• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 6, 2016

The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation is urging T-Mobile to revise its new BingeOn program by making the feature opt-in.

BingeOn, which T-Mobile introduced last November, allows subscribers to stream unlimited video from around two dozen partner companies, including Crackle, Hulu and Netflix. But there's a downside: T-Mobile is degrading the quality of all video, from partner companies as well as non-partners like YouTube, to "DVD quality." DVD quality is just 480 lines per screen; HD quality, by comparison, requires at least 720 lines per screen.

T-Mobile allows users to opt out of BingeOn, but the service is activated by default.

T-Mobile has said it "optimizes" video by streaming it at DVD quality, but the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation says its tests show the company actually slows down all HTML5 video streams to just 1.5 Mbps.

The EFF, like other net neutrality advocates, says that T-Mobile's move violates Federal Communications Commission regulations that prohibit broadband carriers from degrading services or applications. "It’s pretty obvious that throttling all traffic based on application type definitely violates the principles of net neutrality," the EFF writes. "It also obviously violates the FCC’s Open Internet Order."

The group is calling on T-Mobile to make the service opt-in, and also clearly disclose that signing up will result in the throttling of all video traffic. Alternatively, the EFF proposes that T-Mobile should only throttle video streams by Crackle, Hulu, Netflix and the other companies that participate in BingeOn.

The EFF also is urging the FCC to take action, unless T-Mobile revises the program. "We believe the FCC should regulate lightly, but our research suggests this is a significant consumer harm that runs afoul of well-established open internet principles," the EFF writes. "The FCC can and should step in and hold T-Mobile accountable."

The EFF isn't the only one challenging about T-Mobile's decision to throttle all of the video streamed on its network. Google, along with the trade group Internet Association, recently criticized BingeOn.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler initially described BingeOn as "highly innovative and highly competitive."

But the agency recently asked three carriers, including T-Mobile, for more information about their decision to exempt some material from subscribers' data caps.