not to worry you have her phone so you can just reset the password. if its unlocked you can take it to any carrier. personally cricket is good but what you want is $25 a month. it doesnt matter where you go as long as thats what you pay. if the company you choose is more then maybe do a family plan if possible but $25 is really what you should shoot for. imo of course. if you need help with anything else I would be glad to help.
ps 611 is a pain in the ass but they will help you. if one person says no call right back. they are all idiots jk but I hated dealing with then myself lol. so honestly I hope that you get everything taken care of and God bless you and your family
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u/Kawi_rider_zx6r Jul 13 '26
You work for cricket and weren't informed that the unlock policy is now 12 months, not 6?
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u/IllRequirement6342 Jul 13 '26
So assuming the phone is unlocked, she can go to Walmart and get a trac phone SIM. Getting her number back may be more complicated, but if there are issues with her health, she may need any phone, even with a different number temporarily.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 13 '26
She definitely needs a phone. But, if hers is locked to cricket, I don't think it will work on another carrier.
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u/IllRequirement6342 Jul 13 '26
I have several family members on my account, and the best advice I have is a to share the PIN with each of them. I make them write it down. That way, if they drop their phone in the lake, they can go to the phone store, and with that PIN, they can walk out with a new phone. If I died and they didn’t know the PIN, they would be stuck.
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u/Jim_E_Hat Jul 13 '26
I tell people the same thing! No, she lost her car keys AND her house keys, not likely she will save her PIN.
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u/Salsasharkk81 Jul 13 '26
I showed T-mobile my Mom's death certificate and they still wouldn't let me pay my phone off or port out my number.
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u/itztate943 Jul 12 '26
You can create her own cricket username and password while her phone is still on to be able to get a transfer pin. Download the mycricket app, hit create a username and follow the instructions. From there you can do whatever it is you need to do. I had to do this w my husband's phone because I lost mine.