Personal Hotspot cutting in and out

Hey guys wanted to update those who care with what I found to be my issue. It appears the personal hotspot feature does not work well in areas with high wifi congestion (lots of different wifi networks in range). This is the case in many office buildings. I read somewhere supposedly the hotspot feature is supposed to dynamically adjust the channel on the hotspot broadcast to a channel not in use but I have no way to validate. Perhaps this was not occurring in my case or it was doing a poor job of choosing a channel! When I'm anywhere but my work place, the connection is never dropped. Hope this helps someone.

To anyone else using the Intel 2200BG mini-PCI wireless card on a laptop (mine is a Dell Inspiron 5100 running XP SP3): the Intel ProSet adapter utility can cause problems. After updating to a new version of the Proset utility and driver I found I couldn't tether over wifi to the iPhone 4. Didn't make any difference if I used Windows or the Intel utility to manage the network connection.

So I uninstalled the Intel utility, downloaded a fresh driver from intel.com since I found that the driver got removed during the uninstall (BTW if you look for driver downloads for 2200BG it doesn't list the plain driver for XP, only the complete utility package. Hunt around though and you will find it. You just want the standard Pro Wireless driver that supports the 2200BG as well as others), and hey presto, everything worked.

Can I believe it? Windows actually does the job better than the special Intel software. Which I only downloaded in the first place because Windows was so hopeless (that was probably back in SP1 or SP2 days...).

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/sb/CS-030710.htm?wapkw=%282200+bg+windows+ xp+driver%29

Wireless Networking

Knowledgebase Article

If Windows XP Service Pack 2* is installed, Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) will not allow the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) encryption type.

Microsoft* provides instructions* on using WPA2 wireless security with Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Windows XP Service Pack 3* allows the use of WPA2 under WZC.

Disclaimer

Operating System:

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition*, Windows XP*, Windows XP 64-Bit Edition*, Windows XP Professional*, Windows XP Home Edition*, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition*, Windows XP Media Center Edition*

Interesting....

I have had the same frustration as others on this issue. Reading a post from another thred I have tested and found if you leave your iPhone 4 on the Hotspot screen in settings that the connection remains up & quickly reestablishes even after you wake the iPad from sleep mode. Both my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 are running iOS 5.

hi, I'm a crazy Apple fanboy and experienced Apple user, and can definitely help to your problem.

this problem occurs only if you are idle and not connecting to internet for very long,i.e. about 15min.

Apps running in background do NOT count, so you must be on Safari(or other web browsers) for the connection not to be lost.

but if you play those kind of virtual world games, like blackshot, your connection will be steady.(though its VERY FREAKIN' SLOW, I'm just telling you for your info)

its sort of stupid to have this, but it sort of makes sense too. if you connect to personal hotspot with your pc/mac, then you must be using the internet...Apple is smarter than it APPEARS to be. in this way, you save your iphone from overheating and running out of juice.

on a final note, just open google, then every 10min or so, refresh it. it will not take long to do this and it makes your connection steady.

hope it works for you, like it did for me (:

(PS: I hope you will be as crazy as me about Apple too)

It does, thanks! I was getting really frustrated with connecting my iPad to my 4S via Personal Hotspot. After a fresh boot of the phone it would work as expected but if the connection was terminated (say by switching hotspot off and on) or after the two hadn't been connected for a while it got into this state where I could see and connect to the hotspot but it would drop a few seconds later then try again over and over.

After a lot of experimenting I finally figured out that there seems to be a pretty serious bug in the hotspot's DHCP server. AP discovery and WPA authentication work great but in this weird state the iPhone will not give the connecting device an IP. The only solution to fix the DHCP server is to reboot the phone.

That being the case, grasshoppertrekker's advice is bang on - you need to give the connecting device a static IP address. This gets around the DHCP issue.

For the less technically inclined, here's how to do that with an iPad:

- Reboot your phone and connect to the hotspot as usual and ensure the connection works

- On the iPad go to Settings - WiFi and tap the arrow to the right of your iPhone's name

- Write down all the values you see under the DHCP tab

- Tap the Static tab

- Enter in the same values you just write down

- Hit "WiFi Networks" at the top to go back

The iPad will now reconnect using the same settings as DHCP would have given it, but without relying on the broken DHCP server.

Optional extra: Instead of using whatever DNS values the DHCP server (and by extension your mobile data ISP) gives you, use OpenDNS IP's instead. This will speed up YouTube due to their partnership with Google and prevent your ISP from traking your web usage via DNS interception. To do this enter the following into the DNS field under the Static tab: 208.67.222.222,208.67.220.220 (note the comma)

Cheers,

Graham

Hello Kezafog and others,

I've had this enjoying problem forever with all sorts of devices using my iPhone as personal hotspot. I finally decided to se if others had similar troubles, and guess what, loads of people had. I then found one advice that I wanted to try:

TURN OFF BLUETOOTH on the iPhone

Whereas I've often been disconnected after a few minutes, I now have had it running for hours without disruption.

Pleased to see someone is reading the entire post, turing the BLUETOOTH OFF fixed my connection to my wifi router via dhcp, fixed multiplayer games via wifi and fixed the otherwise useless hotspot feature from 4.3.3 -5.01. I am glad someone else is benefitting from this.

Yep, resetting the network connection works, everytime you have to do it, because I have had to perform that inconvenient solution several times and I still end up losing the connection on a regular basis.

I also have encountered this problem many times. I have an Iphone 4 and have downloaded the latest ios software. I have carried out various resets, turned off bluetooth and even been issued with a new device and yet the constant personal hotspot disconnection issue never goes away.

Having said that, I am glad to say that I have discovered a solution. The solution has worked for the last 14 days without any disconnection and without any finger crossing.

Step 1 - whenever you intend to use your hotspot, turn off your bluetooth first

Step 2 - prior to connecting via your hotspot, set your screen auto lock to "NEVER" by going into the settings app, then selecting general followed by the selection of "Auto Lock" and then selecting "never". Always set it to never prior to and throughout your hotspot connection but turn it off after you finish as it takes alot of power.

Step 3- turn on your wifi and leave it on permanently even when not connecting

Step 4- turn on your personal hotspot and leave it on permanently even when not connecting

Step 5- keep your device on the personal hotspot screen thoughout your sessions and NEVER depart from it whilst you are connected

Step 6- from henceforth, NEVER EVER turn off your wifi or hotspot and dont reset the network settings either, EVER

Step 7- continue to connect (use the net) without turning off your wifi or hotspot, despite the diconnections. provided that you permanently leave both the wifi and personal hotspot on even when not connected, your constant disruptions and disconnections will cease after a month.

I discovered that each time you turn off the hotspot, for some reason, its memory erases completely and it takes about a month to get back to its normal state. Please dont abort your hotspot from henceforth, just leave it and the wifi on permanently, after about a month your connection will be crystal and even after that, dont turn them off ever again.

you can still use the bluetooth but only when not using the hotspot to connect otherwise you will confuse the hotspot.

Step 8- be prepared to exercise patience for about a month and throughtout this period and beyond, whatever you do, "DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR WIFI OR HOTSPOT"

the success of the hotspot is kind of like a pregnancy except its duration is a month. if within that month you abort the baby (hotspot) by turning it and the wifi off, you will kill it. if however you let it grow, it will be born after a month and provided that you NEVER EVER turn off your wifi and hotspot, your baby will grow to a grand old age.

Step 9- dont use your iphone for other agendas whilst connecting apart from if you recieve a call or an important/expected text message

Step 10- if you follow these instructions from today (2/12/12), by the 30/12/12, you will finally have joy in your hotspot but whatever you do, "PLEASE DONT TURN OFF YOUR WIFI OR HOTSPOT EVER", eventually (after a month), your diconnections will disappear.

just got off the phone with apple support and they fixed the problem for me. i was using my iphone to hotspot my macbook and i did find that hard coding an ip address on the macbook fixed things for me but that was a pain. the fix they had me try which worked, is to go into system pref (on the macbook) - networking - find your wifi connector and hit the minus sign to rip it out. then, reinstall it, then reboot the macbook. this fixed me right up and it works perfectly now without having to hard code or goof around.

thanks apple!