My laptop with Win10pro cannot establish VPN connection via iPhone hotspot

Question

Level 1

6 points

My laptop with Win10pro cannot establish VPN connection via iPhone hotspot

I have an iPhone 13 mini with iOS 16.4.1 with physical SIM.

I also have a laptop with Win10pro operating system. When I need to work remotely, I’ll connect to the office via VPN. Everything works fine in two cases:

1) My laptop has direct WiFi or cable internet connection.

2) A laptop receives an Internet connection through an Android personal hotspot.

As soon as I connect my laptop to iPhone13 personal hotspot I can do any internet activity except VPN connection. Every attempt ends with an error message:

A connection to the remote computer could not be established, so the port used for this connection was closed.

As soon as I transfer a SIM card to an Android device, start hotspot, connect my laptop to it - immediately I can make a VPN connection.

I thought there was a problem with my iPhone 13 mini. I took another device: iPhone12 pro, but the result was the same.

iPhone 13 mini, iOS 16

Posted on Apr 16, 2023 12:32 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Kickinmhl

Level 1

12 points

Jan 10, 2024 1:19 PM in response to TalexCDC

Have you made any progress on this issue? I have an issue that is nearly identical to this. It JUST started happening last week. The only change seems to have been the 17.2.1 IOS update

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Answer 2

Jan 13, 2024 9:15 AM in response to edoardoc

@edoardoc

Oh thank you for responding. I was thinking I was crazy, but I have done so much troubleshooting on this issue. It is definitely not my carrier. I also factory reset my device WITHOUT restoring from backup and still had the problem.

One other test I did was to connect to my hotspot with a Linux machine. With the same VPN (PIA) installed on it, everything works. So it is just MacOs (Monteray and Ventura at least) and IOS 7.2.1 on the IPhone13, and in your case 12, that are a problem.

I can also tell you that the representative at the T-Mobile store let me tether to his iPhone 14Pro, which was on 17.2.1, and it was working as well. So it seems the iPhone 12&13 issue.

Getting Apple to admit any issue seems to be difficult.

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Answer 3

Apr 16, 2023 12:42 AM in response to TalexCDC

If you have tested it with an Android device then please use the same SIM on the iPhone too. Because Hotspot is carrier specific feature and is not device dependent.

Please see the pic below to make it clearer that Hotspot is enabled by a Carrier on one SIM and not by the other Carrier in the same iPhone (Dual SIM).

Use these steps first

Restart the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot and the other device that needs to connect to Personal Hotspot. Make sure that you have the latest version of iOS. On the iPhone or iPad that provides Personal Hotspot, go to Settings > General > Reset, then tap Reset Network Settings.

If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi

Also, check the following

Network coverage and stability
Data Balance
On your windows (See if WiFi Auto Joins is enabled)
Also, check if you have any stronger WiFi signal around your computer.

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Answer 4

TalexCDC Author

Level 1

6 points

Apr 16, 2023 11:55 AM in response to SravanKrA

Dear SravanKrA,

I've made everything due to your suggestions, but nothing change. When my laptop has internet connection via iPhone's hotspot, I cannot establish VPN connection.

When I'll transfer the same SIM to Android phone, I have no any VPN connection problem.

Maybe the problem is due to PPTP protocol that is absent in iPhone?

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Answer 5

May 22, 2023 4:31 PM in response to TalexCDC

This is a known issue with iPhone Hotspotting

Apple blocks PPP LCP so the connection cannot be established.

Try configuring your VPN server to use SSTP instead. SSTP uses the standard SSL port of 443 so this should work.

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Answer 6

TalexCDC Author

Level 1

6 points

May 22, 2023 11:17 PM in response to docpauluk

Thank you for the answer!

I tried to make changes in my VPN but unsuccessfully because it based on an old Linux version.

So I decided to exchange remote access process by using Check Point CP1600 device that include VPN server, Firewall and Antivirus services.

I'll inform you about result.

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Answer 7

edoardoc

Level 1

12 points

Jan 13, 2024 3:59 AM in response to Kickinmhl

Same here - VPN connection from Mac using an iPhone Hotspot fails since the update to iOS 17.2.1

After Updating to iOS 17.2.1 from 17.2 when my iPhone 12ProMax is used as hotspot

the VPN connection from the Mac fails to be established.

The IPSec tunnel fails to be established .

This used to work fine up until iOS 17.2,

I also tried resetting all setting, then also resetting the whole iPhone : the problem is there with a freshly restarted iPhone even before attempting a restore from backup!

The VPN works fine if I use my older, spare, iPhone7 as hotspot, using the same SIM.

I had my iPhone HW fully tested at Genius Bar - all OK.

The problem is with iOS 17.2.1 and later

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Answer 8

Jun 10, 2024 1:49 PM in response to unclepauleo

I have the very same issue. Using an Iphone 14 Pro Max... Trying to connect to VPN via tethered to my hotspot NOTHING works. Not the Internet, not my email etc. I am beginning to think it's T-Mobile since other persons I work with do not have this issue.

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