Wireless Competition is Red-Hot in South Texas

The weather isn’t the only thing that’s smoking hot in San Antonio, Texas (though at 100 degrees, it definitely qualifies for the classification). San Diego-based Leap Wireless, via their CricKet brand, is duking it out with San Antonio-based Pocket Communications in the unlimited wireless market, and consumers are winning.

Pocket, launched a few short years ago in the San Antonio area, recently expanded to Corpus Christi and the surrounding towns, after securing footholds in Laredo and Rio Grande markets. Their pitch: we’re better than CricKet. Pocket’s ad campaign pulls no punches when it comes to comparing their service to that of the nation’s second largest unlimited-only carrier; Pocket calls CricKet out as a leader in dropped calls, long customer service hold times, and high pricing. Pocket on the other hand says that their network has twice the number of towers as CricKet does, their customer service agents will answer calls in twenty seconds or less, and their cheapest phone is absolutely free after a mail-in rebate, including a free month of service.

Pocket’s customer base seems to agree with the company’s assessment of its superiority; over three hundred thousand folks have chosen Pocket as their provider, despite CricKet’s larger nationwide footprint, 3G network and pricing adjustments that have matched Pocket dollar-for-dollar in the South Texas region. Ultimately, it is consumers who are winning the Pocket-CricKet price war; nowhere else can you find not one but two carriers who will offer customers unlimited local and long distsnce calling, unlimited text and picture messaging (including text messages to Mexico) and caller ID for $25 per month…with no contract required. The “no contract” part of the equation is probably an important one in this situation; whereas Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile can generally rely on their customers to stick around for two years, contractless providers have to convince customers every month that they offer the best features, network quality and pricing for cellular service.

To this end, Pocket has had to make some upgrades over the past few years. They recently dropped roaming prices to 19¢ per minute, down from 59¢, to compete with CricKet’s inexpensive roaming packages and free-roaming agreements with a plethora of regional carriers in the US that serve areas outside of CricKet’s own. Pocket also now offers a $5 minute pack with 50 roaming minutes, comparable to what CricKet sells as an add-on for their plans. Pocket and CricKet have modified their core rate plans as well; at the beginning of Pocket’s existence, $28 per month bought unlimited local calling with no added features. Now, after several upgrades and competition from CricKet, unlimited voice, messaging and Caller ID can be had for $3 less.

On CricKet’s side, the company’s unlimited plans typically vary in price between $30 per month (local calling only) and $60 (everything-and-some-roaming-minutes). In the San Antonio area, similar or better plans run between $25 and $40, just like their Texas-based competitor.

The CricKet-Pocket price war, which brings cellular rates below not only typical landline charges but also those of telco/cable-provided VoIP service, is a rather extreme example of the great things that can happen for consumers when contracts are thrown to the wind and competition on both quality and price fronts is fierce. On a more national scale, companies like Page Plus Cellular are using “big four” networks to make similar strides in the bang-for-the-buck category. At some point, the question can be raised of whether these companies can even turn a profit with such low prices and unlimited offerings, but that’s their problem, right? For now, companies keep competing and consumers keep winning.