Iphone hotspot option long time to connect

I have an iphone 5 and when I put it in hotspot mode. My samsung tablet took a long time to connect usually. Once in a while it would connect right away. Well, I gave up on that and went Apple all the way. I just bought a Ipad min wifi version and it does the same thing. I am talking about 2 or 3 minutes at times to connect or even see it. I am contemplating taking the ipad back and just getting a 4g version. Seems a shame since I have the share plan and get the hotspot option for free. I am usually in range of a wireless connection since that's what I do for a living. If I don't get any info here about, I will break out the analyzers and try and figure out whats happening but I need to take it back now if thats what I need to do. I need it to connect quickly.