CricKet in Texas

In other, 1900MHz, news, CricKet looks to be trying to put Pocket Communications out of business ASAP.

Looks like they've expanded their coverage in the San Antonio area to cover pretty much what Pocket does, except CricKet also covers Austin and Houston areas, as well as "out west" and up into the Temple\Killeen area. Surprisingly, this coverage block is relatively monolithic, tough off the higways between the various cities you're roaming. When I get back to Fredericksburg I'm going to grab a CricKet phone to test the coverage...I doubt it's great for some odd reason but we'll see...

But CricKet isn't stopping here. Their plans have been modified once again to beat Pocket's. Their remarkably low-priced $25 plan gives you caller ID, whereas Pocket's $25 plan doesn't. On the $35 plan CricKet throws in unlimited use in all of its coverage area, which trump's Pocket's by a large amount. On $45, CricKet has the same advantage as on the $35 plan. At $55, you get 120 roaming minutes, something Pocket just doesn't do. The 120 minutes would normally cost $15 per month extra (or pay $5 extra per month for 30 minutes or $10 extra for 70). Or pay per minute at 39 cents. Pocket charges 59, by virtue of its smallness. Though Pocket does offer Call Forwarding at their $35 level, whereas CricKet charges $5 for the feature on the same-tier plan...

Of course, CricKet doesn't compete unless it has to. Elsewhere, what costs $25 on Pocket costs $35 on CricKet, and the $10 price gap goes all the way up to the $50 plan on CricKet. The $55 plan is still the $45 ($35 on Pocket) option but with 100 minutes of roaming, and the $60 plan adds another 100 minutes of roaming. Personally though, I'd buy a Page Plus Cellular phone and pay less per minute for roaming than it costs on any of the unlimited carriers. Or maybe program Page Plus into NAM2 of the unlimited phone so I just hit a few buttons to switch over to working off the other network.

...and no, I don't know why the Motorola v265 refurb'd phone isn't offered in the San Antonio area but is sold elsewhere...

Anyway, CricKet looks to be expanding further into South Texas soon, on regular 1900MHz spectrum. On the expansion list are Pocket territories such as Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville, as well as totally different cities like Beaumont and Corpus Christi. Look for heated competition with Pocket Communications soon...