why is there a cellular data download limit on my lumia 950? i have unlimited phone data but no wifi

[ant_1974]

I have unlimited cellular data every month but no WiFi currently due to moving.i have found there is a restriction on downloading content on my phone from the store of about 100mb. I can't find any way to use my unlimited data to download anything all I get is waiting for WiFi. Is there any setting I can use to force my phone to download these without wifi? And if not there should be

 

[Witness]

Unfortunately, there isn't a setting to disable that. I have a feeling that this may be some kind of requirement from cell carriers to prevent bandwidth hogs - especially the ones with unlimited plans.

 

[Martin Zone]

Have u tried Data usage - Set limit - Limit type unlimited ?
Plus allow use of cellular data when no wifi on the same page.

 

[ant_1974]

Thanks martin have tried both options u suggested still no joy

 

[dov1978]

There's no way to disable this. It isn't exclusive to the Microsoft Store either. I know Apple does this too and has a data limit of 200mb downloads on mobile data. It's just their way of trying to protect us from using up our data allowances on apps even though many of us are on unlimited plans. I think the same applies to software updates too? If it's a small update it can be done on mobile data but for larger ones it's WiFi only. I've even tried to get around this by using my unlimited data to create a wireless hotspot and trick it into thinking I'm on proper WiFi but it still detects the use of mobile data and blocks it

Edit- I may be wrong with what I said there and maybe it's carrier related? I just tried to download Asphalt 8 Airborn (377mb) on 4g data and it was downloading just fine

 

[ant_1974]

Can download games up to about 100mb anything over get waiting for WiFi. Thx for your reply tho.

 

[hacer619]

I feel what you are going through. I was in the same exact position 3 months ago when I switched to a 60gb data plan were I found out that I couldn't download monthly OS updates. I kept trying until I found something to reroute back the LTE connection to my phone. you have 2 options and both require a second device.

1 - put your sim in another phone and open a wifi hotspot (easy method)

2- if you have a laptop with you that has wifi and Bluetooth 4 (this is what I use but it is a bit complicated and works though you wont get full LTE speed)

steps:

- install tunnel bear vpn on your laptop/pc but don't start it yet
- paste the 2 lines below on notepad on your laptop and save it as network.bat on your desktop (this is to start a virtual network from your laptop, just like hotspot)

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=network key=1234567890
netsh wlan start hostednetwork

- paste the line below on notepad on your laptop and save it as networkstop.bat on your desktop (this is to stop the virtual network)

netsh wlan stop hostednetwork

- open a hotspot on your lumia 950 via Bluetooth

- connect you laptop to your Bluetooth hotspot by right clicking the Bluetooth icon in your taskbar > join personal area network

- now we need to use the vpn because we can't share internet on a Bluetooth network on windows 10, the vpn will create a virtual network that can be shared, so open tunnel bear and let it connect.

- once it is connected run network.bat as administrator

-open network and sharing center > change adapter settings (left panel). you'll notice there is a network called (Ethernet x) 'tunnelbear adapter v9' and (Local area connection* x) 'Microsoft hosted network virtual adapter'

-right click on 'tunnelbear adapter v9' > properties > sharing (tab) > (check box) allow other network users to connect through this computers internet connection > select from drop down list (local area connection* x) (where x is a number, it could also be without a number. just make sure it is the one by "Microsoft virtual ...')

- run networkstop.bat from your desktop then run again network.bat as administrator

- open wifi on your phone and you'll see a network called 'network'. connect to it using the password above "123456789" (you can change the key if you want and network name)

now your phone is using its own lte connection via wifi (rerouting it) and you can download any game, app, update without limits. it's slower though depending on the vpn speed

I know it is a hard way but once you do it it'll be easy the second time (I don't have a second phone)

 

[hacer619]

I want to add a note that when you open network.bat the second time sometimes the virtual adapter name changes in network and sharing center e.g (it would change from 'local area network* 2' to 'local area network* 3') so you have to change that from tunnelbear v9 adapter in sharing.

You can also use another vpn Service but you have share internet from It's virtual adapter

 

[ant_1974]

Hacer cheers for your answer I have an old Lumia 920. Option 1 sounds best I'll buy a sim card adaptor and,use it as,a mobile hotspot.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

There's no way to disable this. It isn't exclusive to the Microsoft Store either. I know Apple does this too and has a data limit of 200mb downloads on mobile data. It's just their way of trying to protect us from using up our data allowances on apps even though many of us are on unlimited plans. I think the same applies to software updates too? If it's a small update it can be done on mobile data but for larger ones it's WiFi only. I've even tried to get around this by using my unlimited data to create a wireless hotspot and trick it into thinking I'm on proper WiFi but it still detects the use of mobile data and blocks it

Edit- I may be wrong with what I said there and maybe it's carrier related? I just tried to download Asphalt 8 Airborn (377mb) on 4g data and it was downloading just fine

If you have access to 2 phones, can you let one provide the WiFi or the other to get around this?