Connect with us

Carriers

How to Turn on T-Mobile HD Passes on T-Mobile One Plans for Better Streaming

Published

on

This week, T-Mobile listened to customer feedback and killed off its T-Mobile HD passes for users that have T-Mobile One plans. It’s just the latest move in a campaign of changes to get users more features for less money. At least, that’s what the company says.

T-Mobile began the process of remaking its image years ago. That original pitch, that the company would revolutionize wireless services in the United States by giving people want they wanted, seemed far-fetched. Here we are in 2017, years after the company began remaking itself. Its promises seem to have come to fruition. Verizon Wireless and other carriers are tripping over themselves to offer their users unlimited data. At the same time, every major carrier has finally decoupled the cost of buying a smartphone from their postpaid plans.

T-Mobile HD passes were a huge misstep for the company though. Introduced alongside T-Mobile One plans, the company’s original idea seemed designed to force subscribers into limiting the amount of data they used. T-Mobile One offered an unlimited amount of data, but limited the resolution of high-definition video streams unless users explicitly told the carrier they wanted high-definition stream for that day, hence the T-Mobile HD passes. Besides the option to add a free and permanent HD Pass, users of the new T-Mobile One plan get 10GBs of free tethering to their smartphone.

With the recent changes, T-Mobile HD passes are a thing of the past for T-Mobile One customers. Here’s how to turn on T-Mobile HD passes and get your high-definition video streaming back.

Turning on T-Mobile HD Passes: What You Need to Know

One of the biggest peeves with T-Mobile HD passes was that it forced you to sign in and add a pass to your account every time you wanted to get around the software condensing your video streams and watch high-definition video. That’s the big reason everyone is celebrating these new changes in plans. You’ll only need to add it to your T-Mobile account once.

To successfully add the T-Mobile HD Pass, you’ll need to be logged into your T-Mobile account. If you haven’t registered for a T-Mobile account already, go ahead and sign up. The  T-Mobile apps and My T-Mobile website give you granular control of your account and everything related to it.

For the best experience, you may want to consider downloading the T-Mobile app from the Google Play Store or iTunes App Store. Windows phones have a T-Mobile app of their own too.

Turning on T-Mobile HD Passes: Let’s Get Started

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’re using T-Mobile for Android. Open the T-Mobile app on your smartphone and login. Note that the T-Mobile app may ask you to disable your Wi-Fi before it can get you details about your account.

You can also make the change online at Account.T-Mobile.com. After you log in, click on Plans in the top menu. Next you should click on Manage Data Add-Ons.

You are looking for a T-Mobile Data plan that says, “Unlimited Plus Promo with HD Video and More” option. Look for this same option in the T-Mobile app when trying to change plans. In the phone app, you can get to this area by tapping on the Change Settings button in the BingeOn area.

With both methods, you’ll need to go into the Media Settings area to switch on the pass permanently.

If you have one of T-Mobile’s Simple Choice Plans, you’ll need to switch to T-Mobile One; the two are separate plans with different structures. Ironically, the same goes for the older T-Mobile One plan that was introduced some time ago, it seems. These users have to switch to the new T-Mobile One plan to get this permanent T-Mobile HD pass added to their lines. Because of it being a different plan, this could result in the loss of some promotional perks attached to your original T-Mobile One plan.

For example, if your account included any free extra lines because of early promotional deals you signed up for, those could disappear. At least, there’s some reports of that happening on community websites, like T-Mobile’s Reddit community.

If you’re coming from an older plan, the changes in your plan may be offset by the credit T-Mobile now gives those who use its automatic payment system. T-Mobile One plans don’t include taxes and fees either, which will also offset your costs somewhat.

You’ll find yourself having to call into T-Mobile to make any changes to your account if you’ve recently done so with the next billing cycle in mind.

Good luck getting the most of the new T-Mobile One perks and permanent T-Mobile HD Pass.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Jeremy

    06/28/2017 at 11:43 pm

    This also changed again but I able to enable HD video without calling T-Mobile its under Add Data pass then Under HD Pass you Enable HD video its a bit odd

  2. Jeremy

    06/28/2017 at 11:45 pm

    This also changed again but I was able to enable HD video without calling T-Mobile it’s under Add A Data pass then Under HD Pass you Enable HD video its a bit odd

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.