Learn about device and stream limits

https://www.directv.com/support/stream/article/KM1354360/

If you login to your DirecTV Stream account what does your subscription say for the number of streams?

I am paying for 20 streams and only getting 3. I have spent atleast 30 minutes twice now with Directv Stream Customer service. They agreed to call me back yesterday after 2 PM EDT. They never did. 

Talking to them of course they want me to reboot everything and delete apps, then reinstall.

I AM ONLY GETTING TO RUN 3 STREAMS. Why can't they unstand that. I am at the address I have always be at and only my iPhone is used for stream outside of my network.

Does anyone else have this issue? 

My next step is to cancel DirectvStream. 

I assume you actually subscribed to DirecTV Stream (or AT&T TV after the 20 stream upgrade), as legacy subscribers (those dating back to the DirecTV Now days) still only get (at most) 3 streams.

There is a problem with the way that DirecTV Stream tells whether a device is on your "home" network (where you get the 20 streams) or not (where you are limited to 3) - they depend on checking your device's IP address, and that that address not change.  Unfortunately, some behaviors (shutting down and restarting your internet modem or gateway) may lead to your IP address changing, and some ISPs change your IP address relatively frequently.  I believe they allow up to 4 changes a year - after that, they consider a new IP address as a "mobile" one.  This way of identifying the home network isn't great - while for some people the IP address remains very stable (my home IP has stayed the same for at least a year and a half), for some it is very unstable, and they can't deal with that case.  Unfortunately, there isn't a really good way of identifying "home" - while the ISP "knows", DIRECTV doesn't have access to that info.  So they are limited to marginal methods.  They want to limit the number of mobile streams to try to prevent account sharing, but this mechanism isn't working for too many subscribers.

Rebooting your equipment won't change this - you need to get them to reset your account so it thinks your current address is home.  Some users have posted that they were able to get this done.  But even if you can, depending on why your IP address changed, it may not help for long.

According to my profile and with no previous issues I am paying for 20 Streams. However, I am only getting 3. I have called 2 times already and might just as well be talking to a wall. I have had to reboot my modem and I am sure this might have caused the issue. I have previously had the notice of too many streams and was able to reset the tv as home. Now when I try it says I am not allowed until August 2022. 

Looking online it says I can open settings then change my home setting. Where in heck can you find "settings" when logged in to Directv Stream?

I did find where I can cancel which might be my next option.

I just called them for the third and final time. Most of the people I talked to at Directv Streaming had no idea of how it works. I ended up at the "Loyalty" section so I could cancel my subscription. The way she explained it is that while you can be "signed in" up to 20 devices, you can only play 3 at a time. Even their adds says "20 in home streams" and not 20 in home TVs are allowed to be signed up for potential use (not streamed at the same time). This seems like false advertising. 

I feel sorry for people that have a large family that wants to watch more than 3 TVs at once. I bet there are some good fights with the 4th child or parent wanting to watch TV. With all of AT&T's problems with supporting a certain start up network, I would think they would try to keep customers. Have you noticed how many filler commercials there are now with Directv Stream? I need to check to make sure I don't have their stock.

I cancelled my subscription and will probably go to Hulu.  Are there other better streaming services out there?

Correction to my previous post. I can only watch 2 at a time which might be due to when I previously received the "too many streams" notice I clicked on the new home address thinking that it must have been in error since I believed I was allowed 20 streams. 

So now it thinks I am somewhere other than at home and 'Directv also can't fix this"? I am so glad I cancelled.

That is absolutely not true - it sounds like you got a "Loyalty" rep that is as uninformed as the regular reps.  You can actually use the 20 streams - that's the point of them.  I am pretty sure you are running into the problem I described, and have no idea why no one at DirecTV will just acknowledge it.  (BTW - changing your location in the settings on the device doesn't help with this.)

AT&T has nothing to do with DirecTV anymore (at least operationally - they are still the majority stockholder), but this problem was created under AT&T when they changed to allowing 20 streams, and apparently DirecTV hasn't changed it.

Whether there are better streaming choices for you depend on your particular needs - each has pluses and minuses.  WRT number of streams:

• Hulu Live TV allows 2 streams with the basic service, but has a $10/month upgrade that allows unlimited on the home network.  Reading their descriptions makes it seem likely (but not certain) that they use the same mechanisms to determine home network that DirecTV Stream uses, with the same restrictions and problems.
• YouTube TV allows 3 streams with the basic service, but offers an upgrade for $20/month that includes unlimited streams on the home network.  It is a little unclear if YouTube uses the same mechanism to determine home network - they may not.
• Sling allows 1 or 3 depending on the package you get (if you get both, you get 4 total, but still limited by the individual package rules).  They don't appear to have any way of increasing that.

I haven't checked any of the others.

Thanks for the reply. I did have Hulu before and never had an issue but probably only ran 3 at one time. Directv Stream was absolutely no help with even getting it back to 3 streams so I am finished with them. I do have to admit I did like the picture quality, their App, and the channel selection. 

I do not care for their customer service.

Just found this on Hulu and I do always subscribe to Live TV.

Unlimited Screens Add-on

If you’re a Live TV subscriber and need more than two screens, you have the option to get the Unlimited Screens Add-on. With the add-on, you can stream on all the devices connected to your Home network at the same time. If you’re out of the house and on the go, you can also stream from up to three different mobile devices.