John Legere is CEO of the nation’s third largest cellphone company, T-Mobile, and he’s just announced that customers are free to use as much data as they possibly can while streaming Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go.
Netflix, HBO Go/Now, Sling TV, ShowTime, Hulu, ESPN and other services will no longer count against data usage on T-Mobile. #UncarrierX
— Dan Graziano (@DanGraziano) November 10, 2015
“”
The announcement states that these premiere video streaming services and the data used to watch movies and TV will no longer apply to customer’s data plans. You WILL still need to pay for your Netflix membership, it’s not free in that sense, but if your’e a T-Mobile customer you’ll never get hit by crazy data usage charges for streaming the latest season of Daredevil (the best Netflix original to date).
Nick Statt of The Verge reports:
T-Mobile will now let customers stream video from services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Go without having it count toward their mobile data plans, the company announced today at its 10th Uncarrier event in Los Angeles. The plan, called Binge On, builds on the company’s Music Freedom initiative, which broke out music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music from customers’ data plans starting last year.
Though Binge On includes 24 streaming video services, YouTube — and its new paid subscription service YouTube Red — is notably absent from the list. Another big catch with the plan is T-Mobile’s decision to cap streams at “DVD-quality,” which means you’ll be watching at 480p. That’s far below the 1080p standard we’ve come to expect with modern mobile internet speeds. T-Mobile says 480p offers “outstanding quality” on a smartphone, but it plans to upscale the video streams as newer mobile networking technology improves.
Now I’m firmly entrenched in my plan with our nation’s largest cellphone carrier, but if I were to ever switch I have to think it’d be to T-Mobile…T-Mobile or Boost Mobile…That still exists, right?
I’m in constant fear of going over my data caps. I connect to the WiFi everywhere I go yet every month, without fail, I get a text like 7 days in saying I’ve used 50% of my data for that month and then I’m fighting an uphill battle for the next three weeks.
I hardly think that Verizon and AT&T will dignify this announcement with a response, but it would be pretty badass to see them step up to the plate for once and actually do something for the benefit of their customers instead of raking them over coals (as they’re prone to do).
For more on those story CLICK HERE to head on over to The Verge.