T-Mobile Introduces $70 Unlimited Data Plan, But HD Video is $25 Extra

[aristobrat]

As far as jailbreak, I was thinking in terms of routing your data through a vpn or something. Essentially make t so the data can't be deciphered.

From T-Mobile's requirements of providers (to make their video stream eligible for Binge On), it sounds like they're asking the video providers to add video detection signatures at the source. So I don't think routing the already marked stream through a VPN is going to help, in that case.

http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/binge-on-request-video-service.html

Video must be delivered over T-Mobile’s network in a way that allows T-Mobile to identify the provider's video traffic. This requires that video detection signatures be present. T-Mobile will work with content providers to ensure that our networks work together to properly detect video. We will continue to work with content providers as new traffic identification means are needed in the event of future technology enhancement or changes.

 

[Michael Goff]

how can they restrict HD video? Like if you open the YouTube app and try to change the stream to 1080p it won't let you? or what?

Throttling, mostly.

 

[NervousFish2]

And...there goes net neutrality. So far T-Mobiles anti-NN deals have been in favor of the user, so people have turned a blind eye to the practices. This one is far more grey in terms of benefiting users

Can you explain your point to me? As I understand it, there would be no discrimination at all in an unlimited data 'bucket'

 

[aristobrat]

I doubt it, they and Verizon are probably quite pleased with Tmobiles announcement. I do appreciate all that Tmobile did to bring the cellular industry forward, they did a lot, but this goes backwards a bit and won't entice the other carriers to do anything.

It's kind of intriguing. A lot of T-Mobile users have been happy with unlimited video throttled at ~480p has got to have saved T-Mobile a bunch of bandwidth and spectrum.

I'd think AT&T/Verizon would be interested because of that savings, but if customers dial down their data plans, that'd be lost revenue.

But to combat that, if AT&T and Verizon offered an unlimited plan (with the throttled video and 2G tethering) at a price point that keeps their ARPU the same, sounds like they could give most customers what they (unlimited data) without an increase on their network resources.

 

[pat500000]

I imagine because T-Mobile has done more to shake up the US carriers than anyone else, for better or for worse.

Sprint can do awesome things. Maybe even better than T-Mobile. Nobody is really talking about them though.
[doublepost=1471538009][/doublepost]
The great thing about T-Mobile making big moves is that ATT is often soon to follow. Didn't ATT just roll out their no overages plans?

.................yeah lol

 

[CentralOffice]

Beautiful quad HD AMOLED display, crappy pixelated 480p video. Match made in heaven. 2G tethering? WTF?

 

[NervousFish2]

Can someone help me with this? As someone who calls European numbers a lot, and with parents living over there who don't intuitively 'get' the idea of a FaceTime call, its critical for me that this plan includes the add-on of unlimited calling to European numbers, and also (ideally) a seamless/generous deal when roaming in most foreign countries, not just Canada and Mexico. My current 2gb t-mobile deal with the "North America Stateside International Talk with mobile" addition costs me $65/month. Am I understanding this correctly, that for $15 more I would get the exact same deal with unlimited data PLUS unlimited overseas data/voice/text roaming?

EDIT: The restricted tethering would be a slight issue, but I only use that in emergency situations where there's no wifi. Still, how 'slow' is a "2G" tethering experience? Could you use it still to do basic email and web browsing?

 

[jcmeyer5]

Worthless. Unlimited nothing is still nothing. You have to be able to get service to use it.

 

[petterihiisila]

To a Finnish customer these prices look outrageous. Virtually every operator here offers true unlimited everything for about 15-30 euros, including tethering or whatever you use it for. Speeds capped to 50/100/150 Mbit per second depending on package and campaign. It's normal to get 20-50 M downlink and same up. I've got 3 unlimited LTE SIM cards (home router, iPhone and iPad) and the total cost is 45 euros/month. That's 50 bucks. One of them has no built in NAT either, they call it "opengate". All ports open, unless I firewall it. Which I do. Servers are OK. Backing up a terabyte to cloud in a month is OK, done that. Phones are generally unlocked, and SIMs can be transferred between devices. And still the operators make a living, there's 3 major networks. LTE-A is spreading now and it's no extra cost. Price includes free roaming in Scandinavia and 600 MB of roaming in Europe.

 

[ArcaneDevice]

Some might find this a good deal, but for low-power new users the entry-level plan has just increased significantly in price and existing benefits reduced dramatically. And that's before taxes.

I'm barely away from Wifi somewhere and with rollover data I've never come close to maxing out my 3GB per month. So for less than this new $70 plan I get more than enough data, full tethering support and HD video. That price point will be gone in September and Legere said on Bloomberg eventually all the other existing plans will be too.

They should have started at $50 unlimited and then started adding the extra nickel packages. At least then the costs would be similar with added features.
[doublepost=1471549395][/doublepost]

I guess all of you are blind then. I can easily tell the difference between 480p and 1080p on any phone screen. Example is the Hulu app on Android does not play in HD anymore a waste of a app and I can easily tell right away washed out colors, pixelated edges and a more blurry picture making it harder to read text. Anyone that says I can't tell needs a eye check.

So can I. But I don't care. The difference in quality at that size is inconsequential. If you cared enough about the quality and experience of the programming you are watching you wouldn't be watching on a phone to begin with. If you can see pixellation that's your bandwidth at fault or the video server. Compression artifacts are not resolution issues, they are encoding issues. The same argument can used for preferring any streaming service over Blu-ray too. If you care that much about video quality I assume you always watch on Blu-ray too.

I wouldn't even waste my money paying any extra for HD on a screen smaller than 30 inches and I adopted HD early enough to remember when HD was actually broadcast at high bit rates and not the compressed crap that passes for streaming services or cable and satellite feeds now. I would never choose to watch a movie or TV show on a phone unless it was to fill time while stuck in an airport or somewhere where anything to pass the time will suffice.

 

[lordofthereef]

Right on! I love T-mobile! My parents will not buy cable and they don't have internet
but they love to watch movies..So I have the binge on 6gig data plan and I connect my iPhone to their tv with hdmi
and we can watch movie on hulu, amazon and youtube!
We don't need cable! I may be wrong but I don't think the big 3 are offering a deal like this?
Go T-mobile!

How's the video quality? Does it look ok?

 

[KPandian1]

They will eventually get you off the older plans ... when you get a new phone, etc. This is clearly a move to get rid of the lower data plans where consumers use a lot of binge on ... you can enjoy it for a while, maybe a couple of years even, but for everyone else those plans will be gone.

The new plan is yet to come and T-Mobile signed up a lot of customers (millions) with the "Simple" plans of various GB limits to date. Pushing them to a new plan that is less will be adverse for them, as by the time these expire (if they do), the other carriers will be at or near their plan prices and "width"!

Until then, I am happy with their plan - will cross that bridge when it is upon me.

I changed devices (phones alone) with not a peep from T-Mobile. I have not tried it with a tablet.

No device access fee. No hot spot fee; when Comcast let me down, T-Mobile was my only web access.

Do not care for add-on features like HD, I have a good HDTV at home, and am too old to peer into a 4" screen and enjoy a movie!

 

[lordofthereef]

From T-Mobile's requirements of providers (to make their video stream eligible for Binge On), it sounds like they're asking the video providers to add video detection signatures at the source. So I don't think routing the already marked stream through a VPN is going to help, in that case.

http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/binge-on-request-video-service.html

Appreciate the insight.
[doublepost=1471550573][/doublepost]

Can someone help me with this? As someone who calls European numbers a lot, and with parents living over there who don't intuitively 'get' the idea of a FaceTime call, its critical for me that this plan includes the add-on of unlimited calling to European numbers, and also (ideally) a seamless/generous deal when roaming in most foreign countries, not just Canada and Mexico. My current 2gb t-mobile deal with the "North America Stateside International Talk with mobile" addition costs me $65/month. Am I understanding this correctly, that for $15 more I would get the exact same deal with unlimited data PLUS unlimited overseas data/voice/text roaming?

EDIT: The restricted tethering would be a slight issue, but I only use that in emergency situations where there's no wifi. Still, how 'slow' is a "2G" tethering experience? Could you use it still to do basic email and web browsing?

This sounds right. It would be the $70 plus whatever additional package their European calling costs.

As far as 2g tethering, it would work for texts based emails but web browsing would be painful.

 

[tonyr6]

So can I. But I don't care. The difference in quality at that size is inconsequential.

I wouldn't even waste my money paying any extra for HD on a screen smaller than 30 inches

I bet you are farsigted like most of the population. I can easily tell SD and HD on anything except the screen size of a wrist watch.

As for the topic I will be ticked if they force this on my grandfathered plan. It would come out for so much more for terrible 480 SD video. Also I hope they don't decide to get rid of music freedom for grandfathered simple-choice plans saying but you can stream as much audio on the unlimited plan. Was not excepting this from T-Mobile but I hate the foul mouth CEO that runs it as he will also say some vulgar reply to a company doing something similar. He should be fired for what he is allowed to say. He is worse than Jobs at least he really never cursed on stage.

Also 2g is utterly useless. Loading the mobile version of mac rumors or Amazon took at least 2 minutes before I gave up. Just like dial-up days but at least then dial up was not as bad as web pages in the 90's were simple with mostly text.

 

[spinedoc77]

It's kind of intriguing. A lot of T-Mobile users have been happy with unlimited video throttled at ~480p has got to have saved T-Mobile a bunch of bandwidth and spectrum.

I'd think AT&T/Verizon would be interested because of that savings, but if customers dial down their data plans, that'd be lost revenue.

But to combat that, if AT&T and Verizon offered an unlimited plan (with the throttled video and 2G tethering) at a price point that keeps their ARPU the same, sounds like they could give most customers what they (unlimited data) without an increase on their network resources.

I don't think it saved Tmobile a lot, rather I think it cost them a lot, but that's just my take on it and I have no proof. But this latest move seems like they wanted to specifically eliminate the consumers who purchased low data amounts because using binge on they probably used a ton of data. But they got a ton of consumers to switch to them, now they can begin to slow down and think more about profits and what they are going to do long term. Allowing 2gb customers at $30 unlimited SD streaming probably wasn't a good long term strategy for them. It's really just smoke and mirrors. Eliminate the low data binge on plans, and give the mid and high data tiers "unlimited" data, which means nothing because they already have binge on. Even those mid and high data tiers were downgraded, now they have to pay substantially extra if they want HD at all or tethering. The only ones who will really benefit is the ones who use non binge on stuff and a lot of it, maybe torrenters or movie downloaders, I don't know.
[doublepost=1471551365][/doublepost]

The new plan is yet to come and T-Mobile signed up a lot of customers (millions) with the "Simple" plans of various GB limits to date. Pushing them to a new plan that is less will be adverse for them, as by the time these expire (if they do), the other carriers will be at or near their plan prices and "width"!

Until then, I am happy with their plan - will cross that bridge when it is upon me.

I changed devices (phones alone) with not a peep from T-Mobile. I have not tried it with a tablet.

No device access fee. No hot spot fee; when Comcast let me down, T-Mobile was my only web access.

Do not care for add-on features like HD, I have a good HDTV at home, and am too old to peer into a 4" screen and enjoy a movie!

Yeah, of course there are millions of existing users on the simple plans, they won't phase them out overnight. It will take them years to phase them out. But ATT/Verizon phased out the unlimited users fairly quickly, within 1-2 years. It's a long term strategy for Tmobile in order for them not to bleed data anymore and make their profits.

But yeah, cherish that plan, hang onto it like it's the last plan in the world. You will eventually be like the current Mad Maxers who still have the old, grandfathered unlimited plans.

 

[mellofello]

I would actually be ok with this if they kept tethering and moved BO to 720p. As it stands I will keep my 4 lines unlimited for $150 with 12gb tethering and HD video

 

[lordofthereef]

I bet you are farsigted like most of the population. I can easily tell SD and HD on anything except the screen size of a wrist watch.

I can tell as well (though I wear glasses). But anyway I think the point is situational. They clearly don't want people to use this as their home internet. When I'm away from home (i.e. Hitting a treadmill at the gym in the winter), standard definition isn't such a gut wrenching option that's it's unpalatable.

At the end of the day people have options. They just need to pay more if they want unlimited hd content. I do think $25 is a bit steep though. I'd need to watch dozens of hours a month to justify that.
[doublepost=1471552191][/doublepost]

I would actually be ok with this if they kept tethering and moved BO to 720p. As it stands I will keep my 4 lines unlimited for $150 with 12gb tethering and HD video

Isn't your option cheaper anyway? If my math is correct you're saving $10 over this plan.

 

[BiscottiGelato]

Shouldn't be called unlimited. This is how unlimited is supposed to be done.

https://levels.io/korea-4g/

 

[MrGuder]

You can have this but you can't watch HD video that's extra lol

So glad I'm still on Verizon unlimited.

 

[tonyr6]

I don't care about videos as I only stream them on Wifi but the music freedom is very important to me and I hope they don't discontinue that forcing you to get there "unlimited" plan.

 

[TechZeke]

You can have this but you can't watch HD video that's extra lol

So glad I'm still on Verizon unlimited.

Actually, I think this is a killer deal, regardless. For a 5.5" or less sized screen, 480p would good enough for most cases; and even with the $15 charge, unlimited 4G tethering for $65 is a steal. I'm paying that much to AT&T for 5GB of data.

My next iPhone will be on T-Mobile for-sure.

 

[KPandian1]

Shouldn't be called unlimited. This is how unlimited is supposed to be done.https://levels.io/korea-4g/

The politicians in this country will never allow it - there will be nothing in it for them if free enterprise did not cut them in for monopoly. That is why the PSC allow cable and telephone companies as single providers - bribes; and without competition, the communist Russians might as well be controlling our utilities.

The cost of broadband and cellphones are eating into too much of the average household's budget - households that are poorer today than in the 80's and 90's. We can't gloat that we pay so little for our petroleum based fuels; that does not justify the "monopoly" companies' poor service or that they can charge us so much.

 

[Wowereit]

Be thankful, the best T-Mobile Germany would give you for 160€ for a family of four is:
Free calls/SMS inside of EU + 6 GB LTE

Yes, that's it.

 

[lyngo]

According to this, the 2GB and 6GB are sticking around on the Simple Choice plans.

http://www.pcmag.com/news/347143/t-mobiles-uncarrier-12-unlimited-plans-what-you-need-to

 

[flaw600]

Seriously.

Also, how do they plan on enforcing 480p? I'd imagine its nothing a VPN can't take care of.

You assume that most consumers would use VPNs or that VPNs in general have high speeds w/o paying for it or that any free high-speed VPNs can be trusted
[doublepost=1471564375][/doublepost]

I don't think this plan is for people like us. The average person doesn't know, doesn't care, or can't tell the difference between 480p and 1080p on a smartphone. They are happy enough to have unlimited LTE data without overages with a fairly simple pricing structure. I'm sure most users don't tether, so that doesn't matter to them either. $160/month for unlimited LTE data for a family of four is great. Luckily I got the plan a few months ago that was Unlimited LTE for four lines for $150/month with no HD video restrictions and 14GB/month of tethering....So I'm happy.

I'd disagree there - 480p and 1080p on a smartphone is very distinguishable. In fact, even if the plan satisfied most customers, T-Mobile's marketing of this plan just sucks.
[doublepost=1471564457][/doublepost]

I believe Youtube doesnt present the option as part of their partnership.

Edit: confirmed

Packet detection. You can't manually configure quality, but the carrier can
[doublepost=1471564578][/doublepost]

US carrier plans are so ****! Here in the UK I pay £23 ($30) for 30GB data over 4G, which includes tethering (full 30GB over 4G), unlimited texts and 200 minutes call time, no contract. For £33/month ($43) I can upgrade that to unlimited data and 2000 minutes call time.

The UK is also a lot smaller than the US
[doublepost=1471564687][/doublepost]

You can't restrict everything to 480p. There will be many ways to stream HD video, I guarantee it.

There are, but most consumers won't go through the effort
[doublepost=1471564816][/doublepost]

I don't see how a jailbreak can get around this. It's all done on T-Mobile's end.



It's about giving users more options. If you don't want those things, then don't add / pay.

That can be said of any carrier. The problem is that T-Mo is advertising this as a single plan, but it's not. This is like Spirit Airlines.
[doublepost=1471564979][/doublepost]

It's 2016, all the 1's and 0's are the same, whether they be from tethered devices or not. SMH. "It's your data, shouldn't you use it how YOU see fit?"

Not really. Tethered devices use much more data on average than mobile devices
[doublepost=1471565111][/doublepost]

I'm a T-Mobile customer right now, but these plans are awful. They're a shot across the bow at Net Neutrality.

I agree with the first part, not the second. They'd restrict video streaming across all services, which follows Net Neutrality.
[doublepost=1471565206][/doublepost]

How does the AT&T Unlimited plan even compare? Their "unlimited" plan with being a DirecTV or UVerse customer peters out at 22GB ("After 22GB of usage, AT&T may slow data speeds."). TMobile doesn't.

They do, actually, after 26GB