T-Mobile Is Now Selling Google TV’s Latest Streaming Dongle

T-Mobile quietly started selling its new 4K-ready streaming dongle, 9to5Google reports. 

The dongle, dubbed the “TVision Hub with Google TV,” is now available for sale on the wireless carrier’s website for $49.99. The TVision Hub is the second streaming dongle currently on the market that includes the new version of Google TV. 

T-Mobile started selling its TVision Hub dongle in October 2020, when it relaunched its TVision service. 

The TVision Hub is a puck-shaped dongle that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port. The dongle, unlike many other competitors in the space, includes an Ethernet port. T-Mobile says the port is for “enhanced gaming and streaming,” which indicates the dongle is capable of supporting Stadia cloud gaming, a feature that is currently available on the Chromecast with Google TV. The dongle can connect with game controllers and headphones via Bluetooth or USB-C. 

TVision Hub’s remote includes buttons for instant access to Google Assistant, Netflix, YouTube and “TVision.” It is unclear where the TVision button will take users, as T-Mobile folded its TVision live TV service last March. 

When T-Mobile folded TVision, the carrier encouraged customers to subscribe to YouTube TV or Philo by offering a $10 monthly discount for those services. The TVision Hub’s remote also has “Guide” and “Record” buttons, intended to work on Google TV’s “Live TV” tab.

Google TV is the tech giant’s new software experience, built on top of the Android TV operating system. Google TV offers personalized viewing suggestions and easy access to Google’s OTT live streaming service, YouTube TV. The TVision Hub also includes Chromecast streaming capabilities. 

The device is competitively priced to others on the market, including the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+, which retails at $69.99, and the Fire TV Stick 4K Max at $54.99. T-Mobile is also offering its customers the ability to purchase the device on an installment plan. 

Wireless carriers have been diversifying offerings in a bid to reduce churn, amid heightened competition in the space. T-Mobile acquired streaming TV startup Layer3 in 2018 and eventually launched its own TV service, “TVision Home.” TVision Home operated much like traditional cable. Plans were north of $90 per month, included over 150 channels and required customers to rent additional cable boxes to hook up additional TVs. 

Eventually, T-Mobile folded that service and relaunched TVision as an OTT streaming service that offered a “skinny bundle” of channels. That service was folded in March 2021.