Pocket Communications was a PCS CDMA 1xRTT provider of unlimited cellular phone service based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. It offered service plans similar to those of Cricket Communications and MetroPCS which mostly consist of unlimited local phone service without having to sign up for long-term contracts. It was merged with Cricket Communications in late 2010, with Cricket holding an initial 76% stake in the joint venture and Pocket holding 24%.
History
Pocket Communications began in San Antonio, TX in June 2006, including the Pocket mascot Harry the chimp and has followed an expansion strategy towards south Texas ever since. Besides covering the greater San Antonio area, they service to the north along major roads, reaching as far as Fredericksburg, Texas, and to the south including Laredo, Texas and the Rio Grande Valley. Also, an unconfirmed call to Pocket customer service suggests that other major Texas markets will be covered in the future. Pocket started service in Hartford, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts. Pocket seems to pursue a monolithic coverage model like Sprint or T-Mobile, where all markets are connected by cellular coverage, rather than having islands of service across the nation like MetroPCS and Cricket do. They have now released roaming capability via a partnership with MetroPCS to boost coverage and sold at most Pocket stores in Rio Grande valley and San Antonio TX in over 120 locations including 42 local HEB stores. According to information advertised by Pocket over 170,000 have subscribed to its first month free service as of May 12, 2008, just after twenty months of being in the business. 1xRTT data access was available while unlimited directory assistance was also available at an additional charge. Additionally, Pocket offers a prepaid funds account, also known as the Value Pocket, from which can be drawn such features as international calling, long distance, outgoing text messaging (incoming messages are free) and picture messages if such features are not added to the subscriber's plan. Pocket recently expanded its operations to the northeastern part of the United States adding a regional headquarters in Bloomfield, CT and are now in the process of extending their coverage to Corpus Christi, Texas. In September 2010, Pocket announced that they would shutter their operations in Connecticut and Massachusetts due to the weak economy, competition and high cost of building an infrastructure. Pocket announced that service in these areas would be discontinued in late October. The New England spectrum and network were sold to MetroPCS after being shut down. MetroPCS relaunched service on the former Pocket network in March 2011.
Joint Venture
October 1 Leap (Cricket) acquires Pocket Communications South Texas market.
Markets
The current markets in Texas for Pocket Communications include San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Laredo, and the Rio Grande Valley. Pocket has also served Hartford, Connecticut, New Haven, Connecticut, Waterbury, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts markets which closed at the end of October 2010, as Pocket Communications withdrew from Connecticut and Massachusetts.
See also
- Leap Wireless, Parent Company of
- Cricket Communications
- Jump Mobile
- MetroPCS
- Revol Wireless
References
Also starting to include New York,Philadelphia, and more
External links
- Pocket Communications
