Personal hotspot problem with IOS 6

Hi there!

For those of you trying to share your iPhone connection with a Windows laptop using Hotspot, this is what's working for me. I needed to declare my Preferred DNS Server as 208.67.222.222 (Open DNS) on Wireless Connection Properties on Internet Protocol (TCP IP). I also leave my Alternative DNS Server blank and that's it.

Mine's an iPhone 4s running iOS6 and an HP laptop with 64-bit Windows 7. I hope this helps.

@JGFrancoC

Hi!

at the beginning, here is my hardware:

* iPhone 5, 64gb, iOS 6.0.2, provider A1

* iPad Retina (3rd gen.), 64gb, iOS 6.0.1, provider A1

* Lenovo ThinkPad T420s, win7, Intel(R) Centrino(R) Ultimate-N 6300 AGN network controller

i was reading this thread from the beginning and now i want to provide my experience that I received using my devices.

Starting a personal hotspot using the iPad Retina:

When I try to connect to my iPad hotspot using wifi, I often have the same problem as you guys. Connection to the iPad works but there is no Internet connection (neither for the notebook nor my iPhone).

Following things didn't fix it:

• rebooting notebook and/or iPhone
• notebook: win7 diagnosis
• notebook: wifi soft reset
• notebook: wifi hard reset
• iPad flight mode on/off

Following worked for me:

• iPad: normal reboot (turn off correctly with the power button)
• worked sometimes: hard reset (no data loss, by pushing both buttons at the same time for a few seconds: power & menu button)

Why do I use my iPad for the wifi hotspot? Because the iPad Retina has a much better battery and lasts much longer.

Starting a personal hotspot using the iPhone 5:

Concerning my iPhone 5 I have to mention, that I had iOS 6.0.1 for a long time. I think iOS 6.0.2 was released somewhen in January. Anyway, back then with iOS 6.0.1 I had the same problems as with my iPad. Since iOS 6.0.2 it seems to be fixed! As I remember there was a note in the update that there are some wifi bug fixes in the update. Maybe that's it?

Conclusion: after updating to iOS 6.0.2 it seems to work without any issues. BUT: I can't say that for sure because I'm not using my iPhone often for wifi hotspot. The reason is mentioned above (iPad has a better battery).

Now, since my problem is (probably) resolved with iOS 6.0.2, why am I writing this? It's because there is still no update for iPad or iPhone 4/S. Can anyone now tell me why..?

BR,

icelaptop

As a apple client with multiple devices I am starting to notice all their issues and am beginning to wonder if it was a smart move. It was defiantly a expensive one. I chose apple for reasons that were clearly noticeably. Ex: you want quality you pay the price. Normal, that's how it's always been for anything. If you want a car that is fully loaded and looks good and drives amazing with latest technology and options. Well $$$$$$$ talks.

So am assuming that I'm not the only one that feels this way. When I say "apple" wake the **** up. Cause it's not fair to us people that spend all this money on your products. If I wanted a honda instead of a Ferrari I would of done that.

I have a iPhone 4S / ipad retina wifi-Cellular A6X chip latest one/ Apple TV 3/ Mac Pro with mountain lion latest osx and two iPods 32 gb. So that there is not just pocket change. And am debating on getting the iPhone 5 but there is no difference between my 4s and the 5. Just that it is lighter and a little quicker. But for what to be on the phone with apple support and hear the same thing over and over.

I was at the apple store 4 times this month. And have to go again for my Apple TV 3. It's like they rather have us jailbreak our devices. But that not a solution to a problem. It's more like a option to have.

For the issue with personnel hotspot with the iPhone 4S I really hope they fix it cause I don't know how much longer I can take calling apple support and going to apple store to having them tell me that I need to reboot my device, or restart it or reset all networks. That is not the answer people are looking for.

So i speak for all the frustrated clients that need answers. Don't forget about the older clients that been around for awhile and also new clients. CAUSE YOUR NOT THE ONLY ONES THAT SELL FERRARI 'S. AND THAT IS A FACT. COMPETETION IS GETTING STRONGER AND STRONGER.

QUESTION IS WHAT WILL APPLE DO? SIMPLE IF YOU BUILT IT YOU CAN FIX IT.

Another frustrated customer here looking forward for iOS6 "Personal Hotspot" fix. I wrote in detail in separate mail but never the less to recap (what's been said also here earlier in the thread):

Enabling Personal Hotspot via wifi works totally random. Some days (if I'm lucky) starting hotspot and connecting to it with other iOS devices works right away whereas most of the time connection just ends up half working. The stupid donut in the client device just keeps going, you might have IP and proper settings in the wifi settings.. and naturally internet just doesn't work. I refuse to restart any of the mobiles or randomly reset network settings just as a temporary fix.

With iOS5? You guessed it. I didn't experience these problems.

Let's just add a picture to complement the story. I guess this is nowadays familiar sight while client iOS devices are desperately trying to finish the connection to host with wifi hotspot enabled:

br,

P

I second this. This is completely Apple's problem.

1. This has nothing to do with the hardware. My iPhone 4 was working without any hiccup for months in a row.
2. This has also nothing to do with your carrier or - as someone incorrectly pointed out in this thread - with your DNS setting.
   When my laptop gets an ip-address (which is 50% of the time), and I ping my iPhone (testing the communication between iPhone and laptop) I have 50-95% packet loss. Also the WiFi signal is ok (no errors detected by the WiFi driver on the laptop)

CONCLUSION: This is a software mess that should never have passed software testing. But hey, sloppyness seems to be the new standard. What is worse: I can not believe it takes more than 6 months to fix it (and counting). Obviously Apple does not care. I feel ignored and will NEVER ever buy any iProduct again. Now please move along ... I need to reset my iPhone before the connection drops.

To be honest.. IOS 6 truly a f***** s*** .

The quality IOS 6 really bad, as i really cant understand why they releasing a bug codes to customers...

@Spartacus24

Thanks a lot, I applied the solution you shared and it solved my problem (erratic personal hotspot over USB).

Now it works flawlessly.

Hope it stays the same and doesn't bug again.

best regards

Regis.

Conkerfan

Let us know how you make out. In my experience with resetting my network settings in my iPhone 4S--I've done this a few times already--connection works fine between my iPad mini and my daughter's iPod touch for a while, then nothing. Turning Personal Hotspot off/on sometimes gets it going again. It feels like adjusting rabbit ear antennas in the days of the past to get things working.

Sadly, Apple's "it just works" doesn't seem like it holds true anymore.

So, I had the same problem, and could not use the hotspot feature through WiFi, only Bluetooth. I thought an iOS update could repair that, just like icelaptop noticed after 6.0.2...

Well, it seems that iOS 6.1 did the job. I'm typing this from my iPad 2, using my iPhone 4 as a WiFi hotspot. If the bug "comes back", I'll let you know, but it seems it's all fine now.

Hi!

I agree. Just testing hotspot from metro, after upgrading all the devices yesterday. So far the experience has been iOS 5 -like and wifi hotspot has been working when sharing between various devices. Tested sharing from iPad to iPhone 4 and 4s, and sharing from iPhone 4S to iPad and iPhone 4.

It's about time this was addressed! I was mentally prepared to go buy android but still wanted to give apple a chance by waiting for this upgrade. :)

I'll test also a bit more during coming days and report in case I end up having the old problems back!

-Petri

I get limited connection on my win 7 laptop. Reset network settings on iPhone 5 no help. I use a fixed ip on the laptop, this includes my DSL gateway. Made that assign ip automatically and all good, I assume it is using the gateway and not the 3G IP address. However, I have run a fixed ip for years (internal) and never an issue before

This absolutely worked for me. I tried connecting my Windows XP laptop computer to my iPhone 5 Personal Hotspot and when I opened the list of available wireless networks on my laptop, it shows my iPhone, but when I click on connect, enter my password, it starts to acquire my network address, but instead of showing Connected, it showed Automatic, and I could not load any page in my browser. So, all I did was turned on the Airplane Mode on my iPhone, left it on for about 15 seconds, turned off the Airplane Mode, turned on my Personal Hotspot, opened the aailable wireless netwok list on my laptop, clicked connect and it connected without a problem. Thanks for the tip!

I think I was overly positive earlier. Again, connection is failing exactly the same way as earlier independent of do I use iPad as wifi hotspot host or iPhone 4S. Connections are only half working. Maybe the temporary resolution was only due to restarting all the devices during the iOS upgrade, go figure.

Anyway. I'm disappointed. And yet I still don't have reliable solution in case I need data on the road - and I do so, often.

I also tried the typical earlier solutions again such as changing password - which worked once with ipad as host. And also going to airplane mode.. I definitely didn't start to play with restarting phones constantly, nor resetting network settings of all my phones.

What to do, what to do.... :(

I feel ya! Its been torturing me for quite awhile. It is all good now after i upgraded to ios 6.1 .... I think they fixed it!

Hi,

I thought too they fixed it but just few days later I'm seeing the exact same issues as earlier. Ok, just out of curiosity I ended up restarting the iPhone 4S (that was the host). Well, we'll... After restart the issues went away and I can connect with client devices using again as normal. But this leads me to believe that at least in my case the problem still exists, and that in order to reliable use the wifi personal hotspot I would always need to restart my phone before trying to enable the hotspot and connect to it with client devices. And if this is the case indeed, I'm .... Annoyed.

Heh.. Another off topic issue. I just realized the ambient light sensor of my other iPhone (4) doesn't react to ambient light changes anymore not matter how big difference it's between light vs dark I.e. just tested with direct sunlight vs covering the sensor with hand. Ipad and iPhone 4S works perfectly though.

Somehow I'm starting to feel that it's just nowadays more fighting than using iPhones. (Ok, exaggerating quite a bit). Although, with my iPhone 4S and iPhone 3S I have then again the cold weather problem where CPU intensive tasks simply end up phone turning itself off even when there's still plenty of battery left (30-40++ %). Yes, tried calibration. And no, it's not -20°Cin Madrid but rather +3°C which should be still kind of tolerable.

Oh my. I was such a happy camper with iPhone 3S, 4, iPhone 4S until iOS 6... But now it's starting to be frustration unlimited. And I don't want to go to extremes like factory resets and rebuilding everything from the scratch.

I think I need tools and suddenly I'm playing with toys. One day closer to the green robot.

-Petri