Three UK offers 'Go Binge' unlimited streaming on 4G

Three UK has offered a new service- 'Go Binge', to nearly all customers on advanced 4G mobile plans and containing a data allowance of 4GB and more. Go Binge service offers unlimited data for streaming music and video coming through Netflix, Soundcloud, Deezer and TV Player. It's really ideal for subscribers on a capped plan, who would love to stream lots of movies and TV shows (via 4G network).

This sounds good, but there's a catch to it, as Go Binge offers streaming only in the old Standard Definition (SD) video quality. The caveat to limit in this way an unlimited streaming service is clever, as many SD streaming need only about 0.25 to 0.5 Mbps to perform the task and that will also keep the traffic on the network under control for Three UK.

However, modern smartphones come with HD, 2K and even 4K screens, that need videos in High Definition(HD) to be good quality to watch. If you so wish, you should opt out of Go Binge at anytime and switch to your standard data allowance. Apparently, you need to be a subscriber to the third party streaming service to be benefited, which may in some cases ask for a separate fee per month. Three UK offers Go Binge within the UK and on Feel At Home destinations for roaming across the EU, although licensing conditions may stop some services while roaming overseas.

However, it would be interesting to know how Ofcom would view this new zero-rated plan in their next review of the country's self-regulatory approach to Net Neutrality. ISPs and mobile networks are not supposed to impose undue restrictions against internet traffic. Nevertheless, the operator Three UK does not directly curb the performance of rival services and Go Binge comes as an option and is also restrictive in case of video quality. All the same, it would be interesting to see what the regulator Ofcom has to say when it comes out with another report in 2018.