Probelms with connecting to internet via Personal Hotspot

nigpd · 12 Sep 2015

Hi

I've just come back from a very frustrating time trying to send images to my agency during a football match.

The stadium's wifi was non existent, so I had to rely on using the wireless Personal Hotspot with my iPhone 6. Although the Dell laptop connected to the phone at 72Mbps, it just wouldnt connect to the internet..... cue immense frustration!

I tried numerous rebootings of both laptop and phone, but with no luck. I also tried switching the laptop's wifi off and on again, but no luck there either. Troubleshooting by clicking on the red X in the Network and Sharing Centre dialog box didnt help either, all I got back was "can't see the problem"

Does anyone have any ideas as to what may be wrong and how to fix it or what I could try should I be faced with the same problem again?

Thanks in advance for your help

dejongj · 13 Sep 2015

Switch off your PC firewalls first. It sounds like it doesn't 'trust' that 'network' and blocks it. I assume you have your iPhone showing that a user is connected, and that network tethering is allowed on your mobile phone contract....

miker · 13 Sep 2015

Does your network/contract support tethering?

neil_g · 13 Sep 2015

ah yes the good old apple hotspot.

my 5s was always a complete pain in the arse, every time I wanted to use it as a hotspot I'd have to reset the network settings (and lose all wifi logons).

nigpd · 14 Sep 2015

dejongj said:
Switch off your PC firewalls first. It sounds like it doesn't 'trust' that 'network' and blocks it. I assume you have your iPhone showing that a user is connected, and that network tethering is allowed on your mobile phone contract....

miker said:
Does your network/contract support tethering?

neil_g said:
ah yes the good old apple hotspot.

my 5s was always a complete pain in the arse, every time I wanted to use it as a hotspot I'd have to reset the network settings (and lose all wifi logons).

Thanks for your replies, guys.

This is a frustrating problem because there are some Saturdays when tethering to the hotspot works as sweet as a nut. Same iphone, same laptop. If that is the case, would I need to switch off the firewalls in the first instance as a permanent thing?

If it happens again, should I try resetting the network settings? And how would I do this, please?

Thanks for the help so far

Dave * · 14 Sep 2015

neil_g said:
ah yes the good old apple hotspot.

my 5s was always a complete pain in the arse, every time I wanted to use it as a hotspot I'd have to reset the network settings (and lose all wifi logons).

I've no idea what you were doing, I use the hotspot feature on a daily basis (from 2 iPhones, depending on which has the better signal) and have never had to reset the network settings on either of them.

neil_g · 14 Sep 2015

Dave1 said:
I've no idea what you were doing, I use the hotspot feature on a daily basis (from 2 iPhones, depending on which has the better signal) and have never had to reset the network settings on either of them.

turning on the hotspot and then trying to connect to it.

nothing special.

neil_g · 14 Sep 2015

nigpd said:
should I try resetting the network settings? And how would I do this, please?

its where the factory reset option is. note that you will lose all of your saved wireless networks.

Dave * · 14 Sep 2015

neil_g said:
turning on the hotspot and then trying to connect to it.

nothing special.

It must have been if you were having to reset all network settings everytime you tried to use it, as someone who works with a number of people who have to use it all the time you really are "special" if it requires daily resets in how you use it...

neil_g · 14 Sep 2015

hey im just saying

nigpd · 14 Sep 2015

Dave1 said:
I've no idea what you were doing, I use the hotspot feature on a daily basis (from 2 iPhones, depending on which has the better signal) and have never had to reset the network settings on either of them.

What would you suggest I try to resolve the problem if/when I get a repeat of the problem? thanks

Dave * · 14 Sep 2015

nigpd said:
What would you suggest I try to resolve the problem if/when I get a repeat of the problem? thanks

It might not even be a problem with your phone setup, if you're in a stadium with 50 000 other people and they all decide to use their phones they will quickly swamp the backhaul. That would leave you looking like you are connected but having no data throughput.

What network are you on? What stadium were you at?

If you try and tether your laptop now, what happens?

Dave * · 14 Sep 2015

Duplicate

nigpd · 14 Sep 2015

Dave1 said:
It might not even be a problem with your phone setup, if you're in a stadium with 50 000 other people and they all decide to use their phones they will quickly swamp the backhaul. That would leave you looking like you are connected but having no data throughput.

What network are you on? What stadium were you at?

If you try and tether your laptop now, what happens?

When I got home, I switched off my home wifi and set up my iphone hotspot and the laptop connected immediately

Im on EE and was at Bolton. I had a good 4G connection too

Dave * · 14 Sep 2015

nigpd said:
When I got home, I switched off my home wifi and set up my iphone hotspot and the laptop connected immediately

In that case the problem is not your setup, it's the network being overloaded. Remember a strong signal doesn't equate to a strong data connection, if the backhaul away from the station hasn't recently been upgraded it could well reach overload fairly quickly with a full stadium. (It's one reason I tend to carry 2 phones when working on sites, if one falls over the other might still work).

Im on EE and was at Bolton. I had a good 4G connection too

I don't have any experience of that part of the country, I'll email someone I know at EE and ask if they can check on the current capability in the area.

nigpd · 15 Sep 2015

Thanks Dave, much appreciated