CASE STUDY:
Cricket Wireless
How Cricket Wireless validated real-world device
performance with Ubertesters’ Friendly User Testing
(FUT) program
Overview
Cricket Wireless partnered with Ubertesters to validate newly manufactured OEM mobile devices in real-world conditions before approving them for retail distribution. Through a nationwide Friendly User Testing program, thirty real users across the United States used the devices as their primary phones for 28 days with AT&T SIM cards.
This long-term, natural usage generated reliable insights into performance, connectivity, and user experience that could not be captured through internal lab testing. The results enabled confident and data-driven device acceptance decisions ahead of mass rollout.
Challenges
Before working with Ubertesters, Cricket faced several limitations in its internal testing process:
- Lab environments did not reflect real-world network conditions
- Internal QA resources could not scale nationwide
- Short test periods failed to capture long-term device behavior
- No infrastructure for managing device logistics across the country
- No structured way to collect daily user feedback over extended periods
Cricket needed real users, real network conditions and multi-week usage data to make reliable device acceptance decisions.
Goals
Cricket aimed to:
- Validate real-world performance and reliability of newly manufactured devices
- Confirm compatibility with AT&T SIM cards during daily primary usage
- Identify issues, inconsistencies or UX friction before retail release
- Receive structured daily insights to support go or no-go device decisions
Our Approach
Ubertesters designed and executed a full end-to-end Friendly User Testing program.
1. Tester Recruitment
Thirty real users across diverse regions in the United States were selected to reflect authentic network and environmental conditions.
2. Device Distribution and Logistics
- The client supplied thirty devices
- Ubertesters managed nationwide shipping, tracking, and confirmations
- Upon project completion, all devices were collected and returned smoothly
3. Friendly User Testing (28 Days)
Each tester used the device as their personal primary phone, including:
- AT&T SIM installation
- Everyday calling, messaging and app usage
- Network and signal stability monitoring
- Battery performance and device heating patterns
- Charging behavior and long-term system responsiveness
- Connectivity tests for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS
- General comfort, usability and friction points
Testers submitted structured daily reports to ensure consistent, high-quality feedback.
4. Continuous Coordination
- 28 days of uninterrupted testing
- Ongoing issue tracking and clarification
- Continuous communication between the Ubertesters' project manager, testers, the 3rd party OEM, and Cricket
- Full oversight of progress and data quality
- The Ubertesters project manager managed the entire test cycle, reducing the client's management overhead to almost zero
Impact
The Friendly User Testing program provided critical insights that influenced Cricket’s device acceptance decisions:
- Identified issues not visible in controlled lab environments
- Revealed long-term performance and UX patterns under real usage
- Delivered actionable data for device refinement before mass production
- Enabled stronger, evidence-based decisions on retail readiness
This type of real-world validation would have been extremely difficult to achieve through internal testing alone.
Client Feedback
Cricket shared that the testing program delivered exactly the real-world insights they needed. Having the devices used as primary phones for several weeks provided visibility into performance, reliability, and natural user behavior that cannot be captured in lab conditions.They highlighted the professionalism of the testers, the clarity of the daily reports, and the consistent communication throughout the program. The insights helped validate which devices were ready for retail rollout and which required further improvement. Cricket’s confidence in the results led to nine additional projects over the following three years.
Key Success Factor
The success of the project was driven by seamless coordination between Cricket, the OEM manufacturer, Ubertesters, and all thirty nationwide testers. Clear communication, strict logistics control, and consistent daily reporting ensured smooth execution across the entire testing period.
Why Ubertesters
Ubertesters provided Cricket with a complete, scalable Friendly User Testing program designed for real-world accuracy and operational efficiency:
- Real users across real environments
- AT&T SIM card compatibility testing
- Primary device usage for 28 days
- Nationwide geographic coverage
- Full device logistics and coordination
- Structured daily insights
- Clear, consolidated data for decision-making
- Ongoing support of a dedicated assigned project manager to handle all testers, communications, test execution, and reporting
This comprehensive approach gave Cricket the confidence required to move forward with their device evaluation and retail release process.
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