No VPN accessibility when using iPhone hotspot on work windows laptop

Question

No VPN accessibility when using iPhone hotspot on work windows laptop

Hi all,

recently switched to iPhone 16 plus. My work uses hamachi peer tunnel for vpn access so we can access our work server files when working remotely.

however, since switching to iPhone my work vpn won’t work with my iPhone hotspot when hooked up to my laptop. However , I do have internet access. If I take my physical sim out of my iPhone and put it into my old s20 ultra, it works flawlessly. Not sure why the iPhone is not letting the vpn communicate while on hotspot

hamachi works fine when on home wifi or work wifi. It’s only when using the iPhone as a hotspot, is when I have the issue. My co worker has an iPhone 11 and has no issues. IT says the connection is fine on their end.

Does anyone have any advice ? It’s very frustrating lol.

iPhone 16 Plus, 18

Posted on Dec 9, 2024 3:18 PM

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Answer 1

KiltedTim

Level 10

227,538 points

Dec 9, 2024 5:12 PM in response to Radicalrob1982

FYI: Hamachi is not a true VPN. It was designed to provide on demand peer to peer networking, largely for gamers. It was abandoned/sold by the developer and now exists as a standalone offering from vpn.net.

It's fine for what it is, but I strongly recommend you urge your company to move to something more secure.

The main benefits of Hamachi are that it is extremely simple to manage and relatively cheap, especially compared to purchasing the hardware necessary to host a 'good' VPN on premise. Pretty much any cheap PC can be used as a gateway.

Unfortunately, it has some serious shortcomings in the areas of security and performance.

I know, I ran one for years for a non-profit until I finally got higher to approve the budget necessary for a decent VPN gateway when Covid exploded and suddenly everyone had to work remotely.

You say it worked until you switched to a 16 Plus. What model phone did you have before? If the phone you had previously was not a 5G device, or you switched cellular carriers when you got the new phone. you may want to try turning 5G OFF and using LTE. See if you have the same problem. It's possible your cellular carrier is doing something to interfere with it when on 5G.

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Answer 2

Dec 9, 2024 3:23 PM in response to Radicalrob1982

As a possible first step uninstall the VPN, restart your iPhone, and add it back.

Also check with your carrier and make sure your hotspot service is not blocking the ports used by the VPN.

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Answer 3

Dec 9, 2024 3:41 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

not sure if this matters or not, but when tinkering with all possible solutions over the last week , I was able to get it work. But then I’d restart my laptop to test again, and then it wouldn’t

I know this isn’t the answer, but it’s like once I get it configured to work, something in my iPhone detects and it and blocks it.

one time I just reset network settings restarted device, changed password. Then used hamahci to access the vpn and it worked. Restarted laptop and then wouldn’t work. Very strange.

I will try seeing if I can find my carrier ports

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Answer 4

Dec 9, 2024 5:28 PM in response to KiltedTim

Hi, thank you for your reply.

same carrier but new phone. I previously used the s20 ultra. But I bought it refurbed from Amazon. Not sure if that matters.

unfortunately my carrier is freedom mobile in Canada. I reached out twice today but they don’t care. They just kept saying if my device has data, and works with the internet, it’s beyond the scope and can’t help any further. Getting any further information from them would be like trying to draw blood from a stone lol.

so weird that the same sim in a different phone has no issues. There have been others here with the same issue and no solutions.

at this point I am ready to retire the point. I’ve spent over a week trying to figure it out. Apple has resorted to saying my device needs to be inspected in store. It’s brand new and the only thing that doesn’t work is vpn through mobile hotspot on my laptop lol

this is surely another way Apple wants to charge the highest prices and secure the phones so tightly that nothing works. Fortunately for them I prefer the rest of what my phone has to offer. Worse comes to worse, I will just need to adjust my daily schedule and miss important meetings, thanks to Apple. This will likely result in job loss. Oh well. Life moves on.

I hope one day Apple can sort this stuff out before releasing phones to the market. This in technological entrapment.

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No VPN accessibility when using iPhone hotspot on work windows laptop

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