my iphone hotspot will not connect to the computer

Call your carrier

Do you have hotspot turned on? Also are you using wifi or usb to connect? Need a little more information than my hotspot won't connect to my computer.

What is your carrier? Make sure you have 3G signal.

Why did you reply to me?

I travel a lot, and I use prepaid SIM cards. I have this problem all the time.

So I took notes what works. Here are tips to making the iPhone hotspot work with a Windows laptop.

System:

iPhone 4S with iOS 9

Toshiba Laptop - Windows 10 (upgraded from 8.1)

Problems:

What to do if your iPhone Personal Hotspot is not even visible in the WiFi list?
What to do if your laptop cannot connect to your iPhone Personal Hotspot?

Symptoms:
(Usually my iPad can see my iPhone hotspot just fine, it's my laptop that is having problems.)
1) When I left click the Wireless icon on my taskbar, my WiFi list doesn't pop up.
2) When it does pop up, my Personal Hotspot is not visible.
3) If my Personal Hotspot is visible, it won't connect.

From experience, I found a way to get my Personal Hotspot tethered to my laptop.
See if it works for you (if it doesn't work, then see if you have the latest versions of iOS and Windows installed):

1) if you are inactive, you will lose your connection.
Stay active or you will have to do more steps to get reconnected.

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Alternately, try this tip (from Saqibjkl555) to modify the Power options

Go to Power Options
Change Plan Settings
Change Advanced Power Settings
Expand "Wireless Adapter Settings"
Expand "Power Saving Mode"
Change on battery AND Plugged in to "Maximum Performance"

Saqibjkl555 July 21, 2015
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6016116?start=30&tstart=0

- - - - -

2) If your laptop wireless icon is saying no wireless,
and the WiFi list isn't showing up when you Right click the wireless icon:
Usually all I see is

Troubleshoot problems
Open Network and Sharing Center

3) Reset the Network Settings on the iPhone
I suspect I have to do this every morning for
prepaid SIM cards with a data plan that is only a few days

Go to Settings/Reset
Perform a "Reset Network Settings"
- you won't lose the connections history, it just resets your network settings

4) Left click the Windows Start icon (bottom left of screen)
Select "Network Connections"
Select the large "WiFi" icon
Then select "Connect/Disconnect"

You might or might not see your Personal Hotspot

There are 2 Scenarios depend on whether you see your Personal Hotspot

- - - - -
Scenario A) You see your Personal Hotspot when you do
"Network Connections" - "Wi Fi" - "Connect/Disconnect"

- - - - -

• A.1 Try to connect to it
  (That usually doesn't work for me)
• A.2 If it didn't work, then
• A.3 Turn off Personal Hotspot on the iPhone
• A.4 On the laptop, left click the Wireless icon and select "Airplane Mode"
  (You should see an airplane icon instead of the Wireless icon)
• A.5 Wait a minute or two
• A.6 On the laptop, left click the Wireless icon and turn off "Airplane Mode"
  (You should see the Wireless icon instead of an airplane icon)
• A.7 Try to connect now
  It usually works for me

- - - - -
Scenario B) You DON'T see your Personal Hotspot when you do
"Network Connections" - "Wi-Fi" - "Connect/Disconnect"

- - - - -

• B.1 I turn off my Personal Hotspot on the iPhone
• B.2 I rename my iPhone to something else
• B.3 On my laptop,
  "Network Connections" - "Wi Fi" - Manage Wi-Fi Settings"
  I can see all my previous WiFi Hotspots, including the one that is not working
  (I forgot which setting screen that was -- search for Wireless or WiFi to find it)
• B.4 I tell my laptop to "Forget" the iPhone hotspot that is no longer working
• B.5 If you want to be extra sure, I'd restart my iPhone
  (press and hold Start button and the Power button at the same time)
• B.6 I tell my laptop to go to Airplane mode
• B.7 I rename my iPhone back to what it was
• B.8 I turn Wireless back on for my laptop
• B.9 I turn Personal Hotspot back on for my iPhone

Hopefully, you will now be at Scenario A, follow the steps there to get tethered.

- - - - -

If that didn't work, On the iPhone, go to Settings/Reset
Perform a "Reset Network Settings"

- you won't lose the connections info, it just resets your network settings

Rename your iPhone (or it has the generic name "iPhone")
Settings - General - About

- - - - -

If you are using a prepaid card, the APN names may have changed
Settings - Cellular Data - Cellular Data Network

Under Personal Hotspot
for some prepaid cards, the APN is "internet", other prepaid cards want "lte.internet"
(when in doubt consult the prepaid card instructions or call the carrier)

- - - - -

Hope this helps!

P.S. Be very careful in the Reset Network Settings screen. Make sure you are just resetting the Network Connections and nothing else!

(IMHO, they really should put that somewhere else)

You are responding to posts from 3 years ago, hope they didn't wait around for this.

Lol true. This thread is several years long. I am just looking for a place to put it in case someone had the same problem I did. When I look for solutions, I see threads like this that are several years long. Some of the problems I see, other people have solved back in 2011.