Some Telus iPhone Customers Allege Unlimited Data Plans Being Throttled

Last year, some Telus customers on the company’s unlimited data plans complained the carrier was throttling YouTube.

Now, some iPhone 12 Pro Max users on RFD and iPhone in Canada readers allege their Telus unlimited data plans are again bringing back up the issue, alleging throttling when using YouTube, Instagram and Netflix.

“I’m currently on Telus EPP 20GB $50 plan on an Apple bought iPhone 12 Pro Max. I’m noticing that the data is really slow at loading social media and even YouTube at QHD+. On Instagram, stories would be loading and when it does load, the videos will be bad quality like 360p. On Youtube, it will constantly buffer at 1440p. Netflix jumps from SD and HD. I have a suspicion Telus is throttling the data for heavy media usage,” said user ‘bomber17’.

“Web browsing is fast and no issues. When I do a speedtest, it hits like 500+ mbps. I can have full bars on LTE or 5G and still loads slow,” added the user, noting the “everything loads perfectly” when ExpressVPN was installed and turned on.

Other Telus customers chimed in to say they were also experiencing a slow down in speeds on Instagram for Stories as well.

“I have the promo $85 for 30GB Connected plan and experience the same issue. Really annoying. There was this one time I called in and I’m not sure what the rep did but it seemed to fix the throttling for IG and YouTube. I enjoyed the super speed for about a week and then it went back to normal,” added user ‘IBIubbleTea’.

iPhone in Canada reached out to Telus, and spokesperson Brandi Rees responded with the following statement, saying “The type of rate plan a customer is on has no effect on this particular inquiry.”

“At TELUS, we continuously optimize our network to manage traffic, including congestion in urban areas and environmental conditions in order to maintain an exceptional network experience for all of our customers,” added Rees.

When customers watch YouTube, the app will optimize by default for smartphones and local network congestion. Users can choose higher resolutions but there might be buffering periods due to network congestion, said Telus.

Back in 2013, Telus implemented Wireless Video Experience Optimization, “to provide the best possible experience when viewing web pages and streaming videos on your mobile wireless device.”

Telus says the feature “improves video streaming and web page loading by encoding files to reduce their size. As a result, videos may be loaded faster, there’s less risk of buffering and fewer stalls, with minimal to no noticeable impact to image quality,” and that the end result is “you also use less data, which may save you money.”

How’s your Telus unlimited data plan when using YouTube, Instagram and Netflix?

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