Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

iPhone 5 as a mobile hotspot

Curious to hear about opinions using the iphone as a mobile hotspot with a laptop connected...


LTE.... Mainly would like to know if the laptop connection speeds will be as fast as the iphone connection speed - or if there will be some data loss / slowdown in the laptop connection.......


Thanks in advance - Dave

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Sep 24, 2012 1:22 PM

Reply
16 replies

Oct 10, 2012 11:38 AM in response to revDAVE

I used it over wifi for a very short period of time the other day with my iPad 3. It shut off after a few minutes. This is apparently by design, according to the article Apple has in their support forums. It doesn't work for my family's needs, so we may need to look at some other options. I didn't pay much attention to the speed, sadly, because I was just surfing and checking email.

Oct 11, 2012 12:27 PM in response to Ylandra

Thanks Ylandra,


I was hoping to be at some remote location and start the iphone 5 hotspot and be able to surf without stopping on my connected macbook for as long as I want.... (like we can with a mobile hotspot account) ...


Q: Are you saying that the hotspot will stop (log out?) every few minutes even when you are actively using it?


As far as speed - can anyone try going to speedtest.net next time you are using it to see the speed.... Example : My bud has a verizon account and mifi device and we tested it hooked to his iPad2 and got 29000 down and 7000 up!!! And mifi stayed logged the whole time (30 min.) - no logging off or sleeping....

Oct 11, 2012 12:46 PM in response to revDAVE

That happened to me when using it as a wireless hotspot. Thing is, the documentation seems to indicate that if you tether it via USB or BlueTooth it won't be a problem. I haven't had the chance/need to try that yet. I can't test it in my house because service here is so terrible that Sprint had to give me an AirRave, so any tests would be going through that and not through the actual cellular service.

Oct 12, 2012 2:05 PM in response to Ylandra

I found a related post - has anyone had this experience?

Art Majerus


When I got my new iphone 5 I had to go to Verizon's Family Share plan. Now that there is no longer an extra charge for tethering, I am using it more. One problem though. When I turn on hotspot on my phone and then go to my MacBook Pro, it can take up to 3 or 4 minutes for the hotspot to show up as an option. I keep clicking on the computer to make sure it searches over and over and the hotspot doesn't show up for quite some time. If I put the computer to sleep first though and then turn on hotspot, the computer usually (not always) finds it almost immediately upon waking. Anyone else see this? And as a side note, now that I don't pay extra for tethering is there even a reason to turn it off. Battery drain, security, anything.


http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/iphone_touchplatform/index.html#d12oct20 12

Oct 29, 2012 9:45 AM in response to Drobb

Drobb wrote:


With LTE on my iPhone 5 my speed averages 40.5 down. When I use the hotspot with my iPad 1 my down speed drops about in half averaging 16.73. Interesting with the iPhone 5 on my home network I averaged 15.5 down. Hope this helps.


Hi Drobb - thanks for the info - do you mean 40.5 Mbps?? down - if so that's great!


So then hotspot is about 1/2 ... I wonder why that is?

iPhone 5 as a mobile hotspot

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.