Add a VPN???? These instructions make no sense whatsoever. There is no "Modem" tab under advanced. Maybe the poster meant to add a new serial/modem port (which would only show up if the USB card is connected to the Mac).

My Cricket software was written by Smith Mircro. Need i say more.

Seriously. They cater to low income customers and think it's an excuse to treat all of their subscribers like trash.

I bought a Motorola phone from them at some point when I was still a subscriber and asked for its data cable as well. They were quick to ask, "Why do you need that?" I wanted to say, "It's really none of your business" but decided I'd rather not get in an argument and return home swiftly to do whatever I pleased with it.

Tons of weird surcharges. I only went with them because there was no contract and I wasn't sure how long I'd be in that location.

I'm running 10.4.11, and the instructions above were not quite correct for me. (For me, it was easier.) Basically, after the install, you no longer need the supplied software to connect. Instead, you can fully manage the connection using the mac's own Internet Connect application (in your Applications folder). All the necessary settings were already there for me (assumably placed there by the Cricket software install) - I only needed to launch Internet Connect, select "Cricket Wireless Data" and click the "connect" button.

However, the program that eats up the CPU will still run in the background until you remove it from your startup items. To remove it, simply open System Preferences -> Accounts -> [your account] -> Login Items. Then remove the item in the list called qlmwirelessd.

Now all is well.

As to Cricket - the customer service definitely leaves much to be desired, and it's not the best solution if you travel much (I don't). But there's nowhere else that I'm going to get unlimited cell phone, LD and mobile broadband all for $80/mo. For me, it's worth working around their poor software and customer service.