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Binge on not working

  • 19 October 2017
  • 29 replies
  • 1183 views
M

We have a mobile hotspot device with 6 Gb of data and i have always used the binge on feature and never finished all 6 Gb but last month i finished all of the data and i only use it for stuff under the binge on streaming list. This month the data restarted the 15th of October and now I only have 3 Gb left when i have only used the data for streaming youtube which should be on the binge on list. I have checked the media preferences and HD resolution is off and it says that binge on is on but why is it using the data. If anyone can help i would appreciate it. Thanks

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Best answer by tmo_chris 20 October 2017, 20:39

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tidbits
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Google updated their site and may have inadvertently broke it.  In order for T-Mobile to know what to zero out it would need the correct PATHS from Google, and if Google changed it on their last major update(their server side was upgraded) then that's where the disconnect happens.

An T-Mobile rep will see this and forward it to the people that need to know(happened before with other partners).

M

Thank you for the response.

tmo_chris
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Userlevel 4

Hey @magenta2932278

This is something we can definitely look into with you. Since we will need to pull up your account for the usage records, please contact our tech support teams  so we can get your info up to the engineers.

tidbits
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Oh new linky I likey!

J

Has there been any instances of binge on actually working? It seems like I have yet to hear a success story of this feature actually existing? I am having the same problem and looking to see what I need to do to solve this. I don't see why I have to contact tech support. Its much easier to just type here instead of being on hold. I am sure T-mobile customer reps look at these forums. I have yet to see anyone anywhere post a solution to this problem. Hopefully t-mobile isn't just advertising a bogus feature that actually is unavailable.

J

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/4z6p7w/why_is_data_binge_not_working_for_youtube/

[–]addief143Verified T-Mobile Employee 1 point 1 year ago

The way binge works in tmobile systems is that you have to have some of your 6gb available to binge, your data is still calculated and it will show what the usage is for what ever binge app u are using, but it doesnt count towards your 6gb data bucket, the only usage that is coming out of ur actual 6gb is the adds. Binge is not made for a smart tv or a internet stick like roku, neo or chrome cast, but can be tethered to a tablet.

Can anyone explain how to actually get this to work in any instance? I am pretty flexible on what device I am using, I just need one happy path other than only using my phone for steraming. I need to be able to teather.

J

I tried using my tethering to my smart tv. I don't want to hear the BS that it was updating because my smart tv can't download an update and play streaming content at the same time. I started watching a amazon prime video on the tv teathered to my phone and after a short time, I got a warning that I was close to reaching my 4gb limit of high speed data. I then turned off the tv and looked to see exactly when the data was used. It was used at the same time I was watching amazon prime. No other devices were tethered to my phone at that time.

So my real question still exists, how has anyone actually gotten this feature to work with any tethering? Did they actually verify in the testing phase of implementation of this feature that it actually can be used for tethering? I read in the feature documentation that it should work. Also can I get my data reset so I don't reach my cap here soon?

barcodeable
Userlevel 4

I have Binge-On activated for my 5 phone "voice" lines and I have (2) 6GB Mobile Internet Wifi Hotspots with Binge-On activated and I have used these devices to tether and from my experiences it has worked. Tethering to a smart tv will reduce your data allotment because T-Mobile network functions differently when it comes to smart tv's which causes it not to be able to pass that "binge-on" over to that smart tv device.

you are capable of tethering to the below devices with taking full advantage of the binge-on feature:

Phones

Tablets

Computers

You cannot tether/binge-on to an xBox, Roku, or PS4, smart tv. There is a Binge-on FAQ on T-Mobile's website explaining what devices are eligible for Binge-On.

barcodeable
Userlevel 4

Does Binge On apply to video streamed while tethering from a smartphone, tablet, or mobile Internet device?

Yes. If you are streaming video from one of our Binge On providers while tethering from a smartphone, tablet, or mobile Internet device to a laptop, desktop, tablet, or handset you'll enjoy all the great benefits of Binge On.

J

Thanks for the reply

Do you have a link to this FAQ?

Can I use an amazon prime app on my computer / phone to watch it? Or would I have to use the web browser version?

barcodeable
Userlevel 4

Binge On | Video Streaming without Using Your 4G LTE Data | T-Mobile

I have never tested an amazon prime app on my computer, my amazon prime expired 😥 and I never renewed it, but i do have a full season of SUITS i purchased using prime... I will test it out tonight to see if binge on works on it..... The main thing i make sure I do is set the video viewing to 480p or whatever the low bandwidth is.  I have used the Netflix app on my computer and I have gone to the netflix website and binged on & it worked.

J

Binge on still has not worked for me. I tried using 2 different computers tethered to my phone. I turned down the resolution to the minimum and used the web browser version and still it was using data. The computer was the only device connected to it. I am having doubts that this feature actually works at all for anyone. Does anyone have any idea how to get this to work in any scenario??? Tonight I am going to try to just use my phone without tethering to watch amazon prime.

J

Perhaps that binge on doesn't work with amazon prime. Anybody know if that is the case?

J

So I got it to work finally! I found out that WIFI hotspot will not work with binge on and connected devices. In order for binge on to work, it must be connected via usb tethering. This is probably why it doesn't work on smart tv or ps4 because they don't support usb tethering. I connected it to my PC via usb tethering and then used the hdmi port on my PC to connect to my tv. I also was playing with the resolution controls on amazon prime. What it looks like to me is that binge on will only refund the data amounts at the lowest resolution. Anything higher than that it will just take the difference and add that to your amount used.

M

I have the same problem.  I was using it all the time and had a surplus after a few months.  I admit, I did missed up and started watching the ID channel for one month, which used up all the gigs I had saved.  But since then, it shows I am always over my minutes .  So to correct this I make sure the Hot Spot is turned off during the day and used for maybe 2 hours at night for the Football game.  But other than that it mostly Netflix on an Ipad.

Even for my screw up.  I had increased the gigs just in case maybe I was not monitoring it as I should be.  This is the third month and the Hot Spot has been off for two week.  It still shows that I have used up all my data, which is impossible.

My Sprint phone is using its data which is on longer and it used less data than the Hot Spot.  But Customer care will not even look into it. They just say they can't see where the gigs are going to if its Netflix or something else.  If that is the case how can they even say we will not use our allowance if you don't know what we are looking at.  The only suggestion is to upgrade once again to a higher allowance for data?

But she was gunho to cancel the services and more the willing to notate the account I don't want it any more.

tmo_chris
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Userlevel 4

Hey there! What specific services are you streaming and what are you streaming them to? Are you just watching on your phone or are you streaming to a TV? Are you using your phone as a hotspot for another device? If so, what kind of device is it that you are hotspotting to? Where specifically do you see that your data is being used?

nelfar212

"Bing on" does work, I use it daily

@tmo_chris​, I do understand after reading the website sometime ago that binge on "may not" work with smart TV's gaming consoles etc.

I use my mobile hotspot with Netflix/you tube and it works flawlessly on my smart TV's and xbox one, the only streaming carrier I have issues with is HULU. even with resolution set to 480p . sometimes is works sometimes it doesn't.

Why can't this simply be fixed, if I connect to my laptop and stream via hulu,Netflix, amazon etc it works, no problem,

We shouldn't have to look for a workaround just because we use Smart TV's, Chrome cast, Xbox one, etc. granted I could buy a cable connect my phone directly to my TV via micro usb to hdmi to accomplish this. It would make more sense to have it just work as intended for a laptop on the other devices being most people use.

tmo_chris
Rank
Userlevel 4

You make a valid point @nelfar212​. When using your phone as a hotspot for a smart TV, the TVs have varying ways that they connect to the web to pull down data and we are unable to identify every specific model of TV on the network side. When it comes to using hotspotting to a laptop, since you are using a web browser on the laptop, we are able to identify the traffic, same goes for hotspotting to a tablet, since you are using a standard streaming app, we can properly identify the traffic as the tablet or laptop requests it from the network.

nelfar212

I understand, from what I can tell it seems limited to Hulu on my end, I actually called hulu and had thema set my video quality to 480p that hasn't  helped. I normally don' use hulu my wife does. It would be nice if they could get that fixed. I know it's a non issue for TMO 1 int plus customers. What sucks my plan before SC I had unlimited lte hotspot but it was only on my line.

tmo_chris
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Userlevel 4

It does not have so much to do with the resolution as it does with how the network sees the traffic. If the network sees the traffic coming from a specific source such as a web browser on a laptop or a streaming app on a tablet, the network will automatically adjust the resolution and white list the data so it is not counted towards your high-speed bucket. If you were to stream content from a non-binge on partner at 480, it would still count that against your high-speed bucket.

N

It said that if you have 3 GB of data or more plan then you would have unlimited streaming on supported providers. But this doesn't seem to be the case for me. I have 4 GB data plan and everything I stream on Hulu app is always counted against my plan, which in turn cause me to run out of data and gets throttle long before the end of the month. I even tried turning off my data when not in use to see if there was some other apps running in the background that could eat up my data. That was not the case so I can only conclude that Binge-On does not work as advertised.

nelfar212

I contacted Tech support and learned something "new" for those of us with "unlimited LTE plans" binge on helps  somewhat. Apparently when binge on was explained,and as you stated data consumed via a binge on provider doesn't count towards high-speed data allotment this is helpful for plans with fixed 4g LTE data buckets, however for those of us who have unlimited 4G LTE allotments, "all data" is counted towards the 50gb threshold, which is fine, now that I have two phones and based on the prior information I switched my tablet off a legacy plan SC match 5GB for $20 to 6GB $35 with data stash., I was a little upset at 1st because I cut "the cord" and I switched my tablet plan when there was no need too, I just use my second phones' hotspot full time now. I do have a question? why is 3G no longer usable, when 3G was the standard, you could surf and stream with relative ease, now it preforms like dial up sloooooow. I do get it, TMO is a business an needs to turn a profit and having 3g upgrades to LTE upgrades is a source for revenue we get it an despite some TMO does offer the most bang for our buck, even with it's newer offerings "TMO ONE", I can't see myself moving to TMO ONE anytime soon.     

B

OK, so I am having this problem too.  My smart TV worked just fine with Binge On. I could stream Netflix and Amazon Prime with no problem without affecting my data.  Then, my TV malfunctioned in such a way that the display still worked, but the "smart" features were unavailable.  So, instead of buying a new TV, I bought a Roku stick.  It worked great, or so I thought, until suddenly my 6GB data plan was used up along with the 20GB of stash data that I had saved up.  So, what I think is needed is a list of devices that are known to work with Binge On.  For now, I am unsure of what to do, because I don't know if a chromecast will solve the problem, or even if a new TV would, for that matter. Does such a list exist?

M

Amazon Prime is a partner for BingeON

nelfar212

I had the same is TMO has a disclaimer that binge may or may not work with smart TV's, gaming, consoles, streaming stick's etc. or if the stream fails to be detected. However it's guaranteed to work with laptops, and tablets. I use my xbox one my issue is hulu consumes data while Netflix, and you tube does not.  

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