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

I had this issue and it was resolved yesterday for my case, thank you to everyone in this thread.

My case:

About a month ago I upgraded from S22 Ultra to S24 Ultra. I decided to go with esim for the transfer.

A few days ago I got the 80% hotspot data message, and yesterday I got the 100%.

I almost never tether/hotspot, and confirmed that I had <2gb of hotspot usage.

Instantly I noticed my connection throttle. I did a speed test and was getting 0.44 mbps.

I always use a VPN (Nord VPN) and tried pausing it, instantly had 1000+ mbps. Turned the VPN back on, 0.44 mbps.

Based on this thread I decided to go to a T-mobile store and switched to a physical sim, in and out in 5 minutes, and my speeds are back to normal.

Something about this phone, an esim, and a VPN made all my data count towards the hotspot data. I don't know if this will be the case for everyone, but I do recommend trying a physical sim even if you don't use a VPN, it could be some other traffic counting against you.