LOS ANGELES-The average cost of monthly wireless calling plans is falling steadily, in part because providers are pushing “off-peak” calling time in their plans, according to a recent Econ One study.
The report, which surveyed wireless service costs in 25 major U.S. cities, showed the average monthly cost was down .3 percent, to $38.80 for April. Average costs were down in 13 cities, up in 11, and unchanged in one. The greatest increases were in San Diego, Pittsburgh, Boston and Atlanta, while the greatest decreases were in Houston, Dallas, New York and Philadelphia. April costs ranged from San Francisco’s high of $42.89, actually down 1 percent from March, to Houston’s low of $36.26, down 3.3 percent from March.
Econ One attributes at least some of the cost decline to the growing popularity of “free” night and weekend calling time offered by providers. Senior economist Charles Mahla said that in the past year the proportion of total offered plan minutes designated as off-peak has risen from about one-third to more than 56 percent. The reason? One, according to Mahla, is that some providers are encouraging off-peak calling. He said, for example, “especially in places like San Francisco where networks may be at capacity in `peak’ hours, [providers] try to encourage more `off-peak’ calling with greater price differences.”
Econ One suggested consumers interested in saving on cell plans consider when they use their phone and remember that different service providers consider different times to be “peak” and “off-peak.” The analyst group also emphasized that savings attributed to “off-peak” calling are far more significant for customers who use 300 minutes a month or more.
