Why I recommend a VPN to get around carrier-limited video quality

Whether you're binging through a series, keeping up with your favorite streamer, or watching YouTube videos on your favorite camera phone, your phone carrier may keep your video quality low. Streaming video can use a ton of data, especially at 4K or 60 frames per second. It has become one of the main targets for carriers looking to curb data usage. Since a phone screen is only a few inches, there's no reason for super high-resolution video, but these limits can be heavy-handed.

If your carrier or plan keeps your video quality down, you have options to improve the quality. First, find out how the carrier is limiting you.

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Carriers limit your bitrate to reduce quality

When you use a video streaming app, like YouTube or Netflix, your phone connects to those servers. When your carrier detects you're connecting to these servers, it might limit the bitrate of your connection. When paired with these apps' automatic quality adjustments, the carrier saves data with almost no interruption to how you use your phone. It also means that when you switch to another app, the connection can immediately speed back up, and your browsing doesn't feel sluggish.

Many carriers limit video streaming to 1.5Mbps, especially on cheaper unlimited plans. This is enough speed for a smooth 480p experience in most apps and maybe 720p in some. Since a phone screen is small, you're unlikely to notice the drop in video quality. Given that many people don't change the quality of their video or audio streaming apps, there's probably a lot of truth to that.

Some carriers offer higher speeds depending on the plan and technology used. For example, connecting to Verizon's Ultra Wideband 5G can remove the video streaming restrictions. Since 5G, especially mid-band and high-band 5G, have more capacity than LTE, restricting video quality doesn't matter as much. My phone uses AT&T's Unlimited Elite plan, which has an option for what AT&T calls Video Management that limits the speed. In my testing, these restricted speeds are closer to 3.5Mbps, which isn't that noticeable.

If you want to check for yourself, grab a couple of speed test apps. First, download the Fast app. This is a Netflix app that uses the streaming service's servers for the tests. If your streaming speeds are limited, the Fast app will show it. Next, grab a speed test app that isn't related to a streaming service, like Speed Test from Ookla or Opensignal's speed test. You can also search for speed test on Google. If the results on Fast are significantly lower than those other apps, your video streaming speeds are likely being slowed down.

Before getting in too deep, check if your plan has an optional limit that can be turned off. Some premium plans with HD video support still restrict data speeds by default. If you aren't sure, contact customer service. On AT&T, I need to turn off the Video Management feature despite being on the carrier's top plan.

Use a VPN to get by video quality restrictions

Use your data however you want with a VPN

Since these speed limits rely on your phone connecting directly to the streaming service servers, a VPN can disguise your connection. If you have one of the best VPNs for Android, you can activate the VPN on your phone when you want to stream in HD. As a VPN routes your traffic through another server, your carrier is none the wiser about whether you're streaming a video or video chatting with your friends. Some people use this to get past recent restrictions to adult sites, which follow the same principle.

Unlike accessing restricted content, you can use the best connection for your area. This is important because a VPN adds an extra hop to every connection and can feel laggy if the latency is too high or the server is overburdened. After activating your VPN, you can stream in HD if your connection is fast enough.

No matter what carrier, plan, or brand of phone you have, these data restrictions don't affect you while using Wi-Fi. You don't need to do anything to get HD quality while connected to your home internet. You can download videos to your phone using apps like Netflix and YouTube if you pay for Premium. YouTube has a feature called Smart Downloads that downloads videos you're likely to watch before you leave home. This can be a great feature if you have a long bus or train ride to work.

When choosing a VPN for streaming video, you want one that is as fast as possible with minimal latency. Most reputable VPNs list their server locations on their websites, so you don't need to guess if you have a nearby VPN server.

Free VPNs may not be fast enough for smooth video playback. If they're limited, HD video will quickly eat through that free data.

I use Private Internet Access (PIA), with which I've had an account for years. Using the nearest server, my results on the Fast app jumped from 2.5Mbps up to 18Mbps. This isn't enough for 4K. Still, for up to 1080p, that's plenty of speed. Your results will vary because you share the connection with everyone else on the cellular tower. Even if you have a perfect signal, speeds can still vary. This is one of the main reasons these video quality limits were implemented.

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You could also upgrade your data plan

If SD video is a dealbreaker for you and you don't want to mess with a VPN on your phone, switch to a plan with HD data. The top plans at the Big Three carriers support HD video, though you may need to activate the feature. Other carriers, like Metro by T-Mobile make HD video a $10 add-on, so customers who want it can get it. However, a carrier like Total Wireless allows customers to turn off the Data Optimizer feature by contacting customer support. While this means switching to a more expensive plan, getting the features you need is part of picking the best value data plan.