Do you have Personal Hotspot problems, preventing the connection? In this tip you can read about solutions and causes, so that you quickly fixed your problems with Personal Hotspot!
With Personal Hotspot allows you to share your mobile Internet connection on your iPhone with others. This is also called tethering . Super convenient, until it does not work properly! If you have problems with Personal Hotspot, we have these solutions to do something about it.
Personal Hotspot: what is it?
digital technology You can also use the data connection from your iPhone on all kinds of other devices. The iPhone then becomes a Personal Hotspot, with which multiple devices can connect. In fact, the iPhone acts as a kind of Wi-Fi router for all kinds of other devices.
If you have a fast 4G connection and your data bundle is large enough, Personal Hotspot is a cheap solution for internet surfing on multiple devices. People with an Android smartphone or Windows computer can also use your wireless network - provided they know the password.
A variation on this is an Instant Hotspot , which is only intended for your own devices. We have described in a separate tip what you need to do with Instant Hotspot problems . In this tip we will discuss all kinds of problems that can arise with the 'normal' Personal Hotspot.
Troubleshoot Personal Hotspot issues
You can run into all kinds of problems with the Personal Hotspot. Below we discuss solutions for the following problems:
- I do not see the Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot of the iPhone.
- I can not connect to the Personal Hotspot.
- I get an error message that the connection has failed.
- The speed of the Personal Hotspot is too slow.
# 1 I can not find the Personal Hotspot
Can not you see the Wi-Fi network of your iPhone on another device? Then go to the Settings app and choose Personal hotspot . Check if the switch is on and keep this screen open if you want to make the connection. Only when the connection is established, you can close Settings again.
# 2 Personal Hotspot does not work
Check whether your provider supports tethering . Most Dutch providers allow this, but it is also possible that you (for example abroad) have to deal with providers that have blocked this. In that case you will have to look for another provider or change your data bundle. With prepaid it may be possible that you can not use tethering.
# 3 Check if Personal Hotspot is enabled
If you have not enabled Personal Hotspot, you can not find the network. You can enable the function via Settings> Mobile network> Personal hotpot .
# 4 The connection is slow
If you have a poor 4G connection, you will not be able to use Personal Hotspot properly. On a MacBook you need a faster data connection. With Fast.com or Speedtest.net you can check if the data connection is fast enough. You need about 5Mbit / s to be able to work. At a speed of 24 Mbit / s (similar to ADSL2 +) you work even better.
# 5 Restart the Personal Hotspot
The simplest solution is restarting your Personal Hotspot. You can do this simply by turning the switch off and on again. Then try to connect to the network again.
# 6 Restart your mobile data connection
If you have problems with the data connection, it can always help to restart your data connection. Switch Airplane mode on for a few seconds and then switch it on again. Your iPhone then reconnects to your provider's mobile network, which suddenly makes the connection work again.
# 7 Restart your devices
The iPhone can sometimes crash or certain functions may not work properly because there is something wrong with the software. You can solve this by resetting the iPhone . Then you try to connect again. Also the devices with which you want to make the connection, so the Mac or iPad , you can just restart to see if that solves the problem.
# 8 Restore your network connections
If you are having problems with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or other wireless connections, it may be helpful to restart your network connections . You do this via Settings> General> Reset . Then try again.
# 9 Switch between different Personal Hotspot methods
You can use Personal Hotspot in three ways: via Wi-Fi, USB and Bluetooth. Try it in a different way, for example via USB instead of Wi-Fi. This is safer and more reliable, but can also be the solution if your Personal Hotspot is not working in other ways.
# 10 Reconnect
If it is not possible to connect Personal Hotspot via Bluetooth, it is best to disconnect the devices and then pair them again via Settings> Bluetooth . Make sure that Bluetooth is enabled on the iPhone and then check the Mac to see if you can pair both devices with > System Preferences> Bluetooth. If it still does not work, make sure that both devices forget each other and reconnect.
Personal Hotspot via Bluetooth is less used because you are dealing with a limited distance, but it can be useful because it consumes less energy.
Use your Personal Hotspot via a fixed USB connection, often you can not go wrong. Make sure your device is recognized and that your Lightning cable is properly connected. You can test whether the connection is good by opening iTunes and seeing if the iPhone is being recognized. Via the network settings ( > System Preferences> Network ) you can check if 'iPhone USB' appears in the list. If not, click on the plus sign and add the iPhone as a network option.
