T-Mobile to Exempt Netflix, Other Video Services From Usage Caps T-Mobile today confirmed previous leaks and announced that the "uncarrier" will be exempting video services from the company's usage allotments under a program the company calls "Binge On". According to the T-Mobile "Uncarrier X" announcement today, the company will indeed be exempting Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, HBO Go, and 20 other video services from the company's usage caps (see the current list).

Pre-empting concerns about net neutrality, T-Mobile CEO John Legere insisted that any video company can sign up for Binge On without any qualifications. Companies also won't have to pay to participate. The company stated that, like it's Music Freedom service (which exempts music services from caps) users can also vote on which services they'd like to see included in the program. "This is not a net neutrality problem," Legere proclaimed. To make his point, Legere made it clear that Binge On would even exempt video services from the company's competitors, including DirecTV and Verizon's new Go90 streaming video service (which the CEO mocked fairly relentlessly as a desperate ploy to lure Millennials into incurring more overage fees). According to Legere these video streams will be "DVD quality or better," (480p) but optimized to minimize the amount of data used (T-Mobile didn't specify exactly what this optimization entailed). T-Mobile also stated that this feature can be easily turned on and off by the customer, meaning that if you want to watch a higher-quality stream of specific video content, you simply turn Binge On off (obviously pulling from your data allotment). The press event also indicated that T-Mobile would be giving T-Mobile customers a 30% discount for Sling TV's streaming live video service. According to the According to the BingeOn website , the cap-exemption begins for Simple Choice Amped customers on November 15, and everybody else on November 19.







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Most recommended from 198 comments

ShadezeRO

join:2006-04-24

Fort Lauderdale, FL 23 recommendations ShadezeRO Member Meanwhile... Comcast is shafting users with data caps for actually using their service.

AND calling it "Fair"



Kudos to T-Mobile. I know their service isn't the best, but they've got a lot to offer. I've enjoyed their International 3G, Wi-Fi calling/texting, and slew of other features. amungus

Premium Member

join:2004-11-26

America 4 recommendations amungus Premium Member Exempt my own server? Serious question, Mr. John. If it's truly neutral, can I exempt an IP address or two?



I have Subsonic. Would be nice to exempt that. Say I wanted to steam my own music or video from that, or, say Emby, or Plex?



What about a server for work? Say I wanted to test the snot out of one.



Unless I had such control, I wouldn't consider this truly neutral.



Cool move, and sure, it'll cover a lot of folks. It's not neutral though. shmerl

join:2013-10-21 4 recommendations shmerl Member It's still a violation of Net Neutrality. Since it has to go through approval. T-Mobile are a gatekeeper. That's not called Net Neutrality.