T-Mobile debuts 'Binge On' free video streaming program, double data allotments
T-Mobile during its "UncarrierX" event on Tuesday unveiled "Binge On," a free video streaming program that provides subscribers of certain price tiers access to 480p or better content from select apps including Netflix and HBO.
The "Uncarrier's" latest attempt at shaking up the U.S. cellular industry again involves content consumption and its traditionally detrimental effect on data caps. With Binge On, T-Mobile will allow any customer with a 3GB data plan to stream mobile-optimized video from a set list of apps without it counting against their monthly data allotment.
Binge On does come with a few caveats, however, the most questionable being a video resolution cap of "DVD or better," which goes all the way down to 480p. The company said customers are unlikely to tell the difference between 480p and higher resolutions like 720p or even 1080p, though that claim is up for debate.
Content selection is also somewhat limited, but most users will be happy to see big names like Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Hulu and Sling TV on T-Mobile's list of participating services. Additional apps will be added in the coming months. For other providers, T-Mobile said Binge On's optimization will let users watch up to three times more video than ordinary streaming.
In addition to Binge On, T-Mobile is doubling its Simple Choice subscription tiers, with the entry level offering moving from 1GB to 2GB of 4G LTE data for $50 per month. The carrier's $60 and $70 plans jump to 6GB and 10GB data allotments per month, respectively, while add-on lines get a boost to 2GB for an extra $10 monthly fee. Finally, the unlimited data tier remains priced at $80 per month, but subscribers will see tethered data, or mobile hotspot, allotments doubled to 14GB.
T-Mobile Binge On and its new pricing tiers are slated to take effect on Sunday.
The "Uncarrier's" latest attempt at shaking up the U.S. cellular industry again involves content consumption and its traditionally detrimental effect on data caps. With Binge On, T-Mobile will allow any customer with a 3GB data plan to stream mobile-optimized video from a set list of apps without it counting against their monthly data allotment.
Binge On does come with a few caveats, however, the most questionable being a video resolution cap of "DVD or better," which goes all the way down to 480p. The company said customers are unlikely to tell the difference between 480p and higher resolutions like 720p or even 1080p, though that claim is up for debate.
Content selection is also somewhat limited, but most users will be happy to see big names like Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Hulu and Sling TV on T-Mobile's list of participating services. Additional apps will be added in the coming months. For other providers, T-Mobile said Binge On's optimization will let users watch up to three times more video than ordinary streaming.
In addition to Binge On, T-Mobile is doubling its Simple Choice subscription tiers, with the entry level offering moving from 1GB to 2GB of 4G LTE data for $50 per month. The carrier's $60 and $70 plans jump to 6GB and 10GB data allotments per month, respectively, while add-on lines get a boost to 2GB for an extra $10 monthly fee. Finally, the unlimited data tier remains priced at $80 per month, but subscribers will see tethered data, or mobile hotspot, allotments doubled to 14GB.
T-Mobile Binge On and its new pricing tiers are slated to take effect on Sunday.
Comments
Me, on 48" TV can't tell the difference also between 1080p and 720p, even 4K which i had just check on some stores.
Do it!
Me, on 48" TV can't tell the difference also between 1080p and 720p, even 4K which i had just check on some stores.
It's not the resolution I notice really, it's just images pop more on a big screen...
On a phone, I think T-Moibile is correct. 480p is good enough for 90% -Their will be those 'video' nuts that will decry it, but they can turn it off in T-Mobile's account settings if they want..
Then their will just be haters, that hate..
Once they get their network up to snuff (coverage I mean) then it'll be really hard to stick with Verizon.
With Binge On, T-Mobile will allow any customer with a 3GB data plan to stream mobile-optimized video from a set list of apps without it counting against their monthly data allotment.
What does this mean for Simple Choice family plans, I wonder? At first glance, it seems like the 3GB minimum data plan required to qualify for Binge On applies to individual lines. We have 3 lines, currently 1GB/mo per line, 2GB/mo per line with the new plans. It might be worth the additional $10/mo per line to bump to a plan that includes Binge On, but it would be nice if the 3GB minimum was per family, not per line.
On a side note, the 3GB minimum seems like a strange number, considering their new Simple Choice options are 2GB, 6GB, 10GB, or unlimited data per month.
It's not the resolution I notice really, it's just images pop more on a big screen...
On a phone, I think T-Moibile is correct. 480p is good enough for 90% -Their will be those 'video' nuts that will decry it, but they can turn it off in T-Mobile's account settings if they want..
Then their will just be haters, that hate..
480 on a phone is maybe OK. 480x640 is not widescreen, so you're missing the sides of what was shot, or you're seeing it letterboxed. 720 is really fine for a 48" - but viewing distance ought to be taken into account. http://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/size-to-distance-relationship has it at about 9 feet for a 48" at 720p.
Has anyone examined the fine print on this? On the surface it sounds great! I love The CEO's energy. I think that if Verizon and AT&T start to see an outflow of more postpaid customers they may have to compete. And that's good for us all.
What exactly are you looking for? I now have T-Mobile, and if it works like their music streaming, there is no catch except it is for the services that are on their list.
Their service in my home is pretty mediocre. My brother in law lived with us for a few months and he's a customer and his reception in the house was pretty bad.
I have three phones on Att with 30gigs a month plus the data rollover for $160. I also pay for Apple Music family plan. My daughter and wife both love YouTube so free video would be awesome. However if the service and coverage doesn't outperform att then it's not a good move for me. That's it.
I'm a t-mobile fan because of the CEO and his ability to introduce innovative ideas that could potentially change the landscape. I'm not a customer yet.
I've been an AT&T customer for a long time. I currently have one line only (iPhone 6) with 3 gigs of data.
When T-Mobile rolled out their Music Freedom plan I was intrigued but the coverage in my are was terrible.
Now the 4G LTE coverage where I live is great (according to their map). If my calculations are correct I can get the same plan from T-Mobile, but starting Monday I'll get 6 gigs of data and my price will be about $9.00 a month cheaper.
Not only that, but T-Mobile will pay off my final AT&T bill in full, including the remainder of my phone's cost.
And I can get an iPhone 6s!
Granted, I have to pay $114 up front ($99 down payment and $15 "SIM kit").
I'm seriously considering doing this.
Anyone have any experience with how the actual trade-in works, and paying off the remaining phone payments?
I hope I wasn't coming across as confrontational, that wasn't my intent.
I've only been with them for 2 1/2 months, switching from AT&T. Signal inside of buildings is still somewhat of an issue, but honestly, it isn't that much worse than AT&T's was, looking back at it. Overall I would say it is not quite as good coverage as AT&T's, I have a few more spots where I lose LTE and see a bit more Edge network than I did, but I actually keep voice in more areas than I had before.
In my house, I actually got so sick of my home internet which was keeling over one night, that I tethered my computer and downloaded El Capitan with no problems (6+GB). It only showed 1 bar of LTE, but it worked great in reality. In others' homes, it can be bad.
We have 5 people on our plan, and went from sharing 30 GB to each having our own 10 (plus the music streaming) and we never have to worry about going over again. We also now can have the newest phones whenever we want them and pay $100 less per month after the switch.
I do hope for the continued expansion of their coverage. Last year at this time I would never have even considered them based on their maps. Now, I'm willing to trade off the $1200 for slightly worse coverage for a year, in the hopes that the holes near me get filled in better. I'm basically in an suburb/exurb of Raleigh, NC.
Expansion of coverage should be job #1 for them. Your results will vary based on how far from major (Raleigh and Greensboro NC count as major) population centers you are.
What does this mean for Simple Choice family plans, I wonder? At first glance, it seems like the 3GB minimum data plan required to qualify for Binge On applies to individual lines. We have 3 lines, currently 1GB/mo per line, 2GB/mo per line with the new plans. It might be worth the additional $10/mo per line to bump to a plan that includes Binge On, but it would be nice if the 3GB minimum was per family, not per line.
On a side note, the 3GB minimum seems like a strange number, considering their new Simple Choice options are 2GB, 6GB, 10GB, or unlimited data per month.
Let's not forget, they are a business and as such desire that their customers do choose upgrades to their service / products. ATT and VZW just prefer to do it with a stick and gotchas. Where Tmo wants to do it with a carrot and benefits.
If you're an existing T-Mobile customer with an existing plan the easy way to tell if any particular line will exempt video data is if the line is also eligible for Data Stash (roll over data). For any new customers, that means any line that has paid add on data. Or any family, of at minimum 4 people, that signs up (before Sunday) for the promo package that includes 10GB per line for $30/line, up to 10 lines, with the 4th line free.
And when everyone in a family agrees to choose the same data upgrade (e.g. A family of 4, where all 4 choose to upgrade to 6GB)
Thanks. I really appreciate that. I've been considering a switch to t-mobile. I just may do it.
Also keep in mind that a cell phone which can pick up "band 12" LTE, or 700Mhz LTE, will get better coverage where available as that signal penetrates buildings better and travels further. Further, T-Mobile provides Wi-Fi calling so if your cell phones OS supports it, you can connect to any Wi-Fi signal and use that for calls and text -- and since it's Wi-Fi -- data of course.
It's worth investigating. For me, for my family, it was a no brainer. I consolidated my Father, Mother, Brother, his Wife, myself, and a very good friend of mine, plus his wife on to a single T-Mo family plan, for $180/mo. My brother and his wife, alone, were paying $140 / mo to AT&T. Same with my friend and his wife. My mother and father and I were using a mix match of T-Mo pre-paid. But, now each of us has an individual 10GB of data all to ourselves for ~$26 per line. And when anyones children need phones there is plenty of room to add additional lines; 5.
I love T-Mobile. The only thing that isn't that great is coverage, but for my work and home, it's actually better than AT&T, which had 0 bars (T-Mobile has only 1, but it's better than nothing). I can also use wifi calling on T-Mobile, which I do for my place. I have an interesting rental situation, and it's literally the only way I can get service (the internet modem is in my land lord's house, so I can't get one of those fancy boosters that connect), and I'm unwilling to shell out hundreds of dollars to try to put up one of those antennas, supposing I'd even get permission to (it'd break my lease).
They have fantastic deals, customer service is always friendly, and that makes up for the lackluster coverage.