T-Mobile TVision: Everything You Need To Know

T-Mobile TVision is now available nationwide, and is actually the cheapest streaming Live TV service in the nation right now. With plans starting at only $10 per month. The service has been available for a few years already, but now it is actually available across the country. So everyone can use TVision.

But the real question is, how TVision stacks up against the competition like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and others. With a starting price of just $10 per month, it’s got some big shoes to fill.

Update: T-Mobile has shut down TVision, as of April 2021. It is pushing  everyone over to YouTube TV now.

What is TVision?

TVision is a streaming Live TV service from T-Mobile. This is the result of T-Mobile’s purchase of Layer3 in 2017. Which was a streaming TV service in a few areas of the US, but the underlying tech was what made Layer3 so attractive for T-Mobile. Layer3 had underlying tech that was able to compress the amount of data that streaming Live TV was able to use. Meaning that users could stream more Live TV without hitting their data cap.

Now, four years later, T-Mobile has finally launched TVision. It’s their attempt to up-end the cable industry. After successfully changing the wireless industry.

TVision will give T-Mobile customers a way to cut the cord, without paying a ton for streaming Live TV every single month.

How much does T-Mobile TVision cost?

Now that T-Mobile TVision is available nationwide, the prices have dropped, and offers four plans:

• TVision Vibe: ($10 per month)
• TVision Live: ($40 per month)
• TVision Live Plus: ($50 per month)
• TVision Live Zone: ($60 per month)

Of course, with each step up in price, you get more channels, as well as more sports channels. Which we’ll outline in the next section.

What packages are available?

There’s four packages available for TVision. There’s Vibe, Live, Live Plus and Live Zone. The Vibe package offers the bare minimum in channels, hence the $10 per month price. However the number of channels you can get for just $10 is pretty impressive here. There’s 35 channels available on TVision Vibe.

Then there’s TVision Live. This offers 35 channels as well, but adds in seven sports channels as well as your locals. But that will depend on your market.

TVision Live Plus brings the total channels to 60, including 16 sports channels. Locals are also included.

Finally, there’s TVision Live Zone, which is basically the best of the best. This offers 65 channels, along with 18 sports channels. Of course, your locals are also included here. But again, that will depend on the market you’re in. For example, in Detroit only some locals are included (ABC, FOX and NBC only).

What channels are offered with T-Mobile TVision?

All four packages of TVision offer a pretty good variety of the top 35 cable channels. We’ll break down the channel lineup by package here:

TVision Vibe

TVision Live

TVision Live Plus

Everything available in TVision Live, along with:

• ACC Network
• Big Ten Network
• ESPN College Extra
• ESPNews
• ESPNU
• Golf Channel
• NFL Network
• NBA TV
• Olympic Channel
• SEC Network
• Nat Geo Wild
• TCM
• Regional NBC Sports channels (where available)

TVision Live Zone

You’ll get everything that is included in TVision Live and Live Plus, and:

• Longhorn Network
• MavTV
• NFL Redzone
• Outside TV
• CNBC World
• Fox Deportes
• ESPN Deportes
• Universo

Are my local channels available?

Local channels are available on the TVision Live plan and higher. That means that you won’t see them on the $10 plan.

It’s also worth noting that not all local channels are available. For instance, it looks like TVision has no deals with CBS or CBS affiliates. As most areas have ABC, NBC and FOX available as local channels.

When it comes to regional sports, the Fox Regional Sports Networks are missing, as they are on almost every streaming Live TV service these days. However, the NBC Sports regional networks are available on the TVision Live Plus plan. Though that will also depend on your area.

The skinny is, some locals are available but not all. So if you are planning to get TVision, it’ll be a good idea to get an antenna too.

What platforms is TVision available on?

The availability of TVision is still quite limited. It’s available on some of the more popular platforms, but not all. Here’s all of the platforms that support TVision:

• Android smartphones & tablets
• iOS
• Apple TV
• Android TV
• Chromecast
• Amazon Fire TV
• Select smart TVs

Unfortunately, as of right now, there’s no support for Roku, nor the web browser. Meaning that you cannot watch it on your desktop or laptop.

This should, hopefully change in the future. But where TVision is limited to just T-Mobile customers, it may stay limited for a while.

What is the TVision Hub?

The TVision Hub is T-Mobile’s own Android TV dongle, it costs $50 but is not required to use TVision. You can still watch TVision on other Android TV dongles and set-top boxes.

TVision Hub is a simple Android TV HDMI dongle, and it comes with its own remote control. Which was designed to be used with TVision. But there are buttons for Netflix and YouTube included on the remote.

The device itself has support for 4K resolution, even if TVision doesn’t support 4K right now. Inside, you’ll find 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. There’s also a 1.8GHz ARM-based processor inside – the exact processor has not been named.

Now, T-Mobile has not limited the TVision Hub to only work with TVision. You can use other services like HBO MAX, Netflix, Paramount+ and more. Even other Live TV services work on here, like YouTube TV. Since it is basically just an Android TV dongle.

T-Mobile TVision Features

While the channel availability might be the most important aspect of a streaming Live TV service, it isn’t the only important aspect. Features are also important. Like Cloud DVR, how many streams can you use at once, and even parental controls. Since most streaming Live TV services offer the same channels, for the most part, the features is what set them apart. Like YouTube TV’s unlimited cloud DVR, which no one else has been able to match, even many years later.

Cloud DVR

TVision does support Cloud DVR, but it is not unlimited. Everyone, (except those on the Vibe plan) will get 100 hours of Cloud DVR. Which, honestly, is not a whole lot of space for recording content. If you are on the TVision Vibe plan, it’ll be a $5 add-on. Unfortunately, there’s no other add-ons to increase the storage of your Cloud DVR. Though that could come in the future.

There are a few limitations for the Cloud DVR though. For instance, you can’t record any Disney-owned channels right now. That includes ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel and FX to name a few. It’s a bit weird that is an exception and that might change in the future as well. And likely will.

The Cloud DVR on TVision is good for recording shows when you’re not at home and watching later. But not good for storing shows, and movies for long periods of time. Like you can do on YouTube TV, and many do that on YouTube TV instead of paying for other streaming services.

Simultaneous streams

Surprisingly, the amount of simultaneous streams available on TVision actually depends on your tier.

The entry-level tier, TVision Vibe, gets two concurrent streams. While the other three get three concurrent streams.

It’s another way that T-Mobile made TVision Vibe as cheap as possible. Getting two streams on a plan that is only $10 per month is still quite impressive, however.

Basically, what concurrent streams means is that you can play TVision on up to three devices at the same time, before being booted off of one. Or being told you can’t stream because you’re at the max amount of devices. This is important if you have a larger household, or are sharing it with other people.

Parental Controls

There are some parental controls available on TVision, but they are somewhat limited. Basically, the only thing that parents are able to do with parental controls on TVision is, limit how much content kids watch. So you can set a limit of three hours per day, and once that limit is hit, the TV will turn off.

You can lock away adult content behind a PIN though, if you wish. And this can be set on a per-profile basis. Since TVision does allow you to have up to ten profiles. That’s the most of any Live TV streaming service. The majority of them are limited to five or less.

On-Demand

TVision has a pretty decent on-demand library. Which is mostly supplemented by the channels in your package. So if you are on TVision Vibe, you may see plenty of on-demand content from BET and MTV and so forth.

It’s not supplemented by additional content that T-Mobile owns. Like Hulu + Live TV is able to supplement its on-demand library with the entire Hulu library. Or YouTube TV being able to supplement with YouTube originals and other clips from YouTube. Of course, you likely aren’t subscribing to TVision for the on-demand library, but more for the Live TV channels.

Is T-Mobile TVision worth it?

TVision is actually really attractive for those that are looking to cut the cord – and are already T-Mobile customers. For a lot of people, the TVision Vibe plan is going to be more than enough channels for them. Since it does have 32 of the top 35 cable channels. Especially if you’re not a big sports fan.

But for those others out there, the TVision Live and Live+ are great plans for watching sports and getting a few more channels in their plan. In addition to the locals.

Speaking of locals, that’s one of the bigger issues with TVision. The fact that it’s not all or nothing, but only a few. Having ABC, NBC and Fox as local channels is great, but TVision really needs to gather all of its local channels to make the service more attractive. Now, tech-savvy cord cutters will know that they can get an OTA antenna to get those channels, but then that’s another app to have to use to get all of your channels, and may not be as useful.

There are some areas of TVision that are lacking, like Cloud DVR, and the platforms that it is available on. For example, not being able to watch on your PC is a huge oversight. Though, I’m confident that T-Mobile will rectify this in the future.

How can I sign up for TVision?

You can sign up for TVision here.

By default, TVision does not show the Vibe tier. In order to sign up for that, click on the magenta “Check Channels” button. From there you’ll be able to see what channels are available on Live vs Vibe. Click on the Vibe tab and you’ll be able to add it to your account from there.

Remember that you do need to be a T-Mobile customer to sign up for TVision. Unfortunately, non T-Mobile customers aren’t able to sign up for now. That also explains why TVision is so cheap, compared to the competition. The TVision Vibe plan would normally be closer to around $30. Since it is comparable to the Sling TV plans. It’s unlikely that TVision will open up for other customers, but never say never in this industry.

You also have the option of adding STARZ, SHOWTIME and EPIX to your account for $8.99, $10.99 and $5.99 respectively. There’s no bundle available for these premium channels unfortunately.