Unsurprisingly, AT&T and Sprint are dismissive of T-Mobile’s claims and, Cassandra-like, are warning that woe and misery lies in store for users of the Binge On service because it will inevitably cause network congestion and deliver poor quality video.
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T-Mobile’s Binge On is an addition to Music Freedom, another service that allows you to stream music from sources such as Spotify and Pandora for free. T-Mobile will increase the monthly smartphone mobile hotspot data from 7 GB to 14 GB. Legere also adds that the new T-Mobile feature will let everyone to be a step ahead in taking advantage of video streaming services. However, the videos are going to be at a 480p resolution so that it can accommodate the most traffic.
Ars Technica, on the other hand, reported that while T-Mobile’s Binge On program allows customers to watch videos at an impressive data speed, the program, however, simultaneously decreases the quality of the video. If current users use the “Family Match” option, meaning every line on a family plan gets the same data plan, you can get the doubled data at the price you’re now paying.
Starting Sunday, T-Mobile customers can freely stream video from HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Showtime, Sling TV, STARZ, WatchESPN and other cable providers to which they subscribe – and the company promised that more streaming services are on the way. “We do have concerns as to what such usage could do to [T-Mobile US’] longer-term network capacity”, Wells Fargo Securities senior analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said in a research note. “When you see the spot on air, you don’t want to see the same spot when you go to digital”, Mr. DeLuca said.
Net neutrality policies are meant to prevent preferential treatment of a few content providers over others.
However, not all are as sanguine as T-Mobile’s CEO. Additionally, Alphabet’s YouTube is not part of the almost 24 video services that Bing One supports. T-Mobile said the carriers are expected to bring in $2.4 billion this year from overage penalties, up 60 percent from $1.5 billion just last year.
Mr.de la Vega added that, thanks to its recent acquisition of DirecTV, AT&T has the capability to offer a much better video experience than Binge On.
According to Boston Herald, the free video streaming service will start November 15 for new subscribers to their “Simple Choice Amped” plan.
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As far as pricing, a Simple Choice customer pays $50 a month for unlimited data, talk and text.
