Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
T-Mobile US’ Binge On service has now been out for a few months and I have to say I am a bit surprised by the lack of attention the offerings has so far received. I mean no one is talking about this video streaming service that would seem to be worthy of considerable industry and regulatory conversation.
Oh wait … nevermind.
What I meant to say was “hot damn! That Binge On service seems to have put a bee in just about everyone’s bonnet!”
As expected, T-Mobile US’ take on taking on streaming video content has set off a shockwave across the telecom market, with some large content providers not part of the program crying foul alongside a handful of industry groups housing these members and claiming to be looking out for the public interest.
On the other side, T-Mobile US CEO John Legere came out this week with his latest video blog, incredulous about the uproar and claiming the carrier has seen a dramatic uptick in video streaming usage across its cellular network since launching Binge On late last year.
Those against the service claim T-Mobile US is throttling video traffic through the service, with a recent report claiming video content was degraded from streaming at 5 megabits per second with Binge On turned off, to just 1.5 Mbps when engaged. This would not seem to be a surprise as T-Mobile US is claiming a three-times improvement in data savings when using Binge On, so those numbers would seem to back up the claim.
T-Mobile US counters by stating customers are still receiving a “DVD-like” viewing experience on their mobile device, which for most smartphones is still a very good experience. Having myself experimented with Binge On, I would concur with that view, though as the screen size creeps up beyond 7 inches or so, the degraded viewing experience does become more apparent.
Now, I typically find myself pretty level headed in terms of weighing different sides on wireless telecom related issues, but on this fracas I have to say I am tending to side with T-Mobile US.
It seems to me that T-Mobile US was pretty upfront on how Binge On works and indicated it was a completely voluntary service that customers could opt out of at anytime, as long as they had access to their account.
Plus, and this is where I think T-Mobile US really made a smart move, since the Binge On service does not take away from a customer’s data bucket, does it really count as data at all? How can T-Mobile US be accused of messing with content when that content is not actually showing up as usage?
Sure, it’s a semantic argument, but I am all for throwing more semantics into the net neutrality argument.
And, I have to side with Legere on his comments about YouTube doing the same sort of “throttling” with its service. Why is it that sometimes a YouTube clip automatically defaults to a lower video resolution? Who’s controlling that move?
Now, perhaps T-Mobile US clouded the issue a bit by requiring customers to sign up for a certain data bucket in order to receive the full Binge On benefits, but that requirement seems just a tiny detail in the overall benefits offered by the service. Plus, even those consumers that don’t pony up for the minimum data threshold to gain free cellular data streaming are said to receive a three-times data savings when streaming video content over their cellular connection.
With net neutrality still a hot button topic amongst the fringe on both sides, I would suspect this issue will remain an issue for as long as those on one side don’t get all they want from those on the other. Which means the Binge One debate should be with us forever.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. Here are some quick, but satisfying extras:
–Having yet again managed to avoid directly attending the annual CES event in Las Vegas (thanks Sean and Joey!), I still must comment on what a zoo this annual tech orgy remains.
I know a lot of you enjoy this tech fest as evident from the tens of thousands of people that attend CES every year. But, I can’t imagine any one person can actually glean any real information or insight from CES into what the tech world has in store for the masses.
The worst part is that in order to stick out amongst the noise, a company needs to announce something so outlandish that it can’t possibly ever be actually produced for public consumption. I can’t tell you how many booths I have visited at past CES events showing off some gadget that I would be willing to actually spend my own money on because it was so awesome and life changing, only to never see that product make it past that booth.
My one piece of advice for any company taking part in CES would be to just go all in and announce you have developed a teleportation device, hire some local Las Vegas “magician” to run a teleportation trick and watch the masses go crazy. It’s really no different than what is already happening at the show.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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