Video Startup Leaves T-Mobile Binge On Service
Gareth Andrews / 9 years ago
T-Mobile didn’t have a great year last year, after having their customer records stolen. After such a public fiasco, they didn’t have too much luck with their data policies. First the CEO confirmed that their unlimited data plans had restrictions, and then at the end of last year, it was revealed that their new service Binge On was throttling videos. The problem being is that 4Stream.TV, a video startup, has left T-Mobiles Binge On service over recent concerns for the service.
4Stream.TV’s creator, Slidefuse, has left the service citing the comments recently made on John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, on his twitter account.
.@EFF pic.twitter.com/pv6V4oOJwS
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) January 7, 2016
When Legere was asked by the EFF what Binge does to alter video streams or if it just limits the bandwidth used by the video, his response was that it used “proprietary software” and then began to ask “who the **** are you, anyway, why are you stirring up so much trouble, and who pays you?”. After being so defensive against the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a charity known for promoting equal access and rights to internet users, Slidefuse retracted their name from the 38 providers currently assigned to the Binge On service.
The controversial service would see that the listed providers such as Hulu and Netflix, would not count towards a user’s data use. The problem that has been found, by the EFF, is that once you are signed into the service, all your video content are throttled, resulting in a limited speed affecting all video streams, including those which you are downloading to watch offline later.
The service has got so bad that the company soon will meet with the Federal Communications Commission to discuss whether Binge On violates the net neutrality, a principle in which traffic on the internet cannot be prioritized or restricted over a different piece of content on the internet.