In addition to the price reduction, T-Mobile’s throwing in a year-long subscription to Netflix (or a 12-month credit if you’re a current Netflix subscriber) with the purchase of any one of the aforementioned Samsung smartphones.
Both existing Simple Choice subscribers and customers opening new lines are eligible for the discount. The deal’s available both through T-Mobile’s website and in its brick-and-mortar locations.
T-Mobile’s touting its relatively new Binge On benefit as the perfect complement to free Netflix. On any other carrier, the company noted, video would count against your data allotment, but it doesn’t on T-Mobile — standard-definition content streamed via Netflix or any of T-Mobile’s 24 other partners, including HBO, Hulu, and YouTube, are exempted from data caps and overage penalties.
The deal is the newest in a string of seasonal “un-carrier” promotions by T-Mobile. In November, it launched Family Match and Simple Choice Amped, benefits which allowed family plan subscribers to add a 4GB per line plan for $10 a month, and allowed Simple Choice subscribers to get double their data limit at no charge. In December, T-Mobile launched discounts aimed at customers on other carriers. Sprint customers got $200 per line when they switched to T-Mobile, AT&T customers got discounted accessories, and Verizon customers got a complimentary year of Hulu.
Binge On, much like T-Mobile’s similar Music Unlimited benefit before it, has been the subject of criticism by net neutrality advocates who argue that the program arbitrarily prioritizes certain services over others. T-Mobile has denied those claims, arguing that it doesn’t charge or limit the partners who enroll in Binge. Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler has publicly agreed, concluding the service is pro-innovation and pro-competition.
