T-Mobile president and CEO John Legere is not pleased with how critics have responded to his company's BingeOn service, which purportedly lets users stream videos from sites like Hulu and Netflix without using up their data plan.
As many have pointed out, the BingeOn option can be construed as a threat to net neutrality, essentially creating an Internet class system by preferring some customers more than others, i.e., ones who choose not to opt in. In response, Legere posted a video defending the service (all the while donning a Batman necklace to emphasize exactly what role he thinks he plays in the matter).
I'm not saying I'm #Batman, but has anyone seen #Batman and me in the same place at the same time? #mindblown
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) January 9, 2014
Along with a strongly-worded (and strongly-capitalized) blog post, Legere asserted that BingeOn was "about customer choices," rather than limitations, and argued that "the customer [is] always in complete control of [their] experience."
He also addressed accusations of "throttling," or intentionally slowing down Internet service to decrease bandwidth traffic, and dismissed his accusers by charging them with "playing with semantics."
"Binge On does NOT permanently slow down data nor remove customer control," said Legere, who went on to say that mobile users "don't always want or need giant heavy data files."
The CEO also proclaimed that competitors like Google are raising issues of net neutrality to knock his company down a peg — insinuating that if it had come up with a BingeOn-like service first, it wouldn't be an issue.
"Why are special interest groups — and even Google! — offended by this? Why are they trying to characterize this as a bad thing? I think they may be using Net Neutrality as a platform to get into the news. As a company that's a huge fan of a free and open Internet, I find that disappointing. [...] What do you think Dumb and Dumber [Legere's names for Verizon and AT&T] would have done if they'd been first to market with this technology?"
Watch John Legere go on the record in the video below.
Via: T-Mobile Blog
