why is my hotspot so slow

hey chris, that's really interesting!

my data usage has been as follows:

APR: not reported yet

MAR 2.5gb

FEB 5.4gb

JAN 6.4gb

DEC 10.1gb

NOV 7.9gb

OCT 8.5gb

So we are probably going to want to look at your total data usage from before you added the One plus to the account because both options have unlimited LTE data and the speeds you were getting seem like your data had been slowed down which could happen if you had used over 50GB of data in a billing cycle and are in an area that suffers from network congestion.

hey chris, thanks so much for responding to my query.

my current plan is the T-Mobile One and the upgrade the rep and i performed (i believe) was to the One Plus. as mentioned, they wanted to test whether i would still get a throttled speed, which would indicate that the device itself was the root of the issue. during the time i had the upgrade in-place, the speed improved but after the upgrade was removed the speed returned to its original slow slow rate.

i found the screenshots i took at the time and the captured speeds were;

(down/up)

0.5mbps/0.5mbps - T-Mobile One

54.9mbps/24.7mbps - T-Mobile One Plus

Hola @camanderson

Sorry to hear you are also having this issue. Just to clarify here, temporarily upgrading your plan improved your speeds? If so, what plan/feature did you have before and what did you upgrade to?

Hola chris,

were you and doug able to identify the specific issue?

since upgrading from a samsung note4 to a google pixel2, i've had the exact same issue. i've chatted with both google support and t-mobile support to no resolution. each party has laid blame on the other, leaving me in the gutter--overall, a frustrating experience.

thus far i've confirmed with both google and t-mobile support

• my tethering speeds are significantly underperforming

thus far i've gone through;

• google recommendation: phone wipe and os reinstallation
  • test if device software is the issue
  • did not resolve the issue
• t-mobile recommendation: new sim card
  • test if issue is related to old sim card
  • did not resolve the issue
• t-mobile recommendation: temporary upgrade of plan
  • test if speeds are still slow and if so, then the device is the issue
  • resolved the issue

i have the t-mobile one plan and am located in the main los angeles metro area, so coverage has otherwise been no issue.

Hola Chris:

I am aware of the One Plus availability.  However, if T-Mobile is advertising that a hotspot is included with the 55+ plan, be real about it.  The highest that would register on the speed test is a lot closer to zero than 512 kbps.  I was not able to accomplish anything with 70 kbps.  T-Mobile should not offer it as it might as well NOT be available.  That is shamefully low and worthless.

Thanks for clarifying. The 55+ plan comes with unlimited mobile hotspot at "up to" 512 kbps. If you need faster speeds, you can add the T-Mobile One Plus feature to your account for $10/month and you will get 10GB of 4GLTE hotspot data that you can use.

Hola Chris:

I have the Samsung Galaxy Note8 and I have full-strength signal bars sitting in my home.  There is no way I can even think about using it to run my computer or even my iPad.  I have the 55+ plan with standard hotspot.  It won't work with Firefox or Chrome.  In my opinion, the standard hotspot should not even be called a hotspot as it does not function.  I am in Thousand Oak, California and the phone and data work fine.

I still have my Straight Talk hotspot and I guess I'll need to keep it.  Occasionally I need it to stay connected while sitting an open house that is vacant with no Internet. I am really disappointed.  I just switched to T-Mobile last week in anticipation of a trip to Rome, Italy in July.

No one likes slow internet! If you plan allows for it and you are in good coverage, you should be getting some pretty fast speeds. What plan are you on and what kind of device are you using? Have you noticed if it is slow all the time or only slow when you are in a specific area?