Legitimately confused by how cheap Cricket seems

I'm finally getting kicked off my mom's phone plan lol, so ai am considering my options.

Currently have Verizon, and if I want to just keep everything as it is and take over the payments its something like $80 a month so thats not bad.

I heard good things about Cricket though so I went to look… and even their highest plan is only $60/month.

Just for fun I was checking out how much it would cost to get a phone, I dont need a new one I own my current one and its 'fine' though I occasionally have some issues and getting an upgrade might be nice. Their most expensive android (S25) is still only $360??? I bought this one (S22) for over $1k!

How is the phone that cheap? I kept expecting to see it was actually like 4 installments or something but no. And you own the phone???

Is there something I am missing here? Is Cricket actually good? Will I hate it if I go there from Verizon?

Also unrelated I thought the whole deal with Cricket was that you have to pay like a year in advance but I don't even see that as an option? Did I misunderstand?

Any help or info would be greatly useful, thank you in advance.