At today's Uncarrier X event T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced Binge On. It's basically Music Freedom for video and gives customers unlimited video streaming that doesn't count against their plan's high-speed data allotment.
With Binge On video streams are compressed and reduced to 480p quality which T-Mobile says uses only a third as much data as unoptimized video. Binge On is enabled by default on all Simple Choice plans but users can disable it if they don't want their video degraded and are OK with it counting against their high-speed data allowance.
Binge On unlimited free video streaming will be included with all Simple Choice Plans that come with 3 GB or more of high-speed data, including $60 month and higher Simple Choice Prepaid plans. Simple Choice customers on plans with less than 3 GB of high speed data get the data saving benefits of Binge On (unless they opt out) their but video streaming does count against their high speed data allowance.
Binge On will launch November 15 for new Simple Choice customers and November 19 for current customers. At launch Binge On will support the following video streaming services:
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In addition to free streaming, Binge On includes discounts on a couple of paid services. All Simple Choice customers get a 30% discount on the first 12 months of Sling if they sign up for Sling through T-Mobile. Customers on Simple Choice plans with unlimited high speed data, including the $80/month Simple Choice Prepaid plan, also get one free movie rental per month from Vudu.
Source: T-Mobile
Related Post: Prepaid Operator Profile: T-Mobile

binge-on will work on unlocked phones too, right?
ReplyDeleteI can't think of any reason why it wouldn't.
DeleteThis excludes the $30 100 min plan i take it?
ReplyDeleteProbably. The $30 plan wasn't mentioned and it's not a Simple Choice plan. But the $30 plan does get Music Freedom so maybe it will get Binge On too. But that would be an unexpected surprise.
DeleteAll TMO accounts will get the BingeOn quality toggle, but only the 3GB and up plans get the data exemption. Should apply to the Walmart plan, but we'll know for sure when it launches.
DeleteViolating the spirit of Net Neutrality AND excluding Youtube?
ReplyDeletePass
T-Mobile says they want YouTube to participate, but Google has refused so far. T-Mobile claims that any (legit) streaming service who wants to participate in their new service can do so, free of charge.
DeleteThere might be some Net Neutrality concerns, but lack of YouTube isn't one of them, since they are not blocking them from participating.
I wasn't implying that the exclusion of YT had anything to do with NN.
DeleteIt's just that they blatantly violated NN without even making it worthwhile.
The lack of YT severely diminishes the overall value of Binge.
It seems like a waste on both counts.
Then again, free YT streaming might soon become a relic of better times if Google's new RedTube subscriptions are any indication.
Of course Google is refusing. They don't want to transcode, err, "optimize" their 480p videos to 300-400kbps -- the quality would be terrible, and YouTube doesn't want their name associated with crappy quality.
DeleteDisappointing. MetroPCS at 60.00 for truly unlimited is still the better deal.
ReplyDeletei don't think
Delete$180 for unlimited for a family of 4
That's $45 each... Seems like a better deal if you find people to do it plus let me put phone on payments not full price..
Who has unlimited for $45?
DeleteYou do realize that with T-mo, you would be looking at 140$ for a family of four on the 3gb simple choice plan? Thats not even including taxes or phone payments. Currently an S6 will run you 24$ a month. Multiply by 4, thats 96$, Plus 140= 236$ total for 4 lines and 3gb per moth.
DeleteNo Youtbue streaming. I thank I'll pass too.
ReplyDeleteHey nice that they offer Net Flix in there as well as Ustream. Now many folks don't realize that you can easily set up an Internet Radio station on Ustream. Even though its only sending Audio this could get me some extra listeners as an Internet Radio Station. They should allow Shoutcast stations because 128K Audio streams take far less than video streams.
ReplyDeleteA few weeks ago John Legere stated on Periscope something to the affect of Music Feedom will be Getting Amazon Music soon but is running into some sort of technical issues with the data side of things. I am only guessing that Amazon Instant Video will also be supported soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat else are you going to do with your alotted data? Use it on YouTube of course. I'm waiting for Cricket to step up!
ReplyDeleteI would use the allocated data for downloading porn.
DeleteI have the $30 100 minute plan. Got a text from T-mobile about Binge On so hopefully I'm in.
ReplyDeleteEverybody can Binge, but only some will get unlimited video streaming that does not count against their cap.
DeleteDoes walmarts family mobile included. I have 5 gb
ReplyDeleteT-Mobile adds YouTube to Binge On.
ReplyDeleteYouTube on Binge ON. Finally all the whining can stop.
DeleteEven Google is OK with Bing On now.
Fox Business, Red Bull TV, and Discovery Go are also added, taking the total of Binge On partners to more than 50.