T-Mobile has been trying of late to shake up the US mobile industry, and its latest effort involved giving customers free consumption in a bid to offset the limits of data caps. The company’s new Bing On service means that T-Mobile will allow all customers with a 3 GB plan to stream “mobile-optimized” video from a predefined list of apps without using any of their monthly data allowance.
T-Mobile Bing On gives free video streaming
There are some limitations to Bing One however, the most obvious being the somewhat dubious video resolution limit of “DVD or better” which in fact covers 480p resolution. T-Mobile says customer’s won’t be able to tell the difference between 480p and 720p or even 1080p (full HD) but that’s a somewhat questionable claim indeed.
At the moment, the amount of content included in the scheme is fairly limited, but it does include app like Netflix, HBO, Showtime, Hulu and Sling TV. Other apps will apparently be added in the next few months. Compared with other mobile operators, T-Mobile claims that Bing On will allow users to watch three times more video that streaming that would otherwise count against a user’s data limit.
As well as Bing On, T-Mobile has also doubled its Simple Choice subscription models, with the entry level moving from 1 GB to 2 GB of 4G data for $50 per month. The company’s $60 and $70 plans increase to 6 GB and 10 GB of data respectively, and add-ons will see a boost to 2 GB for an additional $10 per month. The unlimited data plan stays at $80 a month, but mobile hotspot (tethered) allotments will be doubled to 14 GB.
T-Mobile says Bing On and the new pricing structure will come into effect this Sunday.
SOURCE: AppleInsider.
Larry Banks is a keen follower of technology and finance. He has worked for a variety of online publications, writing about a diverse range of topics including mobile networks, patents, and Internet video delivery technologies.