T-Mobile’s (TMUS) New Family Plan Sparks Outrage

Watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is feeling uneasy over T-Mobile’s new family plan.

The plan, dubbed as One plan, was supposed to be a plan that is the end all and be all for anyone who wants truly unlimited data.

The carrier announced One plan on August 18th, and it gives customers unlimited talk, text, and 4G LTE data starting at $70 a month.

You can even add up to an additional seven lines.

So far this all sounds very good, so why is the EFF pissed?

“From what we’ve read thus far, it seems like T-Mobile’s new plan to charge its customers extra to not throttle video runs directly afoul of the principle of net neutrality,” said EFF senior staff technologist Jeremy Gillula.

Video quality in the One plan is limited to standard definition. For better definition, customers with the One plan will need to pay $25 a month on top of what they pay for the plan itself.

The EFF has accused T-Mobile’s video quality limit of going against the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order.

As of February 2015, the Open Internet Order forbids broadband providers from blocking, throttling, or giving paid prioritization to
legal content.

T-Mobile’s One plan has tethering stuck at 2G speeds and potential throttling if you use over 26GB of data.

Due to the fact that T-Mobile’s One plan requires customers to pay extra for higher quality video, the FCC may need to step in and take a look.

Disclaimer: We have no position in T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) and have not been compensated for this article.