does T-Mobile really limit streaming to 480p?

[Gary02468]

I just got a Note8 on T-Mobile with their One plan. They say they limit video streaming to 480p, but (on Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube) I seem to be getting at least 1080, maybe 1440. Are they less stingy about it than they advertise? Do limits kick in after a certain amount of monthly usage? Does it depend on local congestion?

 

[smallville kc]

Are you paying the $10 for 4G hotspot? Because the better video is included with that.

 

[Gary02468]

Are you paying the $10 for 4G hotspot? Because the better video is included with that.

Nope.

 

[arunma]

They claim to limit streaming to 480p on T-mobile One plans. I have T-mobile One, but I got it on a promo that came with free HD Streaming. If you have an old Simple Choice plan you'll also get unteathered streaming.

 

[Rukbat]

Not only do they limit you to 480p speeds on the newer plans, they originally connect at high speed, telling the server to send you 1080p, then switch down to a speed that would be okay for 480p, but you're getting 1080p video, so unless your topographically close to the server you'll get a lot of buffering.

 

[Gary02468]

I have T-Moblie One, just signed up, no promo on streaming. I've watched what looks like 1080p or 1440p for more than 30 minutes at a time with no buffer pauses. Seems too good to be true, so I'm curious whether it'll continue.

I have my own RPi VPN server ready to go through in case T-Mobile does impose the advertised streaming limit. But so far I haven't needed to use it.