Hotspot limits · United States

T-Mobile hotspot limits

Checked 1 November 2026 against T-Mobile’s own pages. Plans change: your plan’s terms win.

T-Mobile calls it Smartphone Mobile Hotspot. Most of its plans include it, with a set amount of high-speed hotspot data that depends on the plan. Once that’s used, hotspot keeps working, slowly, until the bill cycle ends.

Hotspot data
A high-speed allotment that varies by plan (T-Mobile’s example is 15 GB).
After it
Many plans continue at up to 600 kbps after high-speed hotspot data is used; rules vary by plan.
Video
Phone video typically streams in SD unless HD is turned on; tethered video often isn’t detected.
Check
T-Life app, T-Mobile.com › Usage › Data, or dial #WEB#.

Hotspot allowance

  • Mobile Hotspot is included with many plans, such as Experience More, Experience Beyond and Go5G. The amount of high-speed hotspot data “varies depending on your plan”.
  • You can share with up to 10 devices over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB, in 5G and 4G LTE coverage only.
  • One-time Mobile Hotspot Data Passes add 10 GB of high-speed hotspot data on Go5G and Experience plans, one at a time, for up to 30 days, in the US only.

Speed after the allowance

  • On many current plans, once the high-speed hotspot data is used, tethering continues at up to 600 kbps (“3G speeds”) until the end of the bill cycle.
  • When a cell is busy, T-Mobile prioritises data used on the phone itself over tethering, so hotspot speeds can drop below the phone’s even before the allowance runs out.
  • On plans with a limited amount of high-speed data in total, going over it slows all data to 2G speeds, 128 kbps on most plans.

Plans without hotspot

  • The T-Mobile Essentials plan includes tethering at a maximum of 600 kbps from the start.
  • T-Mobile’s support page says most plans include Mobile Hotspot, not all of them; your plan’s details in T-Life say whether yours does.

Video

  • On the current plans, phone video “typically streams in SD” unless you turn on HD on a capable device.
  • T-Mobile’s network management page says video watched through a VPN, Apple Private Relay or while tethering may not be identified as video, so it may not be optimised either.
  • Plans no longer sold may have different video features; T-Mobile points to your account for them.

Check what’s left

  1. Open the T-Life app and look at the Data Usage Meter.

  2. Or sign in at T-Mobile.com and choose Usage › Data; pick a line to see how much Mobile Hotspot data it has used.

  3. Or dial #WEB# (#932#) from the phone and press Send for the data you’ve used.

T-Mobile also texts at 80% and 100% of a Hotspot Data Pass.

What Kilobat can tell you

If every speed test and big download on your hotspot stops near the same speed, such as the 600 kbps or 128 kbps T-Mobile publishes, on different occasions while the ping stays normal, Health says it looks like T-Mobile’s hotspot cap. A weak signal or a busy cell wanders instead, and Kilobat says nothing then. It also notices video held near 1.5 Mbps while other downloads run faster. It can’t see your allowance or tell a hotspot cap from a plan that caps everything: check on the phone too.

It’s free in Health on any phone hotspot, with the measurements behind it in Kilobat Pro, and in the terminal with kilobat hotspot. More in the docs and saving hotspot data.

Questions

Why is my T-Mobile hotspot so slow when my phone is fast?

A used-up high-speed hotspot allowance or congestion can explain a slow hotspot. Check your allowance in T-Life and compare phone and laptop speeds; these checks do not conclusively identify every cause.

Sources

Checked against T-Mobile’s own plan pages, terms and help articles on 1 November 2026. Allowances and speeds differ by plan and change often; what your own plan says wins.

See what your hotspot is really doing

Kilobat is a Mac menu-bar app that shows which apps use your hotspot’s data, holds back updaters on metered networks, and says when downloads keep stopping at the same speed.

Download for Mac ↓
brew install seifip/kilobat/kilobat