This was asked over two years ago but I have not seen any updates recently. According to the T-Mobile website:
Will you add more streaming providers over time?
Yes. We are continuing to add more providers. If providers meet technical requirements, we’ll investigate the feasibility of adding them. No one pays to join and no money is exchanged. T-Mobile will review all submissions to ensure identification of video stream and technical requirements, including optimization for mobile viewing. T-Mobile is committed to maximizing YOUR choice and providing access to as many great providers as possible, click to learn more.
Now that Plex is available to stream Music and Video, as well as support for Android Auto, does anyone know what the “technical requirements” from T-Mobile are? What requirement is Plex not able to meet?
Although Plex does provide streaming services it is done in a distributed model where your media is stored at your house and Plex just provides a way to access it, where as other streaming service providers like NetFlix have a centralized model so that data is stored on the NetFlix backbone in a nice tidy place.
My assumption is that T-Mobile like other providers are getting direct links to the NetFlix or Hulu backbone so that all data is directly transmitted between those 2 providers which provides a greater user experience and does not impact the rest of the users who are not using those services which requires no bandwidth from the users home connection provided by Comcast or other ISPs.
Due to the decentralized model of Plex its my assumption that they would not be added due to the technical complexity and lack of direct access to your media.
Essentially if T-Mobile does that they would not only be using their bandwidth between your phone and cell network but you would also be consuming a greater amount of bandwidth on all ISPs uploads that users have Plex on which is a good example of why net neutrality laws are such a big deal these days. Comcast would start getting pissed if a large majority of their upload bandwidth was used to stream to t-mobile users without getting paid for it and could eventually limit that.
I did just find this document: https://www.t-mobile.com/content/dam/tmo/en-g/pdf/BingeOn-Video-Technical-Criteria-March-2016.pdf. The limiting factor is partially because it uses a distributed model but mainly because each individual server has no way to provide the “video detection signature” on every video being sent. An individual could apply with T-Mobile and meet the requirements for BingeOn but it is very unlikely.
