iphone personal hotspot not working on ipad or laptops, flashing on and off

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Level 1

37 points

iphone personal hotspot not working on ipad or laptops, flashing on and off

Hi,

I hope someone can help.

I have an iphone 4, running iOS 5.1 and its been working fine until tonight. I use the personal hotspot on it, to share my internet connection (3G) to my ipad3. All has been fine, but tonight, when I try and connect to my iphone hotspot, the ipad tries to connect, shows up then disconnects, then shows up and disconnects again, does this maybe 4-5 times then stops and ipad don't try again until I tap it. On the iphone, it shows the blue banner at top saying 1 connection, and this goes on and off at the same time, but then sits on 1 connection, even though the ipad hasn't got a connection.

So I deleted the connection on my ipad and readded it, just the same. tried changed the name of my iphone and also the password, still the same. rebooted iphone and ipad, still the same. I then tried connecting my netbook and my laptop to it, it will sometimes get a connection to the iPhone but then come up limited connection and not allow internet access. I got it connected to my ipad3 for about 10 mins, then it dropped the connection, and won't reconnect again.

I really don't know why this has started happening. The wifi on the phone seems ok, as can connect to my router when at home fine.

Anyone any ideas? Don't really want to restore it etc

Thanks

Paul

Posted on Jul 6, 2012 6:17 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

PO redhead

Level 1

4 points

Jan 14, 2017 10:52 AM in response to Kedaar

Ever since I have had my phone 2+ years I have never been able to get my hotspot to work and that is even with calling AT&T for support and going through all of their stupid steps of turning your phone off and on and change this and off and on again.

This fixed my problem THANK YOU, it was named iPhone and once I changed it to a different name with all lower cases it connected and worked fine.

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Answer 2

edaeki

Level 1

4 points

Jun 3, 2017 6:53 AM in response to Kedaar

Just experienced the same problem now. Hotspot was working fine without trouble on iphone 6s but suddenly stopped connecting to just my laptop but worked fine with others.

Anyway changed the name of my iphone without any apostrophes and just like that it connected straight away.

Thank you Kedaar

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Answer 3

shaiboy_uk Author

Level 1

37 points

Jul 6, 2012 7:49 PM in response to shaiboy_uk

can anyone help? or suggest anything?

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Answer 4

shaiboy_uk Author

Level 1

37 points

Jul 8, 2012 10:42 PM in response to shaiboy_uk

Update: I have found that if I connect my iPhone via USB and share the personal hotspot via USB that it works fine. But if I try and share it over wifi, it maybe lasts 5 mins then the blue status bar at the top of the iPhone, flashes on and off and the internet isn't shared.

I have restored my iphone and updated it to 5.1.1, but still get the same!

Can anyone suggest anything? Please help 😕

Thanks

Paul

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Answer 5

shaiboy_uk Author

Level 1

37 points

Jul 9, 2012 10:00 PM in response to shaiboy_uk

can anyone help at all???

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Answer 6

Jul 13, 2012 9:48 AM in response to shaiboy_uk

Hey man! Just saw this, and I am sorry for your trouble. I have been having the same issue from my iphone 4 as well, also running the same software. Who is your carrier?

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Answer 7

shaiboy_uk Author

Level 1

37 points

Jul 13, 2012 4:39 PM in response to JoshFowler

Thanks for your reply,

Im on the 3 network (UK), but doubt this is a carrier issue, more a wifi issue using it for a personal hotspot. I have tried calling Apple Support but on hold for ages so hung up

:(

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Answer 8

Rusta_uk

Level 1

0 points

Oct 9, 2012 11:17 AM in response to shaiboy_uk

I have the same problem every now and then too, whereby USB connection works fine but the Wireless hotspot fails (despite showing that there is one active connection) I can 'solve' it by turning off the iPhone and then turning back on again! (I know this is the most cliched answer to an IT question ever, "try turning it on and off again" but it works for me so might help you out too)

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Answer 9

Kedaar

Level 1

17 points

Apr 27, 2016 11:11 AM in response to Rusta_uk

Hi! I know its been almost four years since this question was posted. But I now have an iPhone 5S running iOS 9.3.1 and am experiencing the same problem now. The blue bar on top keeps flashing when I try to connect my PC to the personal hotspot. Please help me ASAP. Tell me if I should take the phone to the service center.

Thank You!

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Answer 10

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Apr 27, 2016 11:17 AM in response to Kedaar

Kedaar wrote:

Hi! I know its been almost four years since this question was posted. But I now have an iPhone 5S running iOS 9.3.1 and am experiencing the same problem now. The blue bar on top keeps flashing when I try to connect my PC to the personal hotspot. Please help me ASAP. Tell me if I should take the phone to the service center.

Thank You!

What kind of PC, not brand, but operating system? If the PC is Windows, what version? If Windows, do you have any special characters in the name of your phone, ie. * " ' anything like that?

Does your cellular plan support Personal Hotspot? Has it ever worked in the past?

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Answer 11

Kedaar

Level 1

17 points

Apr 27, 2016 11:24 AM in response to ChrisJ4203

Yes, it has worked in the past. Thank you for your reply. Its been just few minutes, but I've managed to find the solution here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-networking/unable-to- connect-my-iphone-5s-hotspot-to-my/326c07dc-45f2-4970-8019-7f6e37787c8c?auth=1

It says that the phone's name must not contain any space or apostrophe symbol. So I went to Settings > General > About > Name and changed the name to a single word. Its working now. But I must mention that there was no problem before even with spaces and apostrophies(This is the first time am changing the iPhone's name). Thank You!

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Answer 12

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,347 points

Apr 27, 2016 10:00 PM in response to Kedaar

This appears to have come from a Microsoft update that has created a problem for Windows based computers from connecting to a personal hotspot with the special characters as I mentioned in my post, which you verified by the link you provided. However, glad it is working.

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Answer 13

audcnd

Level 1

4 points

May 13, 2016 5:28 PM in response to Rusta_uk

Turning my iPhone 'on' and 'off'' fixed the problem. The hotspot now is now working and stays on.

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Answer 14

Jun 21, 2016 9:39 AM in response to shaiboy_uk

Relating to what Kedaar wrote: "The blue bar on top keeps flashing when I try to connect my PC to the personal hotspot..." and like Kedarr, my Windows 7 would not connect to the iPhone and throw up an error message.

So bouncing off of what ChrisJ4203 said: "If Windows, do you have any special characters in the name of your phone, ie. * " ' anything like that?"

Sure enough, the person I was supporting had their iPhone 6S labeled as "iPhone (6)." After re-naming their device to Sams iPhone 6s the blue flashing stopped and I was able to connect their laptop to the iPhone's personal hotspot wirelessly!

MY SOLUTION: Make sure your iPhone or iOS device is named something without / \ : * ? " < > | ( ) if you plan on using the Personal Hotspot (wirelessly) feature with a Windows PC.

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Answer 15

Fri98

Level 1

4 points

Mar 17, 2017 2:50 PM in response to Kedaar

Thank you so much!!! Your really helped me out with this issue!!!!

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