I should think it is more of a limitation of the service these providers can offer, and a limitation of what Blizzard’s system uses to communicate with it.
I used to be on TracFone until Comcast started their mobile service, both had no problems in SMS, and I believe the plans are cheaper.
But also, it does not really affect one carrier either. It affects blocks of numbers that might have gone back to prepaid, but had limited services, not just Cricket.
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When SMS released, it was I believe, known that certain prepaid plans would not work even back then. 10 years.
There have been mixed reports on whether it works with prepaid mobile phones, but where it hasn’t been working that’s usually because carriers don’t allow the receipt of SMS text messages.
Blizzard did not make these directly either. They were made by Vasco, which I believe goes by another company name. Not sure why Blizzard stopped carrying them though, or if Vasco stopped making them.
They seem to go by OneSpan now.
Cell phones are available for free, from the government, and every phone I have ever received for free via Lifeline has had no problem with Blizzard authenticators, from the very first phone they gave me all the way up to the Moto G Pure I just received as a free upgrade.
Not being able to afford a plan on a big cell phone bill from Verizon, etc., is exactly why Lifeline exists. They only check income (not assets), and if you already have a social service program like Medicare or SNAP, you automatically qualify.
If that doesn’t work for you, there’s now also the ACP (affordable connectivity program) which gives qualifying applicants $30 a month off virtually any “broadband-speed” (4g or 5g) cell phone plan from any carrier. (Or home internet, or a wi-fi hotspot, or 4g/5g on your tablet… take your pick.)
Upon qualifying, ACP will give you a pseudo-credit-card number, which you input on your carrier’s website to apply your $30 every billing cycle. Whatever you spend over $30 is your total cost per cycle. My wife uses this program and pays nothing for her service. Only thing is, the ACP doesn’t generally get you free equipment, whereas the Lifeline program definitely does.
https://www.fcc.gov/general/lifeline-program-low-income-consumers
and
https://acpbenefit.org/
Its not really a Blizz problem, its with the coding and limitations of the provider and if the number has been recycled or not. Sometimes that can make it difficult for the numbers to then be registered again if the number has previously been used. Unfortunately Blizz can not force the system to allow your number and provider to work if it won’t. They dont have that power over another business and its clients/systems.
I use a pre paid phone service and have no problem. Granted I am not in the US tho.
No, it is actually due to the FCC setting certain numbers as prepaid and your phone carrier for not having them change it to a non-prepaid number. Also, it is the FCC who determines if Blizzard has the authority to set up certain things with different types of numbers.