MetroPCS unveils Music Unlimited, lifts data caps on streaming services including Apple Music

MetroPCS will on Thursday launch Music Unlimited, a perk which jettisons the prepaid carrier's regular data caps when listening to streaming music services such as Apple Music.

Over 30 services are covered in all, some other examples being Pandora, Spotify, Slacker, and Google Play Music. Although Music Unlimited is free for MetroPCS subscribers, the carrier's $30 tier is excluded — people must be paying at least $40 per month on an individual plan, or be subscribed to a family plan costing $35 per line.

The feature is essentially identical to Music Freedom, offered to subscribers of T-Mobile USA, MetroPCS' parent company. It has engendered some controversy, since it could be seen as a violation of net neutrality rules.

Also coming on Thursday is an option called Data Maximizer, similar to T-Mobile's Binge On. This compresses video from streaming services down to DVD quality or slightly better — in theory allowing people to stream up to three times as much content using the same amount of data. Some supported services include Netflix, Periscope, and YouTube.

Data Maximizer can be turned on or off, and unlike Music Unlimited, it applies to all data plans.