T-Mobile has been working hard to be the “Un-carrier” for quite some time now, launching new plan-specific features that break away from the traditional wireless carrier model that we’ve all grown accustomed to seeing over the years. T-Mobile is still a carrier, though, and while they’ve made some additions and decisions that have shaken up the wireless industry in a big way, as far as the U.S. is concerned, the carrier might still not be the best bet for everyone.
I’ve said in the past that, where I live, T-Mobile is still not really a viable option — despite the fact that I can freely admit they’ve got some plan features that I’d really like to take advantage of. Or, at least, I feel like I would take advantage of.
Both of those things have to do with consuming media. And T-Mobile lets its subscribers do that without impacting their monthly high-speed data allotments.
It’s a pretty great move, and when it comes to me, personally, the ability to stream music from services like Spotify is pretty fantastic. I listen to a lot of music, and if I never had to worry about a data cap, well, I could save some space on my phone for even more pictures, instead of reserving it for offline music playback.
T-Mobile also has its partners, like YouTube, Netflix, and others, that allow the Magenta Un-carrier subscribers to stream “optimized” video to their devices on the cellular network without impacting high-speed data limits. It’s exactly like the music option, just for video.
It’s these two elements that make me consider T-Mobile from time-to-time, despite the network coverage hardships I’ve experienced in the past. The thing is, while these two features sound fantastic, and I’d probably be a perfect candidate for both, I don’t actually think I need them.
Right now I’ve got about 16GB of data allowed for me and two other people using the data bucket. We’re 10 days into the billing cycle, and I’m at 1.0GB used so far. Everyone else isn’t near that. But this isn’t necessarily a typical period of usage for me. Last month, for example, I used 10GB of data, and I something like 8GB of that was handled all in one day. Thanks to a huge chunk of video.
I was watching the final period of a hockey game, and it was an important game so I didn’t care about using data at the time. Of course, when it came down to the line there, after I saw how much I used, my immediate thought was: I wish I could’ve had T-Mobile’s free media streaming.
Not that T-Mobile would have helped me in that specific situation, as NHL’s app isn’t covered (at least, I don’t think it is).
I think I use about 5 or 6GB of data every month. The other two lines? One probably uses a single gig, if they try, and the other might used 3 or 4GB. With the current plan I have, we’ve never gone over and I don’t think it will happen anytime soon.
But obviously T-Mobile has some heavy content streamers on its network, and there’s no doubt in my mind that streaming content will only get more important as the years tick on. It would probably be nice to see AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint launch similar plan options, but who knows if that will happen.
My question to you is this: Do you need something like T-Mobile’s Music Freedom or Binge On to help you watch as much content as you can on your phone? Or do you keep you video watching to a minimum on your smartphone? Let me know!