T-Mobile’s TVision looks a lot like cable
T-Mobile is going after cable TV, but don’t expect its first offering to make major waves.
Called TVision Home, the new cable rival looks a lot like traditional cable when it launches April 14. There is only one package which offers more than 150 channels for $90 per month, with cable boxes available for $10 per month per box.
It includes 1 TB of storage for its DVR, allowing you to record more than 400 hours of HD programming. Like many other cable companies today, the service doesn’t require you to sign a contract, though unlike T-Mobile’s wireless phone service the $90 per month does not include in taxes in its pricing (the price also will rise to $99.99 per month for non-T-Mobile wireless subscribers after a limitedtime promotion expires).
If you have an Alexa or Google Assistant device you will be able to add a skill to control the boxes with your voice. A future update will enable the boxes also to function as a WiFi network throughout your home.
There are profiles, similar to Netflix, where the box can learn and customize itself depending on the channels and shows you like to watch and when you like to watch them. T-Mobile says it doesn’t sell this customer information to third-party advertisers.
The 150-plus channels include all the ones you’d expect: ESPN, CNBC, USA, Disney, Fox News, MSNBC, etc. plus local channels and regional sports. The package also has channels now owned by T-Mobile rival AT&T including CNN, TNT and TBS.
Similar to a traditional cable TV subscription, you can add premium channels such as HBO ($15 per month) or Showtime ($11 per month) or a bundle of sports channels including NFL RedZone and MLB Strike Zone ($10 per month).
T-Mobile says in the future the box will have apps for Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube, with others in the works. TMobile also is working on an app to let you stream on an iOS or Android device when in your home, but the app isn’t ready yet.
An app for watching outside of the home also isn’t available at launch, but you can log into individual channel apps such as ABC, HBO or ESPN the same way you currently can with traditional cable or satellite to stream TV over the internet.
Partnering with rivals
Working with its rivals perhaps is the most surprising aspect of T-Mobile’s announcement, given the company’s very public comments on the cable industry and its approach to wireless where it constantly calls out and mocks competitors.
TVision will initially work only in eight markets: Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. metro areas. It also will be available in Longmont, Colorado, not far from the Denver headquarters of Layer3 TV, the company T-Mobile bought in 2017 and whose service is the backbone of this offering.
Unlike a traditional TV box that connects to a coaxial port in your wall – and often runs out to the street if you have cable or up to a satellite dish if you have DirecTV or Dish – the main TVision Home box plugs into your home modem or router via Ethernet.
Other boxes, known as “Lite Boxes” for additional TVs in your home, can connect to the internet and the main box by simply by being plugged into a power source and turned on.