While the three major U.S. iPhone carriers AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint will be launching the iPhone 5 on Friday, September 21, it will not take long for availability to extend to other carriers. Cricket Communications and C Spire Wireless have both announced that they will begin offering the iPhone 5 one week later on Friday, September 28.
Both of the carriers were pioneers in the U.S. iPhone market, with C Spire being the first regional carrier to begin offering the iPhone last November while Cricket was the first U.S. prepaid carrier to launch the iPhone this past June. The iPhone is now available on 16 different U.S. carriers, but it is unclear when the iPhone 5 will come to the remaining carriers.
Neither Cricket nor C Spire has offered any launch details beyond the September 28 availability date.
Update 8:06 AM: Several of the other regional carriers have also confirmed that they will launch the iPhone 5 on September 28:
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Using an iPhone 5 on Cricket would be like driving a Lamborghini on a bumpy dirt road.
Yes, but even a cheap brand of car would still get a driver to the exact same destinations... and probably leave some extra money in their pockets to spend on fun when they arrive.