iPhone 12 Lineup Enables Personal Hotspot Over Faster 5GHz Wi-Fi

[polyphenol]

reverts Personal Hotspot to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi when enabled

Which is good and as I would hope.

But does it do the reverse? Switch from 2.4 to 5 when it appears sensible?

I quite often take either the phone with hotspot in use, or the device using the hotspot around the house, into the garden, etc. I find it easy to get too far away from 5 and have to switch.

But if I return the devices into proximity, it would be reasonable to hope they could reconnect on 5 when the available connection is good enough.

 

[stringParameter]

5G over 5Ghz! Nice!

No this is talking about 5GHz WiFi. Not cellular.
Different things.

 

[Whathappened]

Errr....Google Nexus 5X/6P are already able sharing hotspot connection over 5GHz bands from early 2016. Indeed it just LTE. Apple should enable those on previous iPhone too, by software updates, since it already 5GHz compliant.

Problem is, although other phones do this, nobody is buying them and apple knows that.
Btw it’s a cool feature but I never had issues with 2.4ghz probably because my phone was always very close to the connecting device.

 

[MRrainer]

Probably going to suck the battery empty in no time, especially over 5G.

Surely, the battery-cases will be even bigger this year, right?

 

[Crazy Badger]

I stumbled upon this yesterday when my Fire HD tablet couldn't see the iPhone 12 hotspot. If you've set it to Maximum Compatibility will it just drop down to 2.4Mhz as required, or will all connections use this?

 

[Reason077]

I get the feeling we are headed for internet connections that limit your data downloads to a certain limit

And the Limitless internet connection will cost you. No longer FREE

This is what 5G means to me

We are in the biggest recession of our lifetimes. which means unlimited data downloading a thing of the past or break out your wallet and pay the piper.

I think your fears are a bit unfounded. Although 5G means we have faster download speeds and thus will use data faster, it also greatly increases capacity for the carriers which means they can serve more customers (at faster speeds) without having to build additional infrastructure.

What I'm seeing with some UK mobile operators is that they are now offering tiered plans based not on data caps, but speed caps. For example:

Top-tier plan - unlimited data, maximum available speed
Mid-tier plan - unlimited data, max 10 Mbps
Cheap plan - unlimited data, max 3 Mbps

I suspect over time, those speeds will increase while the prices will remain the same or drop.

 

[Reason077]

No this is talking about 5GHz WiFi. Not cellular.
Different things.

He's talking about being able to share his 5G connection over 5 Ghz WiFi, which Apple now supports on the iPhone 12. This is important, because 2.4 Ghz WiFi is not fast enough to keep up with 5G data speeds.

For example, I get 300-400 Mbps on my 5G connection, but if I'm accessing it via 2.4 Ghz WiFi then I can only get around 150 Mbps max. But on 5 Ghz WiFi, I get the full 300+ Mbps 5G speed.

 

[Reason077]

I stumbled upon this yesterday when my Fire HD tablet couldn't see the iPhone 12 hotspot. If you've set it to Maximum Compatibility will it just drop down to 2.4Mhz as required, or will all connections use this?

Based on my experience with other phones that have this feature, I suspect (but can't confirm) that it will only support one band at a time. So if any connections need 2.4 Ghz, then all connections must use 2.4 Ghz.

 

[jonnysods]

Speeds for hot-spotting are going to be nuts on these things!

 

[I7guy]

The problem is that they have been selling it as a replacement for home internet for 20 years.

Verizon has an LTE home internet option available for $40/mo. Not a mobile hotspot, but they want to upsell you on the service, which is why your hotspot is capped.

 

[kb923689]

They should have gone over this in the keynote, it's actually a big deal

It truly is. I don't feel the difference between 4G and WiFi when I use Hotspot. Imagine 5G.

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

This phone rocks

it may legit be the biggest year over year upgrade in my eyes.

except maybe 3GS to 4.

Ridiculous it’s no Upgrade at all, it’s a downgrade compared to 11 pro

 

[stringParameter]

While for normal browser I agree data should remain the same (a good LTE connection should more than suffice in this scenario) for streaming services there can be a difference (sometimes quality is dictated by transfer speed). This can easily be addressed in setting tough.

Also, your water pipes analogy also doesn't quite work - if as a result you get increased water pressure....you might be wasting more water on a 10 min shower than before. Sure if the result of the increased water pressure is that you can take the shower in less time, then it would remain the same but that would hardly be

He's talking about being able to share his 5G connection over 5 Ghz WiFi, which Apple now supports on the iPhone 12. This is important, because 2.4 Ghz WiFi is not fast enough to keep up with 5G data speeds.

For example, I get 300-400 Mbps on my 5G connection, but if I'm accessing it via 2.4 Ghz WiFi then I can only get around 150 Mbps max. But on 5 Ghz WiFi, I get the full 300+ Mbps 5G speed.

Oh i see. Silly me. Thanks for clarifying 😂

 

[bbates123]

Ridiculous it’s no Upgrade at all, it’s a downgrade compared to 11 pro

IPhone 12 Pro...A14, 5G, Ceramic Shield, Magsafe, Qualcomm modem, hotspot improvements, camera improvements, water resistance improvements. These are all significant improvements. The only thing that's a downgrade is 1hr battery life. An even bigger jump from the 11 to 12 non Pro.

 

[Paradoxally]

Here's the Downside to this, if you're a Verizon customer, as I am.

Even with their Top Tier UN-limited option, customers are limited to ONLY 30 GB per month of Hotspot Data, before it gets throttled-down to ONLY 600 Kbps !

So whether your Wi-Fi is 2.4 GHz OR 5 GHz, OR your cellular connection is Fast OR NOT, it doesn't really matter, Users are Forced to Self-Throttle their activities !

Otherwise, you can burn thru your allotment Fast !

Verizon should really increase the monthly HotSpot limit to 45 GB, 50% more !

I remember there being a jailbreak tweak to circumvent this years ago..TetherMe I believe.

Sad to see this still is required.

 

[jpsalazar]

This would be a major selling point if I felt confident in AT&T's 5G coverage.

 

[Deliro]

They should have gone over this in the keynote, it's actually a big deal

I guess. But this is a carrier option I’m sure and will be capped or throttled. I have ATTs best “unlimited” plan and I believe I get 30 GB a month to tether. So I really doubt your wireless carrier will allow unlimited unthrottled tethering in 5G.

 

[Toratek]

Not only that, but 5GHz has less range than 2.4GHz and doesn't penetrate walls

And 6+ GHz doesn’t penetrate them at all. This technology has been greatly oversold, for the vast majority of people.

 

[RobbieTT]

That elephant doesn’t exist in my room.

Trunk call?

 

[recoil80]

Next step: put a 5G modem in a Mac. They bought Intel 5G modem division so they'll ship their custom 5G chips sooner or later. My wife has been using her iPhone for hotspot during lockdown, battery life was terrible. Imagine sharing a 5G connection, even more power hungry. Either you use a cable to connect to the iPhone or have 5G in your laptop

 

[Vanilla35]

And 6+ GHz doesn’t penetrate them at all. This technology has been greatly oversold, for the vast majority of people.

I've never sat down and done a thorough comparison. Can you provide us your experience?

 

[longofest]

2.4Ghz wireless is at fastest 300Mbps theoretical. I’d say realistically 150Mbps in areas with no interference.
I hit almost 300Mbps on LTE yesterday, well surpassing the real speeds of 2.4Ghz WiFi.

Which begs why they don't software enable this for LTE enabled phones.

 

[jkdsteve]

5GmmWave: it’s like Wifi but only works outside down the street!

Pretty much, right now LTE is 2x faster than 5G at my place

 

[Arnesh ghatak]

I don't understand why people think that if their internet is faster, they will use more data? Movies and media consume the same amount of data whether it's LTE or 5G. There are only so many hours in a month. You can't be mass-downloading stuff to your phone. Email, web, etc., still the same amount of data, just faster. Like if the city put bigger water pipes in the street outside your house, are you going to use more water just because the pipes are bigger?

Please explain how faster internet is going to make you use more?

Faster speed means that the rate of consumption of data increases.For ex you have two taps connected to two different tanks of say 50Litres now you open one of the taps completely to let the water flow and open the second tap just enough to let a thin stream of water flow...So it is obvious that the tank connected to the first tap is emptied first....this is what happens with data.... although U have the same amount of data say 30gb but a faster internet speed will consume that data faster

 

[MrDerby01]

I really do wonder. After the iPhone 12 comes out with 120 refresh screen rate.. What would be next? This phone is awesome and all but seems like once again Apple would be at risk to sustain sells.