Question

T-Mobile Shows Hotspot Data Usage When it is Disabled in My Phone Settings

  • 22 November 2022
  • 40 replies
  • 3512 views
D
Badge

I just started with T-Mobile on the Magenta Max 55+ plan.  I activated my new phone using the plan 10 days ago.  I am noticing that my mobile hotspot data usage goes up a little bit each day and is now at 2.13 gigabytes.  But I have all "Mobile Hotspot & Tethering" settings disabled on my phone settings, and they have been disabled all along.  So, how am I using mobile hotspot data?  I looked at all the apps that have used mobile data on my phone, and "Mobile Hotspot & Tethering" is nowhere in the list, which is as it should be.  I am sending screenshots of the top 5 apps under mobile data usage; and showing that all my "Mobile Hotspot & Tethering" settings are disabled.  Furthermore, my TOTAL mobile data usage for the 10 days is only 5.6 gigabytes, so this “error” makes up almost half of my total data usage.  What happens if I use 100 GB of mobile data, will T-Mobile say I’ve used 50 GB of hotspot data? I was going to try the mobile hotspot feature today for the first time, but I don't want to do that until I get a good answer as to why I am using data with this feature turned off.  Please let me know what's going on.  Thank you.

 

40 replies

M
Userlevel 1

I am having the same problem. My hotspot settings have been disabled since I got my phone but each month I get texts from T-mobile saying I'm approaching my limit of high speed hotspot then eventually it says I've used it up. Online customer support was not able to help as they just had me check my settings, which were all off. 

J

I've also been seeing this problem over the last few months. I'll be using my normal phone data (which I'm supposed to have 100Gbs of) and as I use it I'll start getting those same texts of running out of hotspot data even though I'm not using my hotspot. And as soon as I go over that hotspot data cap my phone instantly starts to chug when I do anything on it data wise even though I am only a few gbs into my supposed 100gbs I'm paying for.

My only assumption is that the "hotspot" data is actually our real high speed data and that it's a shared data category with our actual hotspot as well. So when you use that data for normal use it also take up your "hotspot" data which is why we're getting the notifications.

Idk what the 100gbs of premium high speed data even is then and idk why I'm paying for it if that's the case. 

Would definitely like to hear from a community manager, mod, or TMobile employee about this since it's obvious we're not the only ones experiencing this. 

E

I am having the same problem. My hotspot settings have been disabled since I got my phone but each month I get texts from T-mobile saying I'm approaching my limit of high speed hotspot then eventually it says I've used it up. Online customer support was not able to help as they just had me check my settings, which were all off. 

Any update or was it resolved? 

J

I am having the same problem. My hotspot settings have been disabled since I got my phone but each month I get texts from T-mobile saying I'm approaching my limit of high speed hotspot then eventually it says I've used it up. Online customer support was not able to help as they just had me check my settings, which were all off. 

Any update or was it resolved? 

Nope. And still have this issue. I think for some reason your hotspot data and your "premium data" are pulling from the same pool of data. Even though they should be different. 

E

I am having the same problem. My hotspot settings have been disabled since I got my phone but each month I get texts from T-mobile saying I'm approaching my limit of high speed hotspot then eventually it says I've used it up. Online customer support was not able to help as they just had me check my settings, which were all off. 

Any update or was it resolved? 

Nope. And still have this issue. I think for some reason your hotspot data and your "premium data" are pulling from the same pool of data. Even though they should be different. 

That sucks! Customer service or their technical unit couldn't give any reason why this is happening?! It's very frustrating and disappointing. 

E

I just started with T-Mobile on the Magenta Max 55+ plan.  I activated my new phone using the plan 10 days ago.  I am noticing that my mobile hotspot data usage goes up a little bit each day and is now at 2.13 gigabytes.  But I have all "Mobile Hotspot & Tethering" settings disabled on my phone settings, and they have been disabled all along.  So, how am I using mobile hotspot data?  I looked at all the apps that have used mobile data on my phone, and "Mobile Hotspot & Tethering" is nowhere in the list, which is as it should be.  I am sending screenshots of the top 5 apps under mobile data usage; and showing that all my "Mobile Hotspot & Tethering" settings are disabled.  Furthermore, my TOTAL mobile data usage for the 10 days is only 5.6 gigabytes, so this “error” makes up almost half of my total data usage.  What happens if I use 100 GB of mobile data, will T-Mobile say I’ve used 50 GB of hotspot data? I was going to try the mobile hotspot feature today for the first time, but I don't want to do that until I get a good answer as to why I am using data with this feature turned off.  Please let me know what's going on.  Thank you.

 

Have you received a resolution for this issue yet? 

D
Badge

Still not fixed as of July 19th, 2023.  I last heard from a T-Mobile representative named Kirsten Hartford on March 24, 2023 with the message below.  I don’t think any “engineer” is looking at this “bug”.  They should be embarrassed.  I was a software engineer myself.  I’m thinking about offering a cash reward for the T-Mobile employee who can fix this.

Good morning, Mr. Hall. I see the issue with the system reporting smartphone mobile hotspot/tethering usage when you are letting us know there has never been that use, has been an ongoing concern for several months. This has led to you reaching out on multiple dates. I am already up to speed on the issue and all steps we have taken so far. While the reporting is not service impacting, I can appreciate your desire for the usage records to reflect properly. I want that reflecting properly too. I have sent this issue with all information and all prior tickets filed to our highest support teams. I don’t want you to have to spend more of your valuable time reaching out to start all over with someone new, so I will take this concern and stick with you until we have a definitive reply from our teams and all resolution paths have been worked. ^KirstenHartford

 

 

E

Still not fixed as of July 19th, 2023.  I last heard from a T-Mobile representative named Kirsten Hartford on March 24, 2023 with the message below.  I don’t think any “engineer” is looking at this “bug”.  They should be embarrassed.  I was a software engineer myself.  I’m thinking about offering a cash reward for the T-Mobile employee who can fix this.

Good morning, Mr. Hall. I see the issue with the system reporting smartphone mobile hotspot/tethering usage when you are letting us know there has never been that use, has been an ongoing concern for several months. This has led to you reaching out on multiple dates. I am already up to speed on the issue and all steps we have taken so far. While the reporting is not service impacting, I can appreciate your desire for the usage records to reflect properly. I want that reflecting properly too. I have sent this issue with all information and all prior tickets filed to our highest support teams. I don’t want you to have to spend more of your valuable time reaching out to start all over with someone new, so I will take this concern and stick with you until we have a definitive reply from our teams and all resolution paths have been worked. ^KirstenHartford

 

 

What are you going to do?  It's clear they don't think it's an issue to resolve.  Wondering if a report from BBB would help in getting a response and resolution?  I've now had this problem twice with two different phones.  It's happened after the updates they push to the phone.  But they will not accept responsibility.  

R
Badge

Mine is doing the same thing except it slows down my internet after it says I reached this amount. So I have to have a slower connection because they can't fix this .

K

Mine is doing this. They reset it last Sunday and today it is back to 2.5 GB. 

I am using a s23 ultra I want this fixed tosay!!!!!!!!!!!

K

 

R
Badge

Mine is an s23 ultra also. I paid cash for mine in July and it is still locked  and I can't get a straight answer on that either.. I think if you pay cash for the phone outright it should have been unlocked to start with.

F
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

Mine is an s23 ultra also. I paid cash for mine in July and it is still locked  and I can't get a straight answer on that either.. I think if you pay cash for the phone outright it should have been unlocked to start with.

probably help iif you posted in an area more dedicated to unlocking devices and not so much in a thread talking about hotspot usage.

 

but seeing as how you brought it up..no..if you bought a phone from TMO there are requirements that must be met in order to unlock it..which are listed in here..

https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/consumer-info/policies/sim-unlock-policy

 

if they are not met it wont be unlocked until then.

***I like many others come onto this site for assistance and to help others. Marking a reply as helpful or correct helps others with like issues when they try to search the site for assistance. I do not work for Tmobile and my suggestions and or opinions are my own**.~~~~ The site here is primarily peer to peer with some TMO moderation to keep the site in order..They do not have account access..The prefered method would be to contact TMO through either calling in (tier 1 support) or by contacting them through either Facebook/Twitter (tier 2 support)**~~~~
R

Is happening to mine as well the last month. Told about it, they replenished and gave me a couple months of added hotspot Gs.. to only find out today the same issue is happening and now the Gs being taken is more based on my quantity.  Ticket is submitted again and now that I'm reading all these other ones, don't know if they will find out what's going on. S20Note

H

I’m having the same issue.  I have two S23’s and on both mobile hotspot have been disabled.  One shows over 2.5GB used and the other about .5GB.  Searched here and found this thread.  Will call customer support to inform them.  Too bad the Usage report doesn’t show you any details on Mobile Hotspot usage like it does for mobile data.

B

having this problem as well and i’m on S23. Only been like 4 days since the billing cycle renewed and it informed me my 5GB hotspot data allocation has been used up (100%). I did not turn on hotspot at all during this period. What is going on? I won’t have any hotspot data to use like this then. 

H

I traded in my old phone 4 months ago and got a S23 from T-Mobile on a magenta plan and as all of you experienced I received texts about 80% and soon after 100% hotspot data usage alert and after that some apps such as WhatsApp and telegram get slow.

It is happening every month and I called the costumer service couple times but no answer. They asked me to check the devices that connected to my phone. I disabled my hotspot and changed the password. Even I don't know what it is. I guess it is related to the e-sim which I activated without any physical Sim card

F
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

the recurring factor im looking at in here is just about every one of you have a S23 and are running into this..with at least one person with a Note 20 i think it was..

***I like many others come onto this site for assistance and to help others. Marking a reply as helpful or correct helps others with like issues when they try to search the site for assistance. I do not work for Tmobile and my suggestions and or opinions are my own**.~~~~ The site here is primarily peer to peer with some TMO moderation to keep the site in order..They do not have account access..The prefered method would be to contact TMO through either calling in (tier 1 support) or by contacting them through either Facebook/Twitter (tier 2 support)**~~~~
D

I just got the Hotspot message and checked all 3 phones on our plan. We have an iPhone 14 and 2 S23+. None of them have been running the Hotspot. What is really going on?

S

Just got this starting for me this week, was on home wifi when i got the 80% warning and then data when I got the 100%, Hotspot was disabled. I am also using an S23+ Ultra

syaoran
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

If you are using VPN"s.  This can cause the data you are using to be misinterpreted.  Disable the VPN to ensure this doesn't happen.  A third party DNS can also sometimes cause this issue as well.  I have never experiences this issue personally on my s23 Ultra using Cloudfire for all DNS queries.

Syaoran - I am not a T-Mobile Employee but I could use a new job!
S

If you are using VPN"s.  This can cause the data you are using to be misinterpreted.  Disable the VPN to ensure this doesn't happen.  A third party DNS can also sometimes cause this issue as well.  I have never experiences this issue personally on my s23 Ultra using Cloudfire for all DNS queries.

Not using a VPN. 

S

If you are using VPN"s.  This can cause the data you are using to be misinterpreted.  Disable the VPN to ensure this doesn't happen.  A third party DNS can also sometimes cause this issue as well.  I have never experiences this issue personally on my s23 Ultra using Cloudfire for all DNS queries.

I use a VPN to block ads. This is unacceptable to me, it should not be counted as hotspot data and I refuse to have advertisements shoved down my throat. 

L

1st question... Are y'all using THE eSIM vs physical sim? I noticed when I got my flip 4 and used my Sim card everything was fine. I stream video all day at work n would only get the warning abt my monthly Data usage. . Then I decided to try the eSIM route. All of a sudden it says I went over my HOTSPOT ALLOWANCE. But I rarely if at all use Hotspot since my kids got a free one from TMob. One rep recommended to go back to physical sim AND WHAT DO U KNOW? PROBLEM SOLVED! 

S

1st question... Are y'all using THE eSIM vs physical sim? I noticed when I got my flip 4 and used my Sim card everything was fine. I stream video all day at work n would only get the warning abt my monthly Data usage. . Then I decided to try the eSIM route. All of a sudden it says I went over my HOTSPOT ALLOWANCE. But I rarely if at all use Hotspot since my kids got a free one from TMob. One rep recommended to go back to physical sim AND WHAT DO U KNOW? PROBLEM SOLVED! 

I think you are right. I got the s24 Ultra. And I was transferring stuff and got a thing saying transfer SIM. So since it looked easier to transfer via eSIM I clicked yes.  And not I'm getting the Hotspot issue. 

 

I will put my SIM in this phone now. 

 

Thank you

Reply


New badge winners

  • Curious George
    sgtcurranhas earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    codyho147has earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    Shell2001has earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    jp_cohas earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    Babshob20has earned the badge Curious George
Show all badges
Terms & Conditions