INTELLIGENCE FROM THE BROADBAND ECONOMY

RATING YOUR RATE PLAN

Either the good people of Cincinnati talk an awful lot on their mobile phones, or they just pay more for their wireless service. For the second straight month, Cincinnati topped Econ One's list of cities with the highest monthly bills for mobile service, beating out traditional wireless-hungry markets like New York and Washington. More strangely, Cincinnati's bills have been falling, dropping almost 1% between April and May, while the monthly bills of other major metropolitan markets have been increasing between 2% and 3%.

MINUTE BY MINUTE

In comparing wireless minutes, when you talk is just as important as how much you talk. Oddly enough, though, the gap between peak and non-peak pricing isn't that wide. And at the lowest minute-plan levels, the price difference is negligible or nonexistent.