T-Mobile Unveils Free Video Streaming For Two Dozen Services

[ManofGod]

Body blow followed by an upper cut.

Legere, like a Boss!

Except that he missed the fact that their coverage is not where it needs to be. How about they invest in infrastructure if they aren't already. I had T Mobile but switched to Verizon because I wanted a new phone and the cost is actually less on Verizon for me.

 

[jimmyb]

Net-Neutrality has never been even discussed as applying to a mobile ISP in the exactness that you are referring to. Literally every picture sent uses data, but no carrier has counted that against your data allotments since MMS became common in the mid 2000's.

It certainly has been discussed with respect to mobile ISPs. See the FCCs request for comment, the multitudes of policy studies, all the discussion online for the past decade, etc. etc.

MMS (and SMS) services have long been criticized for having billing way out of line with regular data services, so I don't really understand what your point is here. It's literally one of the original net neutrality complaints. They should of course be billed at the same rate as other data.

For better or for worse, telephony infrastructure falls under different regulatory rules, and the infrastructure itself is often independent, although that gap is closing.

If T-Mobile was in violation of it then the FCC would have smacked them around long ago for the Music Freedom service.

Again, whether or not the FCC is properly enforcing net neutral policies has no bearing on whether Tmobile actually has them.

They are not giving any service preference over another.. Any video streaming that meets the requirements gets it..

Your first sentence contradicts your second sentence. There are requirements to get on the list. If this was a list that anyone could get on, no strings attached, then there wouldn't be a point of having it in the first place.

Take Youtube for example, they send their video in a TLS connection which means Tmobile can't figure out what it is, and now Youtube isn't on the list.

You also haven't addressed the basic limitation that you have to be a video or streaming service to qualify. These streaming services are now being offered preferential network access compare to other types of data. It's fundamentally non-neutral network access.

Online backup services, websites, VPN services, any encrypted connections, etc, now have to pay more for network access than video streaming services. That's not neutral.

It is completely relevant.. The point of net neutrality was not to maintain an open internet for the sake of having an open internet. It's point is to police the ISP's into giving competing products the same treatment thus not making a consumers decision for them.

While fairness in commercial markets was one goal, it's not the entire point. If I want to send data for non-commercial purposes that also needs to be treated neutrally, and that means content streaming services can't have favorable billing policies.

And again, even within content streaming services there are various requirements that have to be meet.

ISPs are supposed to be 100% content agnostic in a truly neutral network. They treat all packets equivalently. Tmobile's policy is in clear violation of this very simple principle.

Net neutrality argues that ISPs shouldn't have the authority to prefer certain types of data over others in the first. If you want neutral access, you can't have ISPs allowed to prefer certain data.

So by this logic 1,000,000mb = 333,333mb...

No same amount of data. If I download 1TB of Netflix that is free. If I browse 1TB worth of websites it is not free. It is the same cost to the ISP, and yet they are billing me for one. That's not neutral.

 

[scojer]

I don't get what the huge stink is. It's simple really. You pay for a set amount of high speed data. A majority of high speed data used is video and music. The rest of it is basic web browsing, social media, y'know, stuff that doesn't eat up a shit ton of high speed data. They are allowing you to stream video and music, have it NOT count against your high speed data, so that way, the rest of your data isn't slowed down after said allotment is used up. Plus, it is something that you have 100% control over. Want the video streaming to count against you? Turn it off. Your choice, not theirs. T-Mobile just gives you the option.

 

[leezard]

What if I have an Unlimited 4G LTE plan?

You still benefit with Binge On™! When Binge On is enabled, you’ll get all the benefits of unlimited video streaming on your smartphone and when you use your phone as a mobile hotspot you can stream Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Sling, ESPN, Showtime, Starz and more for free, without counting against your smartphone mobile hotspot. AND, you’ll receive 1 free movie rental a month from Vudu– as long as you have Binge On™ enabled – starts in January.

 

[RanceJustice]

This is yet another dangerous precedent that is contrary to Net Neutrality. "Zero rating" is the "friendlier" way to pick preferred winners and losers and sadly because of this, watchdog organization aren't paying enough attention. Suffice it to say, anyone who really cares about net neutrality and the future of a fre and open Internet should reject these policies on principle, even when they appear to convey a short term benefit. Here's an article that sums it up pretty well, found with a couple of minutes of searching - https://www.theverge.com/2015/11/10...-streaming-net-neutrality-problem-john-legere