hey mort - welcome to PPCGeeks !!!
and man if you got cricket, i wont be able to help you much... but i'll do what i can
as far as the A-Key for Verizon, if you aint got Verizon - you wont need it
voice and sms operate on the same 1X channel,
to fix data you prolly need to modify the PST settings... (##PST# or ##778#)
this will require your MSL, if its not 000000 then get BAFMSL grabber
although I dont know the correct settings offhand for cricket...
anyway, again welcome to PPCGeeks !!! hope this helps....