In November 2015, T-Mobile held their Uncarrier X event in Los Angeles. The event was centered around Binge On, which allows customers to watch video on some services for free, without it hitting their data cap. While other services would see less data being used, and allowing customers to watch 3x the amount of video on the same data cap. T-Mobile launched with about 24 services for Binge On, and today they are adding an additional 14. They’ve also mentioned that about 40 services have been in contact with them about adding their service to Binge On.
The services added today, to Binge On include A&E, Lifetime, HISTORY, PlayStation Vue, Tennis Channel Anywhere, FuboTV, Kidoodle TV, Curiosity Stream, Fandor, Newsy, ODK Media, Lifetime Movie Club, and FYI. And there are plenty more on the way. With Binge On, you get 480p video, which not only saves bandwidth for T-Mobile but also keeps from wasting your data. Allowing you to watch three times the amount of video on the same data plan as before.
In regards to the reports that T-Mobile is actually throttling customers video data, John Legere has a new Vlog out to set things straight. Stating that they are not throttling users. As Legere states, throttling is “slowing down data, and removing customer control”, which T-Mobile is not removing your control as they allow you to turn off Binge On if you wish. Legere also called out Google in his Vlog, which you can watch down below. It’s a short video, and gets right to the point.
Binge On is a great idea, but customers should be able to choose what resolution they can watch video at. Those with a 2K display, should be able to watch video at higher than 480p resolutions, if they so wish. Like with Music Freedom, Binge On is likely to get better over time. And the FCC has already said that this doesn’t look like a net neutrality issue to them. So they have the FCC’s blessing already. As of today, T-Mobile has 38 services as part of Binge On, and there are plenty of others on the way.