T-Mobile's bundled streaming perk continues to lose luster

03 Dec 2024, 20:37 by Chris Thomas · Android Police

Key Takeaways

T-Mobile's On Us add-on streaming perks, once valuable, aren't as flexible or worthwhile as they once were.
A change to Hulu billing will soon prevent subscribers from upgrading to ad-free streaming using T-Mobile's add-on as the basis for a discount.
In addition to On Us dropping the Disney+ option, the Hulu ad guarantee is the latest in a series of questionable decisions from the formerly fan-favorite carrier.

T-Mobile seems to be racking up "L"s over the last several months, despite the un-carrier's name only containing one. Its bundled On Us streaming perk, once worth taking into account when choosing a network provider, will soon offer less value by dropping the option to choose Disney+ streaming, and maintaining its inflexible, ad-supported Hulu tier (via The Mobile Report). That's on top of the January 2024 reassignment of the ad-free Netflix On Us tier to the streaming leader's ad-supported subscription.

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Many T-Mobile customers previously enjoyed ad-free Netflix streaming as a bonus to signing up with the once-famously consumer-friendly carrier. That ended in January 2024 when T-Mobile's On Us perk was downgraded to ad-supported Netflix streaming. To assuage subscribers' frustrations, the carrier offered a free, one-year Hulu subscription via offer code — but it, too, had ads, much like the Hulu offer bundled with Spotify Premium.

The biggest upcoming change (sourced from internal documents The Mobile Report is unable to share at this time) relates mostly to billing. Instead of a free offer code, the Hulu On Us subscription will come directly through your T-Mobile account. This introduces a limitation for people who use Hulu often, as T-Mobile only supports the ad-laden tier, and doesn't allow users to cover the difference and upgrade to ad-free streaming.

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As The Mobile Report points out, the limitation could ensure more ad revenue from T-Mobile On Us customers than potential piecemeal upgrades would provide. It's not the end of the world, but it's also not the only upcoming change. T-Mobile subscribers will also no longer be able to snag Disney+ with their On Us perk, which makes the offer seem like even more of an afterthought, considering Disney+ is actively absorbing Hulu, after Comcast sold its one-third share of the streamer to the House of Mouse in November 2023.

All of this might hardly merit a mention, except for various T-Mobile decisions over the last year that have frustrated its loyal customers. It recently stopped allowing users to save money by pausing their plans when traveling overseas, jacked up legacy plan pricing early in the year (sparking thousands of complaints and a class-action lawsuit), and even threatened to reduce installment plan savings should the FCC move ahead with its 60-day smartphone unlocking mandate.

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To many appreciative, longtime customers, the un-carrier's recent actions have come off as particularly uncool, even while T-Mobile looks to expand, and continues to win the internet speed wars. If included perks are important, you might want to consider Verizon as a T-Mobile alternative, because it offers more add-on service flexibility overall.