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eagleglen

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2009
1,127
309
Phoenix, AZ
I just spend some time on chat with AT&T and was at first told Stream Saver was not an option on the Grandfathered Unlimited Plan, which began an effort on their part to talk me into switching. Once I made it clear I didn't want to switch, I was told SS could not be on my plan so it must be an error. I explained the email and that I see in on the at&t app and website, where it is turned ON. And when I try to turn it off, I get an error. I was then transferred to a supervisor. They final said it was now turned OFF and to refresh my screen, which may no sense. But I tried logging off and back on to the website, and still saw Stream Saver ON. I then tried turning my phone off and back on, but still no change.

Maybe it is off and they are correct that it isn't an option for the GUP. Anyone else having any better luck?

If they truly turned it off, but it’s just not showing on the account, you can check fast.com to see if your video is being throttled.
Can you elaborate? My account still shows that Stream Saver is ON and when I check my internet speed with the FAST app, it shows 43 Mbps. What have I learned?

Youtube may say it's HD and they send HD through AT&T to you, but if AT&T detects an HD stream it downgrades the video to 480p DVD quality before sending it down to your phone. You won't actually be seeing HD on your device. For me, the HD is more important on my iPad but not my iPhones which are small enough to not miss HD.
This makes sense. I can still select up to 1440p in the YouTube app but that may just be what they are sending and not what I am receiving.
 

jav6454

macrumors Core
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,257
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
I just spend some time on chat with AT&T and was at first told Stream Saver was not an option on the Grandfathered Unlimited Plan, which began an effort on their part to talk me into switching. Once I made it clear I didn't want to switch, I was told SS could not be on my plan so it must be an error. I explained the email and that I see in on the at&t app and website, where it is turned ON. And when I try to turn it off, I get an error. I was then transferred to a supervisor. They final said it was now turned OFF and to refresh my screen, which may no sense. But I tried logging off and back on to the website, and still saw Stream Saver ON. I then tried turning my phone off and back on, but still no change.

I would ask for the Supervisor of the supervisor. This "feature" is BS.
 

NCnewbie

macrumors newbie
Dec 12, 2017
14
4
I didn't know about this until I saw this thread (thanks to those of you for posting this), so I checked my app, and it turns out that Stream Saver was indeed set to ON. Like many of you, I tried to turn it off, and I kept receiving an error. I chatted with 3 different people this past weekend for over an hour before someone was able to disable the function. Even still, it didn't show up as changed immediately. I believe a supervisor (Rob) was finally able to disable it -- the first guy they connected me to didn't know anything about the feature. Apparently they updated the app within the last few days, so if you haven't done that first, maybe try that to see if you can disable it yourself. I'd recommend doing the chat on your computer so you can check the app while on the chat to see if it changes (but mine took an hour or so to take effect -- and I did restart my phone to see if that accelerated the process -- you never know, right?). Also if you chat on the computer, you can take pics of the chat as proof since it doesn't always let you e-mail yourself the transcript (my first two chats somehow weren't e-mailed to me, as I requested). I'm on the grandfathered UP and iPhone X.
 

eagleglen

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2009
1,127
309
Phoenix, AZ
I didn't know about this until I saw this thread (thanks to those of you for posting this), so I checked my app, and it turns out that Stream Saver was indeed set to ON. Like many of you, I tried to turn it off, and I kept receiving an error. I chatted with 3 different people this past weekend for over an hour before someone was able to disable the function. Even still, it didn't show up as changed immediately. I believe a supervisor (Rob) was finally able to disable it -- the first guy they connected me to didn't know anything about the feature. Apparently they updated the app within the last few days, so if you haven't done that first, maybe try that to see if you can disable it yourself. I'd recommend doing the chat on your computer so you can check the app while on the chat to see if it changes (but mine took an hour or so to take effect -- and I did restart my phone to see if that accelerated the process -- you never know, right?). Also if you chat on the computer, you can take pics of the chat as proof since it doesn't always let you e-mail yourself the transcript (my first two chats somehow weren't e-mailed to me, as I requested). I'm on the grandfathered UP and iPhone X.
Congratulations but just to clarify, in the app and also online, you now see Stream Saver turned off? If so, did this only happen after you rebooted your phone and after an AT&T rep told you the feature was now off? I’ve also been told the feature is now off but it still shows itself as on, even after over 8 hours from my last discussion with them.
 

NCnewbie

macrumors newbie
Dec 12, 2017
14
4
Congratulations but just to clarify, in the app and also online, you now see Stream Saver turned off? If so, did this only happen after you rebooted your phone and after an AT&T rep told you the feature was now off? I’ve also been told the feature is now off but it still shows itself as on, even after over 8 hours from my last discussion with them.

Yes, I just logged into the app, and it says "Stream Saver" Off. But I had been told by another person before the last guy that it was fixed and it wasn't. I've rebooted my phone maybe two or three times since I requested it be turned off a few days ago. Before I ended the chat, I asked how long it would take to show up, and he said he didn't know. Based on an earlier post, I figured it'd be an hour or so. Hope this helps.
 
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CVUSA

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2009
234
143
I just spend some time on chat with AT&T and was at first told Stream Saver was not an option on the Grandfathered Unlimited Plan, which began an effort on their part to talk me into switching. Once I made it clear I didn't want to switch, I was told SS could not be on my plan so it must be an error. I explained the email and that I see in on the at&t app and website, where it is turned ON. And when I try to turn it off, I get an error. I was then transferred to a supervisor. They final said it was now turned OFF and to refresh my screen, which may no sense. But I tried logging off and back on to the website, and still saw Stream Saver ON. I then tried turning my phone off and back on, but still no change.

Maybe it is off and they are correct that it isn't an option for the GUP. Anyone else having any better luck?


Can you elaborate? My account still shows that Stream Saver is ON and when I check my internet speed with the FAST app, it shows 43 Mbps. What have I learned?


This makes sense. I can still select up to 1440p in the YouTube app but that may just be what they are sending and not what I am receiving.
Yes me too, 1440p YouTube on iPhone was amazing.
 

1981d

macrumors 6502
Sep 24, 2013
265
65
Can you elaborate? My account still shows that Stream Saver is ON and when I check my internet speed with the FAST app, it shows 43 Mbps. What have I lesrned?

If stream saver was on your speeds would be in the 1.5-5 mbps range, not 43 mbps
 

TWD98j

macrumors 6502
Sep 14, 2010
264
49
I was finally able to log into my AT&T account on my computer (not the MyAT&T app) and successfully switch off stream saver. I have a grandfathered UDP and when I switched it off I got a message saying that it had been switched off and that I would need to turn my phone off, wait 5 minutes, and then turn it back on for the new setting to take effect.

Just thought I would share.
 
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Archer1440

Suspended
Mar 10, 2012
730
302
USA
I was finally able to log into my AT&T account on my computer (not the MyAT&T app) and successfully switch off stream saver. I have a grandfathered UDP and when I switched it off I got a message saying that it had been switched off and that I would need to turn my phone off, wait 5 minutes, and then turn it back on for the new setting to take effect.

Just thought I would share.

Yes, it seems to be working now.
 

HeadphoneAddict

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2007
1,041
888
What is stream saver. Might be good to explain for this thread. Just saying

It’s a feature of AT&T that when you are streaming video they will lower the video quality from HD blu-Ray quality to 480p at less than DVD quality, at about 1.5mbps bandwidth, to use less data and reduce congestion in their network.

They have two tiers of unlimited data plans, and the cheaper plan won’t let you turn this “feature” off, ever. But people on the higher plan or limited data plans (like my 30gb data/month) are supposed to be able to watch HD streaming video but were finding this “feature” turned on and they were unable to turn it off to watch HD video.

[Edited for a typo "of" instead of "on"]
 
Last edited:

democracyrules

Suspended
Nov 18, 2016
997
609
It seems like Tmobile comes out with more ways to give more to the customer and on the other hand AT&T and Verizon are looking for more waysto nickel and dime the customer and offer less for more money.
You are correct. For now, TMobile has more ways to give more to customers because they need to retain their customers with their narrow area coverage in the country compared to Verizon and AT&T. They need to keep their customers happy with all hidden issues their customers facing such as weak or no signals in some areas or vast majority in rural or non metropolitan areas, some areas within metropolitan areas and inside buildings. When TMobile achieves the coverage and network level on the same level of Verizon and AT&T, they will follow exactly what Verizon and AT&T do. T-Mobile is not on the same area coverage level as Verizon or AT&T currently. They are excellent in big cities but poor quality in small cities, between cities, etc. T-Mobile customers get exactly what they pay for with cheaper price. Fortunate for those like me to be able to afford one of the best wireless carrier with the best area coverage and network in the US without any complaints.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
You are correct. For now, TMobile has more ways to give more to customers because they need to retain their customers with their narrow area coverage in the country compared to Verizon and AT&T. They need to keep their customers happy with all hidden issues their customers facing such as weak or no signals in some areas or vast majority in rural or non metropolitan areas, some areas within metropolitan areas and inside buildings. When TMobile achieves the coverage and network level on the same level of Verizon and AT&T, they will follow exactly what Verizon and AT&T do. T-Mobile is not on the same area coverage level as Verizon or AT&T currently. They are excellent in big cities but poor quality in small cities, between cities, etc. T-Mobile customers get exactly what they pay for with cheaper price. Fortunate for those like me to be able to afford one of the best wireless carrier with the best area coverage and network in the US without any complaints.

Tmobile has been the fastest growing US carrier for over 3 quarters in a row ;) People are starting to wake up and switch to a carrier that cares about their customers.
Fortunate for me while I can afford to pay any carrier out there I just cannot continue to let carriers rip me off and overpay for their bad service and get nickel and dimed. I been very happy with Tmobile for over 2-3 years now.
Believe what you want and keep getting ripped off by Verizon and AT&T :D
 

boltjames

macrumors 601
May 2, 2010
4,876
2,851
It’s a feature of AT&T that when you are streaming video they will lower the video quality from HD blu-Ray quality to 480p at less than DVD quality, at about 1.5mbps bandwidth, to use less data and reduce congestion in their network.

They have two tiers of unlimited data plans, and the cheaper plan won’t let you turn this “feature” off, ever. But people on the higher plan or limited data plans (like my 30gb data/month) are supposed to be able to watch HD streaming video but were finding this “feature” turned on and they were unable to turn it off to watch HD video.

It should be noted that the human eye cannot discern 1080i from 480p on an iPhone screen. So the Stream Saver "issue" is really not a concern for the typical AT&T customer.

What we're really talking about here are the data hogs who only want HD quality streams to play back on their big screen HDTV's as a way to skirt cable TV fees and, in many cases, paying for any content at all, stealing movies and TV shows off of torrent sites.

Stream Saver is a great feature. It dramatically reduces network congestion for the 99% of ATT customers who are good people and aren't taking advantage as a way to save a few dollars for themselves like the 1% who are disadvantaging everyone else.
 

HeadphoneAddict

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2007
1,041
888
It should be noted that the human eye cannot discern 1080i from 480p on an iPhone screen. So the Stream Saver "issue" is really not a concern for the typical AT&T customer.

What we're really talking about here are the data hogs who only want HD quality streams to play back on their big screen HDTV's as a way to skirt cable TV fees and, in many cases, paying for any content at all, stealing movies and TV shows off of torrent sites.

Stream Saver is a great feature. It dramatically reduces network congestion for the 99% of ATT customers who are good people and aren't taking advantage as a way to save a few dollars for themselves like the 1% who are disadvantaging everyone else.

You're saying that many of these people have no WiFi at home, and stream unlimited pirated HD videos from their phone to their TV's via AT&T wireless? Presumably buying an Apple TV just for Airplay, or do they use the lightning to HDMI adapter? It seems to me that those people would be a minority of users.

We have 7 iPhones and 4 iPads that can do native 720p or 1080p video, and we usually only sync SD video to our iPhones and put HD video to our iPads through iTunes. I can see why many people would prefer to stream HD to their iPads while they are mobile, but agree that's it's less important on a phone.

However, I believe that I would be able to tell the difference between HD and SD on my 7+ in 1080p, but I can fit 2x as many videos in SD format for mobile enjoyment when I don't have my iPad with me.

I tend to go for SD comedy movies on my phone, that I've already watched before and would like to watch the funny parts again to kill time. I tend to go for HD action adventure movies I've never seen on my iPads, so when I travel I can watch a new movie. If all I had was Netflix and Hulu because I couldn't afford to buy content, I'd want to stream them in HD on the iPad but wouldn't bother on the iPhone.
 
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Makayla

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2016
273
277
Well, that's AT&T for ya.

I was on the phone with them for a total of 3 hours last week sorting out some billing issue (unrelated to stream, it was about the billing of my new iPhone 8 plus). Fingers crossed my next bill is correct. Not holding my breath though.
 
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