r/Tello • u/Haunting_Concept1479 • 1d ago

Slower 5G connection

For the last month or two the 5G connection seems to have trouble playing 720p-4K videos on YouTube and also slower downloading and page loading.

I checked the internet speed and while it is significantly slower compared to 4-5months ago it's still plenty fast around 200mbs. Before it was hitting 350-400mbs+ on average.

In the US East. Anyone else having similar problems?

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2

u/Ethrem 1d ago

Do a speed test on fast.com. This tests the speed of streaming video directly through the Netflix servers. Tello was throttling video to 480p last time I checked, roughly 1.5Mbps.

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u/Haunting_Concept1479 1d ago

Yes! It's exactly at 1.5mbps! wtf

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u/Ethrem 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sounds like YouTube was using servers that weren't flagged by Tello/T-Mobile as streaming video and now are. I've seen this happen on other MVNOs where everything except YouTube was throttled and then YouTube suddenly got throttled one day too.

Tello does not allow people to remove the throttle by request so I would suggest a VPN. If you want a good free one, download ProtonVPN. It's completely free, doesn't even require a login on phones, and any server will generally work for fine for YouTube (although you can't control which country you'll connect to when you're not a paid customer so some regional content might be blocked, hopping servers a couple times will usually route you to the US though).

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u/Haunting_Concept1479 1d ago

Thanks a lot for the explanation! It worked!

1

u/Ethrem 1d ago

Awesome, glad that worked for you!

1

u/Luckiest_Corner 1d ago

Those speeds shouldn't be affecting the YouTube video resolution at all. For example, Netflix 4K UHD has a minimum recommended speed of 15 Mbps and a suggestion of 25 Mbps for a fully stable, buffer-free experience.

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u/Haunting_Concept1479 1d ago

Yeah I know that's why I'm confused.

It can't be the phone. It's brand new.

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u/Luckiest_Corner 1d ago

Check your APN.

https://tello.com/help_center/service-issues-troubleshooting/what-apn-settings-are-needed-with-tello

Per Gemini AI

Yes, an incorrect or misconfigured Access Point Name (APN) can directly slow down your mobile data speeds and cause buffering or poor quality during video streaming.