T-Mobile Exempts 6 More Music Services From Caps, Except Google

everything is exempt or give everyone 50gb

This seems such a brazen violation of net neutrality. Announcing it as a positive seems unreal to me. What is next, pay extra to access google or amazon?

I don't see how it is a violation of net neutrality. So say the user has 5GB of data yesterday and was using that 5GB for say Pandora. Now tomorrow TMO says you still have 5GB, but now Pandora doesn't count against that 5GB. They are actually giving you MORE not less IF you use Pandora. You still have your 1200 minutes, but a call to Pandora is now an 800 number.

However I see the position that maybe before I would not use Pandora, but now that I see it doesn't cost me anything, now I start using it. So this is an 800 service now. The small guy lives under the 5GB, so is he at a disadvantage--yes. Does it make it harder for him to break the economic moat--yes. Is there a chance for abuse by TMO--yes. TMO could also simply say you get 5GB again and all that value is gone. Not sure that is good either.

I see the slippery slope, but I also see the value TMO is bringing to their customers.

What would be a value crush would be you now have 4GB and get xyz free music, but that didn't happen.

Do I think TMO doesn't employ actuaries to figure this out and intend to charge or monetize for 800 access? I would be a fool to think that is not their ultimate goal. Maybe they inject ads in the stream and you get it for free. Now that is the operator DEFINITELY violating neutrality by modifying the stream, and the user will be forced to make a choice... That gets worse or course, but you have to imagine that the ad industry is reeling and they are dying to find new ways to separate you from your money...

This is how the phone industry evolved and it went through a period where long distance was expensive but as capacity and competition opened up phone calls anywhere in the US and now some even internationally are just "included" and the cost is more affordable then ever before.

Every year (except for say cable monopoly operators) cost is going down because of technological advances and competition and will continue to do so.

Anywhere monopolies are granted by the government to exist cost will go up and service down. Plain and simple.

It is preferring one type of traffic over another. If a type of traffic from a provider can be preferred, traffic from another provider can be prevented or charged extra for accessing.

because if I prefer Google Music over Pandora it counts against my cap because I didn't choose the music streaming service T-Mobile wanted me to choose. at&t suggest doing something like this and everyone goes ape shit. t-mobile does it and it's ok.

Google music is being added... Jeez.

Actually, AT&T's sponsored data was quite different from T-Mobile's implementation, mainly because AT&T was being compensated for the data cost by the content provider. T-Mobile is receiving no such compensation and is adding new services at a sustainable rate.

They must be receiving something...If Pandora and the others aren't paying TMO, what is in it for them? Why promote Pandora and the others if they aren't paying for it?

From »money.cnn.com/2014/06/18 ··· c-phone/

"Legere dismissed concerns about Music Freedom's net neutrality implications, saying new services could be quickly included in the program.
T-Mobile chief marketing officer Michael Sievert said the company isn't getting paid by the services participating in Music Freedom.""

They want to keep poaching customers from AT&T/Verizon/Sprint...

I can't tell if you're serious or sarcastic. Because the answer is very obvious.

IS as in NOT YET. Until such time still counts against my cap.

Would you'd like them to launch it before it's fully configured and vetted so you can be charged for the data when you shouldn't be?

It's coming in the next couple of months. Only so much of the year left.

Unlimited EDGE speeds after a few high-speed GBs seems pretty OK to me -- especially when unlimited 4G is only about 10 bucks more.

Meanwhile Sprint merrily charges a laughable $10 just to get access to their cobbled together mess of a 4G network.

Dang! Sounds like I'll have to continue to use the local buffer on Google Play Music for a while yet...

Odds are T-Mo can't whitelist Google Play Music without whitelisting a whole mess of other Google services due to the URL scheme... namely things like Google Play Video.

We can't be giving all of Google's services a free ride now, can we?

Google also SSL's their traffic (including music) so they can't do DPI either.

Exactly. Takes time to figure this out. I'd rather it take them a bit longer to launch than have billing screwups.

Grooveshark? Well the music industry won't like that. So much for "lawful and licensed."

This sounds like a good thing but it's such a dangerous precedent -- and this from the uncarrier!

I have my entire 200GB music collection stored on Google Play, so of course I'd love to stream it without caps. The #1 request, but an overwhelming margin, was for Google Play. But no, we get stuff I've never heard of.

The company's have to be willing to cooperate with T-Mobile. I am sure these services were more than willing.

Hopefully, they will add Netflix in the future

Typical Netflix streaming on a phone is roughly 820Kb/sec.
Typical audio "streaming" from one of the services on par about 64Kb/sec.

Which do you think T-Mo wants on their towers 24x7 per user?

A lot of them actually use as little as 32-48kbps.

what, pandora isn't on the list?

Pandora was one of the first exempted services when this offering was rolled out a few months back.

See »www.t-mobile.com/offer/f ··· ing.html

Included services:
Pandora
iHeartRadio
iTunes Radio
Rhapsody
Spotify
Slacker
Milk Music
Black Planet
GrooveShark
Songza
Rdio
Radio Paradise
AccuRadio

-------
With Google music coming soon...

they might as well except voip calling as well.. audio, is audio...

that would leave software apps, web browsing and video to be under the limits

the more they tweak this in favor of the consumer.. the more dirt they kick up at Sprint who is finally trying to get traction.

They do that -- it's unlimited voice calling with your regular number via GSM, UMTS, and now VoLTE.

Hear Magenta even throws something like x2 more voice/audio bandwidth per call versus Blue, Red, and (probably) Yellow, too. Hells Bells still use half-rate gimped codecs even in un-congested locations, don't they?

Basically, I meant internet voip which has among other features-- push to talk and video chat...

Yeah... but remember back when FaceTime video rolled out, AT&T instantly threw up a roadblock and announced funny technical reasons why it was absolutely necessary for network management. Sure, some of that was valid, but it was mostly unapologetic laziness from a Tier 1 wireless carrier simply refusing to increase capacity when/where needed.

Meanwhile in Magentaland, similar shenanigans were never attempted.

Does anyone know if this also counts for T-Mo prepaid? I've not been able to find out one way or another.

(Edit) Apparently it does! »twitter.com/KingFrostFiv ··· 70291456

So i can actually enjoy 4G in my hometown instead of EDGE/GPRS. Once that's done start expanding your coverage area. Then you'll start making big red and big blue sweat.

(Sorry big yellow...you already suck)

Add those if you are going to do this T-Mobile! They work great in EDGE country due to their AAC+ compression and selectable bitrate. Their IP range and streaming URLs are pretty static too. They would be very easy to add. I could conceivably allow them on my home network and deny all others via a couple router rules, seriously. Not that I would, just saying how easy it would be to single out their traffic.