iPhone hotspot is enabled, but nothing can see/connect

I've got an iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1.4, and I have the personal hotspot enabled on my account. I've got the ability to enable the hotspot, and the screen shows that the device is "Now Discoverable". However, if I'm trying to connect via WiFi, almost nothing can connect! Of course, if there is another iProduct that can connect to WiFi, that seems to work more reliably (hmm...). I'm trying to connect with a laptop running Windows XP, the network is not in the list of available networks, and if I manually add the network and set the password for the network and force a connection attempt, nothing happens.

Why is this?! Bluetooth connections seem to work more reliably as well...

Thanks,

-Max