Disproportionate Hotspot Speeds

[qgzexxon]

So I use my phone with T-Mobile as my primary internet for my home desktop, for the sake of saving money. I tested my speed on speedtest.net, and 48.77mbps download and 3.71mbps upload were my speeds.
However, when I download anything from Chrome I am getting speeds of 170kbps download? Even Steam only downloads at 4-5mbps.
Additionally, I can't watch YouTube videos in greater than 480p, but I know speeds of almost 50mbps are more than capable of streaming full HD.
Is there anything I can do to fix this issue?

 

[tsnor]

Wonder if T-Mobile detects a download and slows you down so you are not affecting their other users.

You are using two different units. "Even Steam only downloads at 4-5mbps." This is BITS. "from Chrome I am getting speeds of 170kbps " This is bytes. There is a roughly 10X difference . So chrome is getting 1.7 Mbps and Steam is downloading at 500Kbytes per second. <for those who care: bytes = 8 bits plus 1.x bits of packet header and error recovery overhead, so 10X is a good number>

re: "..Additionally, I can't watch YouTube videos in greater than 480p,.." this is almost certainly someone slowing your feed. You can stream 480p on Youtube with less than 5 mbps. See this table: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24198739/what-bitrate-is-used-for-each-of-the-youtube-video-qualities-360p-1080p-in

DO THIS: watch a you tube video. Right-click on the video playback screen and then select Stats for nerds. Look at the connection speed and buffering problems you are getting. You will see why Youtube falls back form 480p.

 

[qgzexxon]

Wonder if T-Mobile detects a download and slows you down so you are not affecting their other users.

You are using two different units. "Even Steam only downloads at 4-5mbps." This is BITS. "from Chrome I am getting speeds of 170kbps " This is bytes. There is a roughly 10X difference . So chrome is getting 1.7 Mbps and Steam is downloading at 500Kbytes per second. <for those who care: bytes = 8 bits plus 1.x bits of packet header and error recovery overhead, so 10X is a good number>

re: "..Additionally, I can't watch YouTube videos in greater than 480p,.." this is almost certainly someone slowing your feed. You can stream 480p on Youtube with less than 5 mbps. See this table: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24198739/what-bitrate-is-used-for-each-of-the-youtube-video-qualities-360p-1080p-in

DO THIS: watch a you tube video. Right-click on the video playback screen and then select Stats for nerds. Look at the connection speed and buffering problems you are getting. You will see why Youtube falls back form 480p.

I didn't know about the bits and bytes difference, I appreciate the info.
YouTube is telling me I am streaming at 1418Kbps, and that number is unchanging. Which fits right in with the 480p resolution. Reading the fine print of my T-Mobile contract, it says that they do limit you to streaming at 480p. Do you know if there is any way around this?
May just have to pay the extra money for WiFi.