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T-Mobile Throttling Video even Without Binge-On?

  • 21 January 2018
  • 7 replies
  • 520 views
D

So I recently switched to the T-Mobile 55+ plan which gives me unlimited data. I'm aware that the plan doesn't support binge-on, but due to not watching that many videos off of data it doesn't matter to me that much. However, whenever I turn the resolution in youtube up above 480p I get tons of buffering, and if I download an app that tracks download and upload usage I find that for some reason my video download speed is capped at about 1.6 mb/s, which is about the same (1.5 mb/s) that binge-on caps you at.

I've verified that this is not in fact t-mobile's network being slow (if I visit a website I see spikes over 20 mb/s) and isn't youtube throttling me (the limit data when on cellular setting is off and I've tested on my home wifi, where speeds are fine), so my conclusion is that it must be t-mobile. T-mobile said they wouldn't throttle your video if binge-on is off: however, I can't even turn on binge-on yet it seems like I'm being throttled. Is there some sort of a glitch or am I just doing something wrong?

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Best answer by tidbits 21 January 2018, 22:33

T-Mobile One plans don't include Binge-On.  All T-Mobile one sets videos to 480 and you have to add the One Plus addon.

  • All video streaming quality is limited to 480p
  • Tethering is limited to 512 kbps (3G speeds)
  • Smartphone and tablet usage is prioritized over mobile hotspot usage, so you may notice slower speeds if you are tethering
  • If you go over 50GB of data in a month, your data speeds may be throttled when you are in congested areas
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7 replies

tidbits
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

T-Mobile One plans don't include Binge-On.  All T-Mobile one sets videos to 480 and you have to add the One Plus addon.

  • All video streaming quality is limited to 480p
  • Tethering is limited to 512 kbps (3G speeds)
  • Smartphone and tablet usage is prioritized over mobile hotspot usage, so you may notice slower speeds if you are tethering
  • If you go over 50GB of data in a month, your data speeds may be throttled when you are in congested areas
M

Yep, same issue here.  T-mobile is making it as hard as possible to stream in HD.  I called and got transferred all the way to some high up tech support, lol, and he told me I had Binge-on off, and that's why it was buffering.  So is it supposed on or off to stream in HD.  Turning it on made it worse, turning it back off, and now im fine.  Doesn't seem like my friends forum other carriers have this issue.  I wonder why a formerly good company like T-Mobile is screwing their customers.

I guess just keep the lengthy process to watch in HD.

Heres the process, watch video buffer, exit, go into apps clear data, this may work for a few videos, maybe not, next step call tmobile and spend your free time complaining and having them resest your signal (even if a speedtest concludes roughly 50 mb DL and 10mp UL speeds, they will reset your problemfree data, and somehow this solves the issue.  How about go back to the system they had before we all got screwed, that one seemed to stream just fine.

What's wrong with letting people use up their data or not, and not screw the customers who pay the highest bills by buffering their service too.  Sad day when T-Mobile is going from top company to be on to most definitely the worst.

dragon1562
Userlevel 6
Badge +12

I am seeing you post across various threads and many people would love to help. However, I suggest creating your own thread and stating your issue so it can be referenced later on.

M

After many fruitless hours with both TMobile customer service and tech support with no resolution to this 180 kbyte per second tmobile throttling - ONLY during Netflix or Amazon movie downloading to phone,

I discovered that 180kByte per second video streaming throttling during movie downloading to phone was removed ONLY when hd video option was enabled in account profile!  PAID one plus add on REQUIRED to enable hd video option.  Thus, despite 55+ plan clearly stating it includes unlimited HIGH SPEED 4G LTE data on smartphone, non-hd 180kBps streaming throttling speed is ALSO applied to movie downloading via Netflix or Amazon prime apps on my note 4!

I really hope my 2 open tickets with tech support provide a fix for this soon.

Hope this helps clarify this long standing issue.

M

New thread started.

C

This is sort of an old Post but if anyone still is having this problem, you can disable BingeOn by dialing the following in the phone app on your device:

#263#

This resolved my issue with slow downloads in the Netflix app. By the way, I have the Simplechoice plan that has unlimited data. It's ridiculous that BingeOn is enabled by default.

Link: https://www.tomsguide.com/us/how-to-turn-off-bingeon,review-3330.html

bradgrant
Badge +5

This is an older post but for some perspective. T-mobile wasn't accurate in their depiction of One Plan and the tier system. T-mobile was also mixing people up by saying One Plan is for binging on as much video as you want etc or it's like BingeOn is on all the time etc. This caused a bait and switch that was only resolved for me by them cutting 20% off my bill and giving me free One Plus Promo after the ending window. 

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