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T-Mobile Adds More Music Services to Their Cap Exempt List

Back in June T-Mobile announced the company's "Music Freedom" plan, which exempts a select number of music streaming services from impacting consumer caps. While T-Mobile proclaimed that the idea was pro-consumer, the company faced some criticism at the time for violating net neutrality -- since very small companies suddenly found themselves the only ones counting against usage caps. CEO John Legere brushed aside those concerns, insisting that because nobody was paying T-Mobile -- it technically wasn't a net neutrality violation.

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Some five months later, T-Mobile today announced that they've added another 14 music services (including Google Play Music and SoundCloud) to the company's whitelist, bringing the total number of supported music services to 27. Legere, for what it's worth, continues to insist the effort to exempt some music services from T-Mobile's caps is pro-consumer behavior:
quote:
“Music Freedom is pro-consumer, pro-music and pure Un-carrier,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “And today we’re taking another huge step toward our ultimate goal of including every streaming music service in the program. Anyone can play. No one pays. And everyone wins."
Do smaller companies too little to get T-Mobile's attention feel like they're "winning"? The company states that all you need to do to get a missing service added is Tweet at T-Mobile with the hashtag #MusicFreedom, but it's not entirely clear how big your service needs to be to get T-Mobile cap-exempt blessing.
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bigballer
join:2014-09-25

4 edits

bigballer

Member

google music

20,000 songs max, each 300 MB

20,000 * 0.3 GB at 320 kbps = 120 GBish



Tmobile's made me a happy. I only use google music, no ads, and can listen to my whole entire library

If I can get wifi calling on my nexus 5 (nexus 6 is getting it next year supposedly) I'm set. I'd love to use that texting through gogo.

Edit: just saw this on facebook from a tmobile rep, " Music Freedom only includes licensed music streaming apps (such as Spotify); it does NOT include music downloads or listening to music on your cloud."

I'll take that as meaning only google all access music
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: google music

google all access allows you to stream your own music, along with their paid for content. No all access means you cannot stream your own music.
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Re: google music

quote:
No all access means you cannot stream your own music.
Huh? I don't pay Google one red cent and stream my music from their cloud just fine.
bigballer
join:2014-09-25

bigballer

Member

Re: google music

What about music stored on a cloud?
Music Freedom only includes licensed music streaming apps (such as Spotify); it does NOT include music downloads or listening to music on your cloud.

However, if you already have music physically stored on your device, then listening to those songs doesn't count against your data usage.

»support.t-mobile.com/doc ··· OC-10970
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Re: google music

I dono. I uploaded my stuff to Google and use the Google Play Music app to get them. I main use Slacker anyway so I'm not sure how/if it counts for Google Music.

PapaMidnight
join:2009-01-13
Baltimore, MD

PapaMidnight to bigballer

Member

to bigballer
said by bigballer:

I'll take that as meaning only google all access music

How is it going to tell the difference, especially when all Google Play Music traffic is encrypted (last I knew)?
bigballer
join:2014-09-25

bigballer

Member

Re: google music

It did take tmobile several months to work with google to whitelist google music so who knows.

fuziwuzi
Not born yesterday
Premium Member
join:2005-07-01
Palm Springs, CA
Hitron EN2251
Nest H2D

fuziwuzi to bigballer

Premium Member

to bigballer
People seem to be confusing or overcomplicating this. All music streamed using the Google Play app on your phone will now be unlimited. When you use the Google Music Manager to upload your music library, technically it is stored in the Google cloud, but it isn't YOUR cloud, you only have access to it via the Google Play app or on the Google Music website. So, you're not streaming from "your cloud" but you're streaming using the Google Play app.

So yes, you can use the Google Play app to stream all of the music available to the Google Play app, which does include any music you uploaded to Google from your personal music library.

F100
join:2013-01-15
Durham, NC
Alcatel-Lucent G-010G-A
(Software) pfSense
Pace 5268AC

F100 to bigballer

Member

to bigballer
I'll have to try this. I haven't uploaded any of my own music yet. I just have a bunch of free music Google gave when they launched the service.

I'm like you still holding out that the Nexus 5 will get WiFi calling on T-mobile. That and VoLTE. I believe the phone has the hardware. Surely Google can get their junk together like Apple did and get this into the Android OS. T-mobile's implementation is pretty close to the standard that has been around for some time.
sgip2000
join:2004-05-05
Hillsboro, OR

sgip2000

Member

Useless

All this is useless if you can't even get a signal...
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

Re: Useless

said by sgip2000:

All this is useless if you can't even get a signal...

Sucks to be you, I guess.
sgip2000
join:2004-05-05
Hillsboro, OR

sgip2000

Member

Re: Useless

Yes, it does!
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

Re: Useless

I don't know exactly where you are located, but hopefully T's expansion will cover you at some point. I've had T-Mobile for many years now and they've saved me a ton of money over time.

iNick
Premium Member
join:2012-12-11
Joliet, IL

iNick

Premium Member

Re: Useless

said by 67845017:

I don't know exactly where you are located, but hopefully T's expansion will cover you at some point. I've had T-Mobile for many years now and they've saved me a ton of money over time.

While i'm not really Saving Money with T-Mobile but I feel like this maybe in the future I'll downgrade my Unlimited $20 plan to the 500MB one or 2Gb one because I normally stream all my music from my Google Play Music all Access which costs me $8 a month. So downgrading my data plan would make this free
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

Re: Useless

We do some international travel, and that's where we've saved a lot of money. One of my coworkers went to Italy this summer as did we. He's on ATT and we're on T-Mobile. His bill was over $1200.00 additional in data charges for 5 people. Our additional bill was $0 for four people.

I have Verizon through work and my bill was over $200 additional for my phone and about $250 for my data hotspot. That was with the international data added to the plan for my vacation period.

Sam
@68.235.221.x

Sam to sgip2000

Anon

to sgip2000
We all choose to live where we live, right?
I use Google play all day long in downtown Pittsburgh.
Last month I hit my cap in 2 days and 96% of that was Google streaming.
Glad to hear it will no longer be an issue.

T-Mobile is awesome where the majority of people live.
I do expect to be roaming this week when visiting the family who lives in the more rural areas.
However, T-Mobile has never charged me a roaming fee.

T-Mobile I think is doing the right thing by providing the best possible service to as many as possible.
unoriginal
Premium Member
join:2000-07-12
San Diego, CA

unoriginal

Premium Member

Re: Useless

»support.t-mobile.com/doc ··· DOC-3299

T-Mobile only gives you 50-200MB of roaming data before they cut you off. So don't go crazy with the music or you won't have any data besides wi-fi until you get back to native T-Mo coverage.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler

Premium Member

Pro-(T-Mobile) Consumer, Yes

When compared to all other carriers equivalently priced plans, it's a plus for the T-Mobile consumer. Equivalent plans from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are all data capped, so getting something for nothing is a plus for the T-Mobile consumer.

Granted, having an incentive like this screws up free market behavior (artificial barriers or entry to "free data" qualifications). I just can't argue that T-Mobile customers are getting shafted when other providers give their customers less.
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO
·Google Fiber

me1212

Member

Re: Pro-(T-Mobile) Consumer, Yes

While I am not exactly thrilled abut tmobile doing this I don't think they are the only one and its still better than what the others offer. Saturday before last I switched from sprint to tmobile. Why? Overall cost was less and better(in my mind) mobile internet. Tmobile offers 1GB, 3GB 5GB, and unlimited 4G access plans(each costing $10 over the lower one). Yeah not perfect but they do offer an unlimited 4G plan unlike the others and even without the unlimited plan once you hit the cap they don't start charging you more they just throttle you to 2G speeds(~200kbps). That way you are't up the creek without a paddle, just up the creek with a slow paddle.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

Re: Pro-(T-Mobile) Consumer, Yes

Sprint also offers an Unlimited Data Plan....
bigballer
join:2014-09-25

bigballer

Member

Re: Pro-(T-Mobile) Consumer, Yes

Yes, but do they have a network?

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

Re: Pro-(T-Mobile) Consumer, Yes

Yes. And I'm guaranteed "Unlimited for Life" on it.
bigballer
join:2014-09-25

bigballer

Member

Re: Pro-(T-Mobile) Consumer, Yes

Not when I had them. They were god awful and almost unusable. I travelled halfway across the country from Colarado to North Carolina to Buffalo/Niagra falls. Sprint's network was terrible.

Unlimited, but no quality.

KennyWest
@173.0.5.x

KennyWest to IPPlanMan

Anon

to IPPlanMan
For the life of what? That's the question. Of your phone? Of your contract? As long as you never take an upgrade? As long as you are a customer? Or until they decide that they don't have enough cash and are sold off to a new investor trying to make a fast buck or split up?

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

Re: Pro-(T-Mobile) Consumer, Yes

How The Sprint Unlimited Guarantee Works:

See: »newsroom.sprint.com/news ··· plan.htm
- All customers on an Unlimited, My Way plan or a My All-in plan will have unlimited talk and text guaranteed for the life of the line of service.
- Customers who select unlimited data on an Unlimited, My Way plan or a My All-in plan will have unlimited data guaranteed for the life of the line of service.
- The guarantee will apply to customers as long as they remain on the plan, meet the terms and conditions of the plan and pay their bill in full and on-time.
- The guarantee is non-transferrable.

Thaler
Premium Member
join:2004-02-02
Los Angeles, CA

Thaler to IPPlanMan

Premium Member

to IPPlanMan
said by IPPlanMan:

Sprint also offers an Unlimited Data Plan....

Not at the prices T-Mobile's offering - especially for family plans. Closest I've seen Sprint get to T-Mobile's $25/head are framily plans at 1 GB/mo.
etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state

etaadmin

Member

Helps consolidate services

T-Mobile is getting better and better by the day, I even cancelled my car's siriusXM subscription and went 100% streaming.

With T-Mobile I have no problem with coverage even when I drive to south padre Island for small vacations, I'm saving at least $30/mo in other music services.

michieru
Premium Member
join:2009-07-25
Denver, CO

michieru

Premium Member

Hmm

Are there any costs associated to the companies involved by having their service listed on the whitelist?

cybah
join:2000-03-09
MA

cybah

Member

YAY!!! LOVE THIS.

Love this. Big Digitally Imported listener.. and have been avoiding listening to it on the subway because I don't want to listen to it at 64k to save bandwidth. Been wanting to ask TMo to add them for a while now, just been lazy. Now I don't need to do this! Yay!

#uncarrier rules.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

meh

Sure, it's kind of neat. Would do me some good with Rhapsody I guess, but zero good for my Subsonic, as that is music streamed directly from my home PC.

IPPlanMan
Holy Cable Modem Batman
join:2000-09-20
Washington, DC

IPPlanMan

Member

iTunes Radio but not Beats Music?

iTunes Radio is on the list, but Beats Music isn't? What's up with that?

whatboutme
@91.109.247.x

whatboutme

Anon

What is neutral about this?

According to Wikipedia

Net neutrality (also network neutrality or Internet neutrality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.

While this may be viewed as "good for consumers", it does seem to discrimnate against non-music services. Any reason why?
bigballer
join:2014-09-25

bigballer

Member

Re: What is neutral about this?

Ok so tmobile should take it away and we'll go back to everything being metered. Make all you net neutrality folks happy.

Sheesh, seems like no one can be happy when tmobile gives their customers something for free. It isn't AGAINST net neutrality because tmobile isn't making a buck off it like verizon/att are.

The whole concept of net neutrality is moreso about the ultimate greed of verizon/att/comcast more than fast-lanes.

KennyWest
@173.0.5.x

KennyWest to whatboutme

Anon

to whatboutme
Since is Wiki a true source of actual information? Also there is no such thing as Net Neutrality. And T-Mobile is an Internet provider. They're a cellular/mobile network. And generally all data on any cell network is proxied, therefore its a private network.
AmericanMan
Premium Member
join:2013-12-28
united state

AmericanMan

Premium Member

How about making a "self-throttle" mode?

It seems like the reason these particular services are "unlimited" is because they can be served over 128kbps anyway, so it's not that big of a deal on T-Mobile's network.

So, with that in mind, what if T-Mobile, via an app on your phone, allowed you to "self-throttle" down to 128/256 (whatever the throttling rate is) anytime you want to, and use data that doesn't count against your allotment?

Then you could use any streaming service you want to, or even file downloads, GPS, whatever it is you want to do, without it counting against your cap.

This solution would be net neutral (T-Mobile doesn't pick who gets exempt or not, you do), while at the same time giving T-Mobile users more usefulness than the Music Freedom plan does today.

buddahbless
join:2005-03-21
Premium

buddahbless

Member

Re: How about making a "self-throttle" mode?

I doubt that will ever happen but there have been rumors flying around

On the TMO forum its been whispered that after the LTE deployment is done (mid 2015) that the throttles may be raised. New reduced speed tiers: prepaid may see 128 kbps, simple choice and family plans may see 256 kbps, and business plans may see 512 kbps. However this is all still speculations.
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO

me1212

Member

Re: How about making a "self-throttle" mode?

I keep forgetting business plans are a thing on cellphones. Still the 256k would be nice for home users that need google maps and used their cap up.
mgamer20o0
join:2003-12-01
Norwalk, CA

mgamer20o0

Member

good move

i just started to get my google music set up in the last week or two knowing this was coming. between pandora and this i will be set. even looking to get add on Bluetooth to my car.

buddahbless
join:2005-03-21
Premium

buddahbless

Member

Can't please them all...

However good effort on the music freedom incentive. Although some people are complaining that this is a slippery slope on the net neutrality idea It actually is not. Ask any TMO customer ( myself included) that's ever traveled into a 2G area and been in there throttled period. Standing still you were semi OK with streaming but While traveling at highway speeds or even local road speeds your music just stopped, period! With music freedom I've noticed those same areas are now streaming music with no problem while I travel.

Now lets see if you could ever get Verizon or ATT to even just whitelist the major music streaming services ( pandora, Slacker, Iheart, google & Apple music services) to not count against Your data cap while at the same time NOT charging the music streaming service a red cent. Only on a cold day in H&!%.
Body Count
join:2010-09-11
Columbus, OH
Netgear CM1000
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter ER-4
Ubiquiti U6-Pro

Body Count

Member

Great move T-Mobile

More carriers should offer this.

Glad I'm with T-Mobile. I listen to Iheartradio a lot because I can make custom stations and it's pretty much commercial free.

With this service, I brought down my data to 1 GB a month and save money over what I was paying before. I'm a wifi user mostly so 1 GB a month is plenty for me.

Now if they could only get more towers on the major highways so when I travel I still get 4G data. That's the only thing Verizon does better than T-Mobile right now.