Carrier T-Mobile Binge On Samples

[lordofthereef]

Be warned that if you are watching this on a large screen (ie desktop, laptop, or larger iPad) you are likely to notice a larger difference than you would actually viewing on a smaller device.

I decided to post up some Binge On samples for those people on the fence or just in general wondering how much stream quality is effected.

You'll notice I made sure cellular versus wifi is up at the top. I tried my best to screen capture at exactly the same point. To be sure that no data was preloaded I went into multitask we and killed the app, switched wifi on or off, depending on which screenshot I was aiming for, and then repeated.

I'm in an area of spotty data coverage and will note that before it was tough to get a stream in this location (our bedroom) without buffering. I let care bears run while my son was watching for half an hour or so and didn't hear a stutter.

I used Netflix for this test and basically picked shows at random (they were on our watch lists or recently watched; Care Bears are awesome).

Edit: some possible pertinent information- this was done on a 6S Plus

 

[Chocolatemilty]

Good to know, thanks OP. Doesn't look like too much of a difference between LTE and wifi.

 

[lordofthereef]

Good to know, thanks OP. Doesn't look like too much of a difference between LTE and wifi.

Welcome
My reasoning for posting this is because I read a lot of people knocking the 480p (I was skeptical too thinking I'd see a blocky mess) in the MR news page. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't noticeable, particularly when loading back and forth, but it's absolutely watchable. I'm hoping they add YouTube. My son burned through my data plan a week before the billing cycle was up watching kids songs lol.

 

[geoff5093]

Good to know, thanks OP. Doesn't look like too much of a difference between LTE and wifi.

Did you even look at the full size images? There is a huge difference between the photos, it's like watching a movie on your parents old tube TV vs an LCD HD TV.

In the first video the entire animal looks to have just a solid shade of purple and pink, compared to WiFi where you can see the individual material. In the third video you can't see the details of his face, compared to HD where you can tell which way he is looking.

 

[Chocolatemilty]

Did you even look at the full size images? There is a huge difference between the photos, it's like watching a movie on your parents old tube TV vs an LCD HD TV.

Let me rephrase - it doesn't look like there's too much of an alarming difference which would render Binge On unwatchable, especially for the little ones or even quick watching on YouTube or something like that.

 

[lordofthereef]

Did you even look at the full size images? There is a huge difference between the photos, it's like watching a movie on your parents old tube TV vs an LCD HD TV.

In the first video the entire animal looks to have just a solid shade of purple and pink, compared to WiFi where you can see the individual material. In the third video you can't see the details of his face, compared to HD where you can tell which way he is looking.

Are you viewing these on a phone? I don't see the stark differences you're pointing out. The third video wasn't actually captured at the exact same frame (none were, I did my best, but that is the biggest difference of the three samples). Frank underwood's head is literally facing a different directing (and is Hereford illuminated by the light) in the wifi sample as opposed to the LTE/4g stream. I certainly see texture in the care bear too, even in just the thumbnail image, but it's undoubtedly not as sharp as the full HD stream.

 

[geoff5093]

Are you viewing these on a phone? I don't see the stark differences you're pointing out. The third video wasn't actually captured at the exact same frame (none were, I did my best, but that is the biggest difference of the three samples). Frank underwood's head is literally facing a different directing (and is Hereford illuminated by the light) in the wifi sample as opposed to the LTE/4g stream. I certainly see texture in the care bear too, even in just the thumbnail image, but it's undoubtedly not as sharp as the full HD stream.

Nope, on my laptop. The screen grabs are from a phone though.

 

[Applejuiced]

Good info.
Thanks op

 

[iosuser]

It's a very noticeable difference, but I think it's worth the trade off, unlimited video without unlimited data. It'd be awesome if they add Amazon and YouTube.

 

[superevangelist1]

If I had Binge On, my kids would mainly be the ones watching...they wouldn't notice the difference.

 

[rigormortis]

im bummed i cant get it on prepaid iPad. if they allowed it , i would get it. i read that binge on works for anything
connected to your iPhone / ipad via tethering. ( where as music freedom was not guaranteed ). could you test this?

i wrote executive relations begging for them to include bingeon on iPads

they only promise binge on if you are post paid ipad

 

[CEmajr]

The difference is noticeable but it still looks totally fine to watch. A good feature for those without unlimited data.

 

[lordofthereef]

Nope, on my laptop. The screen grabs are from a phone though.

Yeah. I figured you had the images more blown up. It's certainly not as bad (IMO) as you describe it looking on a desktop. In fact, I just took a look myself on my macbook and it is much worse (again, to my eye) on this larger screen than my iPhone; comparing on the macbook I would say it's borderline unwathable. But then again I can barely tell the difference between the sharpness of a 6s versus a 6s plus screen and some people swear the difference is night and day. Maybe my theshold is incredibly high. IDK.

Anyway, hope the samples were at least helpful

 

[lordofthereef]

im bummed i cant get it on prepaid iPad. if they allowed it , i would get it. i read that binge on works for anything
connected to your iPhone / ipad via tethering. ( where as music freedom was not guaranteed ). could you test this?

i wrote executive relations begging for them to include bingeon on iPads

they only promise binge on if you are post paid ipad

My understanding is that tethering counts against your data allotment regardless. I can tell yopu that when I tethered my laptop to my phone (we no longer have an iPad so I cannot test that) there was no compression on the video, so I am going to assume that Binge on doesn't apply. At least not yet.

 

[Fuchal]

You also need to compare what the slower 4G connection looks like without Binge On, because the connection speed may also contribute to the quality.

 

[lordofthereef]

You also need to compare what the slower 4G connection looks like without Binge On, because the connection speed may also contribute to the quality.

That's certainly possible, though doubtful. Had to take my mom in to get a CT scan this morning and I streamed more of Care Bears for my son. Full signal LTE (admittedly I didn't do a soeed test though) and the picture quality seamed about the same.

 

[ross1998]

Here is a screenshot of watching nfl gamepass with binge on enabled.

 

[Vicrooloo]

Very noticeable but I can count on my one hand how many people, including myself, agonize over HD content.

The issue at hand isn't the throttling itself. Its throttling non-partner sites when Binge-on is on. There needs to be a setting that applies the "optimizing" to partner sites only or global traffic.

 

[tbrinkma]

Very noticeable but I can count on my one hand how many people, including myself, agonize over HD content.

The issue at hand isn't the throttling itself. Its throttling non-partner sites when Binge-on is on. There needs to be a setting that applies the "optimizing" to partner sites only or global traffic.

Or T-Mobile needs to not count bandwidth from *any* affected video against the user's limits.