A bit of background. I've been using my iPad as a hotspot for about a year or so thanks to an unlimited VZW data plan. Since getting an iPhone 5s, tethering to the iPad had become very flaky with 7.0.1 and 7.0.2. With 7.0.3, it became unusable. No traffic would get passed from the iPhone through the iPad and out to teh Intarwebs. Everything still worked from a MBP.R so I assumed it was an iOS 7.0.3 issue.
The standard fixes of resetting network settings, etc. didn't help, neither did a phone restore.
Frustratingly, I even set up an appointment at the Moron Bar and the unhelpful tech refused to troubleshoot the iPhone 5s because the iPad in question *is* jailbroken. I wasn't asking him to troubleshoot the iPad since it was working fine and has been working fine on 6.1.x for a year. He also refused to test tethering to a non-jailbroken device. This was a 7.0.3 issue and I knew it. I left the store and decided to continue troubleshooting.
Well, the solution was VERY simple. In the past, when tethering to an iDevice hotspot, DNS was locked and not user changeable and locked to the cellular provider's servers. I hadn't even bothered to look at that since it was a known limitation on iDevices and the OSX machines as well. It also frustrated me to no end.
Not anymore! It appears as though with 7.0.3 (can't confirm earlier builds of iOS 7), you can now set the DNS server manually on connected devices. The issue on the iPhone was that the DNS entry was set to 127.0.0.1, so obviously DNS wouldn't work.
Setting the DNS server to openDNS or 4.2.2.2 works great.
I've confirmed this fix with two iOS 7.0.3 devices, one iOS 6.1.2 device, an OS X 10.9 computer tethered through wifi. USB DNS is still locked and un-setable on the 10.9 machine. It also appears to work as long as at least one of the devices in the network is running iOS 7.0.x or OS X 10.9.
So it seems that Apple broke something in order to fix a long term frustration. I'm partially frustrated with myself for it taking so long to figure out this simple fix- but I'd long since given up hope of being allowed to set my own DNS servers while using tethering. If this was implemented earlier and I overlooked it- apologies.
Figured this info might help others who are having problems.
To check:
iOS 6.1.2 : Settings > Wi-Fi > the (>) to the right of the connected network > DNS > enter your own values
iOS 7.0.3 : Settings > Wi-Fi > the (i) to the right of the connected network > DNS > enter your own values
OS X 10.9.x : Sys Prefs > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced... > DNS > enter your own values (*note* it should respect any you already have manually entered)
Decent DNS servers to use:
4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2
208.67.222.222 (openDNS)
208.67.220.220 (openDNS)
Hope this helps. Cheers.
The standard fixes of resetting network settings, etc. didn't help, neither did a phone restore.
Frustratingly, I even set up an appointment at the Moron Bar and the unhelpful tech refused to troubleshoot the iPhone 5s because the iPad in question *is* jailbroken. I wasn't asking him to troubleshoot the iPad since it was working fine and has been working fine on 6.1.x for a year. He also refused to test tethering to a non-jailbroken device. This was a 7.0.3 issue and I knew it. I left the store and decided to continue troubleshooting.
Well, the solution was VERY simple. In the past, when tethering to an iDevice hotspot, DNS was locked and not user changeable and locked to the cellular provider's servers. I hadn't even bothered to look at that since it was a known limitation on iDevices and the OSX machines as well. It also frustrated me to no end.
Not anymore! It appears as though with 7.0.3 (can't confirm earlier builds of iOS 7), you can now set the DNS server manually on connected devices. The issue on the iPhone was that the DNS entry was set to 127.0.0.1, so obviously DNS wouldn't work.
Setting the DNS server to openDNS or 4.2.2.2 works great.
I've confirmed this fix with two iOS 7.0.3 devices, one iOS 6.1.2 device, an OS X 10.9 computer tethered through wifi. USB DNS is still locked and un-setable on the 10.9 machine. It also appears to work as long as at least one of the devices in the network is running iOS 7.0.x or OS X 10.9.
So it seems that Apple broke something in order to fix a long term frustration. I'm partially frustrated with myself for it taking so long to figure out this simple fix- but I'd long since given up hope of being allowed to set my own DNS servers while using tethering. If this was implemented earlier and I overlooked it- apologies.
Figured this info might help others who are having problems.
To check:
iOS 6.1.2 : Settings > Wi-Fi > the (>) to the right of the connected network > DNS > enter your own values
iOS 7.0.3 : Settings > Wi-Fi > the (i) to the right of the connected network > DNS > enter your own values
OS X 10.9.x : Sys Prefs > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced... > DNS > enter your own values (*note* it should respect any you already have manually entered)
Decent DNS servers to use:
4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2
208.67.222.222 (openDNS)
208.67.220.220 (openDNS)
Hope this helps. Cheers.