LOS ANGELES-The cost of wireless service edged up a little in February, with 18 of 25 major cities showing increases, according to the latest monthly survey by Econ One Research Inc.
The average monthly cost of service across four typical usage plans (30, 150, 300 and 600 minutes) was $39.04 in February, up about 0.2 percent from January.
“For a majority of cities we survey, these changes reflect minor plan tinkering by the carriers. Very little change in actual plan rates occurred this past month,” said Charles Mahla, senior economist with Econ One.
“Of course, in certain markets like San Francisco, carrier’s `tinkering’ amounted to substantial changes,” he added.
Only seven cities showed decreases in average costs, led by four California cities: San Diego, down 4.9 percent; Sacramento, down 4.1 percent; Los Angeles, down 3.1 percent; and San Francisco, down 3.5 percent.
Chicago showed the largest increase in February, rising 3 percent; followed by Detroit with a 2.8-percent increase; Cincinnati and St. Louis with a 2.7-percent increase; and Houston with a 2.5-percent increase.
“As we’ve seen in the past, much of the cost change in these markets is driven by one or two of the carriers,” said Mahla. “All of the California cities, for example, benefited almost entirely from Cingular’s plan changes. In the cities with larger cost increases, those increases came at the hands of one or two carriers as well. Therefore, no across-the-board trend in pricing changes, either up or down, is at work in these markets.”
San Francisco again topped the list for having the highest average costs, followed by Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Boston and New York, said Econ One. Atlanta had the lowest costs, followed by Phoenix, Houston, Kansas City and Seattle.