HT203302: Get help with Personal Hotspot in iOS

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Nick Yeo

Q: Personal Hotspot cannot detect my new iphone 5

Hi I have read  TS2756: iOS: Troubleshooting Personal Hotspot, but it doesn't work for me.

 

Previously, when i am using iphone 4s, there is no problem with my personal hotspot. (no problem for bluetooth, wifi and USB connection between my iphone 4s and my MAC book pro OS X version 10.6.8.)

 

However, when i change to my new iphone 5 i cannot connect/detact my iphone 5 for USB connection. (no problem for bluetooth and wifi personal hotspot to my iphone 5)

 

I don' think it is my USB problem. Because my Itunes is able to detact my iphone 5.

I backed up my iphone 4s and restore all information to my iphone 5 with the same 8 pin cable (new iphone 5 USB cable.

 

What i see:

NETWORK>Iphone>STATUS: Not Connected

Either the cable for iPhone is not plugged in or the device is not responding.

 

Please help me with this. thank you.

iPhone 5, iOS 6.0.2, MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010)

Posted on Jan 15, 2013 10:28 PM

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Q: Personal Hotspot cannot detect my new iphone 5

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  • by gordguide,

    gordguide gordguide Jan 19, 2013 4:25 AM in response to Nick Yeo
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 4:25 AM in response to Nick Yeo

    Having the same issue.

     

    If you plug the phone in via USB it will discover it and Personal Hotspot via USB works.

    However if I unplug the phone from the 30-pin cable, it will never re-connect via USB unless I perform a Restart. Logging out/in has no effect.

     

    Same error message ("Either the cable for the iPhone is not plugged in or the device is not responding.")

     

    Welll, obviously it's plugged in because it's charging the phone during all this.

  • by lemonlee,

    lemonlee lemonlee Jan 19, 2013 9:10 AM in response to Nick Yeo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 9:10 AM in response to Nick Yeo

    Nick;

     

       I had a similar problem last week with a new (and first) iphone 5.  Phone tech support was baffled, and suggested I call them back after doing the software update (which I believe was 6.0.2).  After I did the software update it immediately worked.

  • by gordguide,

    gordguide gordguide Jan 19, 2013 9:32 AM in response to lemonlee
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 9:32 AM in response to lemonlee

    I'm still on iOS5x. The issue began for me with the update to OSX 10.6.8; I was hoping 10.8x would help ... and it did, to an extent, since 10.6.8 broke USB entirely. I was a bit encouraged by it working again with the Mountain Lion upgrade but it soon proved to be a parital victory.

     

    When you update to iOS6, do you have to connect to Apple's servers to complete the update? If your only connection is via the Phone, it's dead at that point (reboot after iOS install) so no internet conneciton to fiinish with. That was my experience with going from iOS4 to 5 ... I had to drive to a friend's house to get the Phone to update via iTunes and work again.

     

    I have an Unlimited Data Plan on the Phone so I cut my internet connection at home a year and a half ago. Home Internet was $35/mo plus Blackberry Plan was $55; witth the iPhone I cut the $35 bill right out and have Unlimited Data (plus other stuff) for $65. I routinely run 10~15 GB of data through the phone every month. It's fast enough to stream movies on the desktop.

     

    Phone Plan is:

    Unlimited Canada-wide Data

    Unlimited Canada-wide Text

    No-charge Canada-wide roaming

    Unlimited Evenings + Weekends

    Unlimited calls to any other cellular phone with my provider

    400 minutes for calls that are not covered above

  • by lemonlee,

    lemonlee lemonlee Jan 19, 2013 11:57 AM in response to gordguide
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 11:57 AM in response to gordguide

    I was advised that I needed wi fi to do the update, so there was a long coffee at Tim Hortons.  My situation is similar to yours.  I am paying $82 per month for a phone & $26 for a RURAL pathetically slow dialup.  So I investigatedalternatives and the iphone 5 was the best.  My plan is not as good as yours, and costs more (perhaps because I am in Canada??)  Now I think I am ready to cancel my ISP, and cancelling my phone line will pay for my iphone & data plan.  Do you have any reasons why I shouldn't proceed?

     

    Thanks Gord!!

  • by gordguide,

    gordguide gordguide Jan 19, 2013 11:49 PM in response to lemonlee
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Jan 19, 2013 11:49 PM in response to lemonlee

    Well I would just spend a week or three using your Phone as the primary internet connection to be sure there are no issues. Everybody's wireless signal and reliability is different.

     

    Look at your plan carefully ... especially with regard to any limits on data, throttliing (and thrreshold where it kicks in, if it does). Also it's possible for the wireless provider to disable Personal Hotspot and then charge extra to get it enabled. Not an issue for me (included with any iPhone plan here) but I understand it's done with other providers.

     

    I have friends who had rural internet and switched to the Phone-only connection and they prefer it.

     

    I am in Canada ... SaskTel. My typical wireless bill is under $80 all-in (I have no long distance plan). They throttle the Unlimited plan at 10GB/month.

     

    With their wired HiSpeed I had zero interruptons over 7 years and good speed (it would actually test better than the promised 5 Mbps). With the wireless it is not quite that reliable but it's never been down for more than a few hours while they do upgrades; you get the occasional 10 minute interruption but that's less than once a month.

     

    If I'm streaming a lot of movies I can get to the throttle threshold before the month is over but even throttled it's faster than dialup.

     

    The major difference between a wired internet connection and a wireless (via phone) one is you lose a bit of reliablility. You need to think about whether losing 100% uptime is important to you or not. Also there is 911 issues when you kill your landline because they don't get the location automatically. If you can live with the occasional short-term interruption and feel you could tell the 911 operator where you are at, it's a good solution.

  • by lemonlee,

    lemonlee lemonlee Jan 20, 2013 1:10 AM in response to gordguide
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 20, 2013 1:10 AM in response to gordguide

    Interesting price differential --- that you can get that amount of data at that price.  Rogers was the best deal here in Ontario, and I am paying $75 per month to use the phone and 3Gb of data.  My phone line dial up speeds are typically from 50 to 400 Kbps. The data was unlimited, but really, how much could I use at that speed?  Thank you for the information.

  • by gordguide,

    gordguide gordguide Jan 20, 2013 4:54 AM in response to lemonlee
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Jan 20, 2013 4:54 AM in response to lemonlee

    They're running a promo right now for $5 more than my plan till the end of January. Funny it was this thread that made me look up my plan features otherwise I wouldn't have noticed. Will go down Monday and switch.

     

    Same plan as I listed before, with additional:

    Unlimited cell call minutes

    150 Long Distance minutes

    Free Cell-to-Cell between SaskTel customers upgraded to Free Cell-to-Cell with long distance included Canada-wide

    Unlimited Text upgraded to Unlimited Text, Photo and Video messaging

    US Data roaming charges reduced from $10/MB to $6/MB [Not much of a feature but there you go anyway]

    Call Display added to Call Waiting, 3-way Calling and Call Transfer.

     

    This will probably make my bill go down since there is usually a few $ worth of long distance on there, plus I'm paying $2 for that Call Display now.

     

    To the penny my plan now is $60 + 0.83 for 911 access, +$2 for Call Display, plus 5% / 5% GST/PST = $69.11 plus a few $ for long distance every month.

     

    New Plan will be $65.83 + 5% / 5% GST /PST = $72.41 and no long distance added. I'm all over that.