Q: Why won't MacBook tether with iPhone

MY iPhone and iPad are sitting within 18 inches of my MacBook Air. personal hotspot is turned on on both the iPad and iphone. They both show up in my wifi menu when I try to tether. It usually takes 5-10 tries to connect to them before I can actually tether but I have tried about 30 times so far and neither will tether. Things I have tried:

- restarting all of the devices

- doing first aid on my Mac while in recovery mode

none of this has worked. How do I get my Mac to tether with my iPad and iPhone?

thank you,

Ian