Personal Hotspot usage during a phone call (ATT/GSM)

Question

Level 2

488 points

Personal Hotspot usage during a phone call (ATT/GSM)

Hi,

I'm using AT&T (a GSM network) and have my laptop (a Dell Latitude E5530) connected to my iPhone 5's Personal Hotspot, which is running the latest version of iOS 6.

The connection's great but he moment I take an incoming call, I can no longer surf the web and everything I was connected to on the laptop (IM clients, FTP connections, web connections, Outlook, etc.) just dies. The internet seems fine if I were to surf on the phone, but everything connected to the Personal Hotspot is dead in the water.

When the phone call ends, the connection does not come back to life. I'm still technically connected to the hotspot, but navigating to a website is impossible.

Through a review of ipconfig /all, I learned that the gateway (i.e., my iPhone) is pingable (ping xx.xx.xx.xx), but it turns out the DNS servers listed are not.

The remedy/workaround is to enable Airplane Mode, confirm that my laptop is disconnected from my hotspot, and then disable Airplane Mode, and re-connect my laptop to the Personal Hotspot.

Wondering why this is happening, if it's a bug, or if this is the expected bahavior. AT&T is a GSM network, so I can talk and surf the web on my iPhone no problem... the bug seems to be isolated to Personal Hotspot usage only.

Anyone else experience this problem and/or know what's going on/how to fix? I am using the latest version of iOS 6.

Thanks,

Mike

Posted on Sep 18, 2013 2:20 PM

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Answer 1

Thesbian

Level 1

8 points

Dec 14, 2014 11:42 AM in response to Michael Paul

This may or may not help. I just spoke with a Verizon rep and found out that if you use the call forwarding option on your phone you can stay connected to the internet via your phone and take the call on another phone to which you route your calls.

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Answer 2

Michael Paul Author

Level 2

488 points

Sep 19, 2013 4:37 PM in response to Michael Paul

UPDATE: Spoke with AT&T tier 2 support and we tried to remove and add the data plan back to my phone, also known as "reprovisioning". That effort did not work; during the test, the connection between my laptop and iPhone was solid up until he called me on the iPhone; then, while the connection persisted, the connectivity to web sites did not. I discovered that the failure is at the DNS level; if I type in google.com into a web browser, I get nothing. If I type in the IP address for the google home page (currently 74.125.224.72) I am taken right to it.

So, it appears that once I receive a phone call while my laptop is tethered to my iPhone via Personal Hotspot, there is a DNS failure. A ticket has been opened and if we have a resolution, I'll post a reply. Meanwhile, anyone else who's had and solved this problem I would love to hear from you.

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Answer 3

Michael Paul Author

Level 2

488 points

Apr 24, 2014 11:47 AM in response to Alanosauras

So here's the deal. Without getting too technical on you, here's the way Verizon works:

While on a normal voice call, you cannot use Verizon's data services
The only way to use data while on a normal voice call is if you're connected to a WiFi network (thus, you are not using your phone's LTE radio, you're using its WiFi radio
When you switched to FaceTime, what happens is Apple seamlessly switches your call from traditional cell towers to a data connection. It drops your traditional phone call and you're instantly using data. (FaceTime is nothing more than data being passed over the network... in no way does it use a traditional cell tower network to place/receive calls. In fact, once you switch to FaceTime, it's impossible to switch back to the original call you placed over the cellular tower network.

I can't speak to Android and whether or not it can do data + talk at the same time, but that's what I know.

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Answer 4

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Sep 18, 2013 2:29 PM in response to Michael Paul

Totally dependent on your cellular network connection, incoming or outgoing phone calls "may" interrupt your Personal Hotspot connection. After you end the call, Personal Hotspot "should" automatically reconnect with your devices. But again, this is dependent on the "quality" of your cellular network connection.

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Answer 5

Dec 4, 2013 11:08 AM in response to Michael Paul

I am running into the same issue. My iPhone 5S is tethered via lightning --> USB. Data connection is great, but when making or receiving a phone call I get dropped. VPN's disconnected, unable to reconnect until I am off the call.

I have noticed that my iPhone disconnects from LTE (when connected) and changes to 4G when the phone call is placed locations.

Some areas I am able to stay connected, others I am not. I am mostly traveling in LTE coverage zones around NW Washington State. But I will pay closer attention to my 4G / LTE connections.

So I agree that it is a AT&T issue, maybe even different cell LTE/4G/Voice technology on different cell towers?

Subscribed to learn more. If I knew that I couldn't use my phone and a hot spot at the same time, then I would have stayed with Verizon......

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Answer 6

Apr 15, 2014 9:04 PM in response to Michael Paul

Iphone 5s on Verizon network. Just had this same problem. Answered the call, no more surfing. Interestingly, switched to Face Time...back online. Still a bit confused about when data is being used versus cell service? Phone had 2 "bars" and LTE connection.

Never had a problem tethering and surfing while taking a call with my Android phone. C'mon Iphone, don't embarrass me.

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Answer 7

Apr 24, 2014 10:57 AM in response to Michael Paul

I too am having this issue. It just noticed it this week. I was able to do this before with no issue. For the record I was able to restore the connection after taking a call by flusing the DNS resolver.

Start, run, cmd (or start, type cmd, press enter-win8)

In the command prompt type ipconfig /flushdns.

May as well renew the ip with ipconfig /renew

For the record it didn't matter how good my connection was, failed on lte and 4g. I hope this gets resolved soon. I have to be able to talk and surf. I may try forwarding my calls to my google number and take the calls on my laptop so I don't have to interrupt the connection.

I can only image what that will do to my data usage. Not a happy camper right now. 😟

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