Problems connecting to Internet...

[Ambrosia7177]

Hello. First time mobile user.

My AT&T mobile plan comes with "Hotspot" data, but I seem to be struggling on how to teether my Retina to my iPhone.

Had it working yesterday, but no luck today. :-(

It seems a large part of the problem is that my iPhone is not appearing as an available hotspot on my Retina which is like 6 inches away?!

Security is my primary goal, so I'm trying to keep my iPhone and mobile plan as locked down as I know how.

I have Bluetooth = Off, and I wanted W-Fi = Off, but that seemed to cause issues yesterday.

Personal Hotspot = On.

Airplane Mode = Off

What am I doing wrong?!

 

[0128672]

You'll need to have bluetooth on for it to work with a Mac. Here's an Apple support article about how to set it up:

How to set up a Personal Hotspot on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

A Personal Hotspot lets you share the cellular data connection of your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) when you don't have access to a Wi-Fi network.

support.apple.com

 

[Ambrosia7177]

You'll need to have bluetooth on for it to work with a Mac. Here's an Apple support article about how to set it up:

How to set up a Personal Hotspot on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

A Personal Hotspot lets you share the cellular data connection of your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) when you don't have access to a Wi-Fi network.

support.apple.com

I didn't have Bluetooth on yesterday and it worked...

(Bluetooth is mega insecure, so I want to leave that always off!)

 

[0128672]

I didn't have Bluetooth on yesterday and it worked...

(Bluetooth is mega insecure, so I want to leave that always off!)

OK, that's interesting, so you must have had Wi-fi on then, or were you using USB? It needs some communication method to work.

 

[Apple_Robert]

If you are using the hotspot feature at home with WiFi, as long as your router has security turned on and you have a solid password, you should be fine. The chances of someone hacking into your WiFi is very slim to say the least. That is not something you should really worry about, as long as the previously mentioned aspects are taken care of.

You also don’t need to worry about Bluetooth at home, which only covers about 30 feet provided there are no block spots. BlueTooth is not “mega Insecure.”

Are you using this at home or when out in public?

 

[Ambrosia7177]

If you are using the hotspot feature at home with WiFi, as long as your router has security turned on and you have a solid password, you should be fine. The chances of someone hacking into your WiFi is very slim to say the least. That is not something you should really worry about, as long as the previously mentioned aspects are taken care of.

You also don’t need to worry about Bluetooth at home, which only covers about 30 feet provided there are no block spots. BlueTooth is not “mega Insecure.”

Are you using this at home or when out in public?

This is all sooo confusing...

First off, I want Bluetooth off - always. It *is* insecure, and considering that I am in a hotel, it *is* a bad idea to ever have it on!

I guess I could live with having one of my Retinas physically tethered to my iPhone, but I'd rather prefer a wireless solution.

(Right now I have a MBP and two Retina crammed on my tiny hotel desk, and I would prefer to have a *secure* way to connect to the Internet on any of them using my iPhone that is say - on my bed - since I am out of room!)

As I recall, yesterday I had things set up like ths and things worked fine...

- VPN down during connection
- iTunes off - never really use it
- Airplane Mode = Off
- Wi-Fi = Off
- Bluetooth = Off
- Personal Hotspot = On
- USB cable = unplugged

Then I clicked on the Wi-Fi icon in the upper menu bar of my Retina, I chose the "My_iPhone" icon, entered my password, and I was connected with a paperclip looking icon that said "My_iPhone".

It seems to me, also, that I maybe had to set Wi-Fi = on until I conencted to my iPhone using Wi-Fi, and then I could turn it off.

HTH.

 

[Apple_Robert]

WiFi or Bluetooth needs to stay on while you are tethering two devices. You can’t turn WiFi on and then turn it off after the initial connection. It doesn’t work that way. Once a connection is made, you then turn on your VPN on the Mac.

Connecting via Bluetooth and USB (with the phone connected to the Mac) is your most secure method. If you want answers from people who know what they are talking about, it would behoove you to take heed, instead of argue and say I am not going to do such and such when asking for help. That kind of sentiment doesn’t encourage fellow members too post and try and help.

It would be beneficial in the future to give important details in your opening post. It saves people from speaking about aspects that aren’t relevant to your current use like I just did.

Are you needing to view, edit and send work documents, or are you just wanting to peruse the web and access email?

 

[Ambrosia7177]

WiFi or Bluetooth needs to stay on while you are tethering two devices. You can’t turn WiFi on and then turn it off after the initial connection. It doesn’t work that way. Once a connection is made, you then turn on your VPN on the Mac.

I have always had Bluetooth turned off. Always. And I was connected most of yesterday to my iPhone. So it apparently does work that way.

I also (believe) I had WiFi turned on on my iPhone, and then after I connected to my iPhone via WiFi I was definitely able to turn the WiFi off on my iPhone and yet I still had a WiFi connection. (Fwiw, I turned off the WiFi on my iPhone because I thought it might allow others to try and connect to my iPhone. Since I have a secure passord, I guess that paranoia wasn't necessary?!)

Connecting via Bluetooth and USB (with the phone connected to the Mac) is your most secure method.

How would Bluetooth - an insecure wireless protocol - be need to connect when using a physical (and secure) USB cable?

If you want answers from people who know what they are talking about, it would behoove you to take heed, instead of argue and say I am not going to do such and such when asking for help. That kind of sentiment doesn’t encourage fellow members too post and try and help.

I'm just stating the facts of what worked and didn't work yesterday...

Are you needing to view, edit and send work documents, or are you just wanting to peruse the web and access email?

I need the most secure connection possible because I am on a work laptop with lots of sensitive data.

Being new to mobile, this will be a mult-step learning process.

In the past I just used my hotel's WiFi and and I always have my VPN (with a kill switch) turned on.

Once I get comfortable with things, I'll likely download the app for my VPN and use that as an extra layer of security when conencting from my MBPs to my iPhone.


To make matters more confusing...

I was just able to connect to my iPhone doing the following... (Although it was sorta like jiggling a loose wire!)

- Rebooted iPhone
- Switched Airplane Mode from On to Off
- Bluetooth always Off
- Went to Celluar > Personal Hotspot and switched Personal Hotspot to On then Off then On
- Went to Personal Hotspot and verified it was still On
- Didn't get any prompts asking me if I wanted to connected via "Bluetooth and Wireless' OR "USB" (I sometimes get that prompt and sometimes not, which could be part of the issue)
- WiFi said "Not Connected"
- FINALLY I saw the "My_iPhone" icon appear under WiFi on my Retina
- Chose "My_iPhone" and logged in
- I am now connected and see the paperclip icon thing

- I am NOT connected via USB cable
- Bluetooth is still OFF
- WiFi says "Not Connected"


So everything is fine, until it isn't...

- I then set WiFi to Off and it broke my connection. (I swear that didn't happen last night.)
- So I tuned WiFi = On, and now I cannot connect again?!


I do notice that on my iPhone I only have 1-bar, and sometimes 2-bars on AT&T LTE...

Could that be the issue?

 

[D.T.]

I have always had Bluetooth turned off. Always. And I was connected most of yesterday to my iPhone. So it apparently does work that way.

It seems like you're making this __way__ too complicated.

Your phone can connect to your cellular data network (if cell is on, and data is allowed). OK, that's kind of obvious, but just sort of setting the baseline.

Now, your Mac needs to connect to your device, and there's 3 options: 1) BT, 2) WiFi, 3) USB, where 1 and 2 are wireless and 3 is via a cable. 1 or 2 also require that wireless protocol to be ON, at the device, you can't connect to a device wirelessly without a wireless protocol active. Period.

You shouldn't need all those gyrations, I mean, it can't hurt to reset connections, etc., but if you just turn BT off, WiFi on, hotspot on you should see the iPhone network in your WiFi networks on the Mac, select, connect, done.

IF you're losing the internet connection, it could be just that, the phone itself is losing the connection, so by way of the tether, so is your Mac. You can always check by testing the phone connection directly on the phone.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

@D.T. ,

It seems like you're making this __way__ too complicated.

Not me! It's my iPhone's fault! ;-)

Your phone can connect to your cellular data network (if cell is on, and data is allowed). OK, that's kind of obvious, but just sort of setting the baseline.

Right.

Now, your Mac needs to connect to your device, and there's 3 options: 1) BT, 2) WiFi, 3) USB, where 1 and 2 are wireless and 3 is via a cable.

Right.

1 or 2 also require that wireless protocol to be ON, at the device, you can't connect to a device wirelessly without a wireless protocol active. Period.

So let me stop you there...

Because I am away from home most the year, I live in hotels. And in the past, 95% of the time I take advantage of the hotel's free Wi-Fi combined with my VPN with kill-switch for security.

Before I got a mobile plan, I had an AT&T hotspot that I would use if I needed a conention without my VPN, say to create an account.

Whether I accessed the Internet via a hotel's Wi-Fi, or I used my AT&T hotspot, I simply went to the Wi-Fi icon on any of my Macs (or Windows laptops) and choose the desired hotspot, entered a password if needed, and I was good to go.

The point?

However this ancient MBP is set up, and however my two Retinas are set up, and however my Windows laptops are set up, all I had to do in the past was choose a Wi-Fi hotspot and I was connected...

Therefore, one would assume that if my iPhone has a hotspot "plan", and that option is turned on - along with my iPhone being on - then I would simply have to choose "TexasToast's iPhone" under the Wi-Fi icon on any of my Macs, and then enter my secure password and I would be golden, right??

Well, that isn't what is happening...

I got connected between my last post and now, but it took fiddling around for 10 minutes which makes no sense.

A hotspot is a hotspot is a hotpsot.

And if I am competent enough to connect to the hotel's Wi-Fi, and formally to my old AT&T hotspot, then why is all of this such a PITA with my iPhone with incldied hotspot plan?!

You shouldn't need all those gyrations, I mean, it can't hurt to reset connections, etc., but if you just turn BT off, WiFi on, hotspot on you should see the iPhone network in your WiFi networks on the Mac, select, connect, done.

I do see it, BUT most times it won't let me connect...

And most times I got some Wi-Fi diagnostic popup. And when I ran it once as Admin it didn't yield anything useful.

Another thing I notice is that when I turn off Airplane Mode - my desired mode for privacy - and I turn on "Personal Hotspot", sometimes I don't get my iPhone's hotspot. And as mentioned, when I do, it often won't let me connect.

I am conencted right now, and have been before I stepped into the shower, but I do notice my iPhone only has one "dot" next to AT&T LTE.

(I'm in a mountainous area - though not Colorado - so maybe I just have crappy cell/data coverage?)

I dunno, but I agree this is not rocket-science...

IF you're losing the internet connection, it could be just that, the phone itself is losing the connection, so by way of the tether, so is your Mac. You can always check by testing the phone connection directly on the phone.

You mean like making a call?

 

[0128672]

You're getting some excellent advice here from @BasicGreatGuy and @D.T.

In addition to everything we've all already suggested, I would say first evaluate the current strength of your iPhone's connection. Then take a look at all of the troubleshooting steps in this article:

If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) - Apple Support

With Personal Hotspot, you can share the cellular data connection of your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) with another device. If you need help with Personal Hotspot, follow these steps.

support.apple.com

 

[Ambrosia7177]

@Mr_Brightside_@,

Since you are always so friendly and helpful, and since we were talking in another thread, I am including you in this never-ending thread?!

So I was FINALLY able to download iOS 13.5.1 using a combination of my hotel's Wi-Fi, my VPN, my Retina MBP, iTunes, and a USB cable to tether my iPhone to my MBP.

It took over 4 hours to do this. (What a PITA...)

So I upgraded to iOS 13 simply because of the issues I describe above and for no other reason.

Sadly, that turned out to be a waste of time because I have the same issues as with iOS 10.x...

I just fired up my iPhone with the follwoing settings...

Airplane Mode = Off
Wi-Fi = Not connected
Bluetooth = Off
Cellular Data = On
Personal Hotspot = On

On my Retina MBP #2, when I turned on Wi-Fi, I do NOT see my iPhone's hotspot listed, even though it is like 6 inches away...

Same issue on Retina MBP #1...

AGAIN, I have connected in the past week, but it is always a major PITA to get things working...

So how do I get this fixed?!


P.S. The same issue occurs when I try to connect this old MBP running Mountain Lion as well, which says to me that the issue is my iPhone and NOT how I have my 3 MBP's set up...

 

[jaytv111]

Could you possibly update the Macs to the latest OS as well? Could be causing problems because Apple added a feature called "instant hotspot" or whatever it's actually called. It uses Bluetooth to scan your iCloud connected devices, then if you want hotspot turned on, you can turn it on in the client device. But you don't have to use this, my point is that it could be doing something weird with older MacOSes when expecting it to be doing the new hotspot feature.

Also just an FYI, if you're switching on and off different wireless systems, sometimes it can make the phone kind of finicky, like it'll take a minute or two to fully reconnect, or it may fail to connect. You are switching Airplane mode on and off and wifi on and off (you can leave Bluetooth off, you just have to manually activate hotspot then).

Also to be clear, if you're using wifi hotspot you cannot turn off wifi. You can switch it "off" in Control center, which just turns off its automatic connection to wifi hotspots but it allows tethering, but if you turn it off in Settings, then it kills the hotspot entirely. Do not touch wifi settings if you're using wifi hotspot, for the love of god.

Personally, if you're so privacy conscious you should stick to USB, but I would consider wifi perfectly secure so long as the passcode is secure.

So interestingly I tested out hotspot at home and my iPhone with iPad also freaked out on me. Partly because I restored my iPhone from iCloud as it was repaired, and I reentered the wifi password on the iPad like 10 times, eventually it finally worked, or I was typing the password wrong, I don't know.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

@jaytv111,

Thanks for the response.

I know little if anything about mobile so let me struggle through your response...

Could you possibly update the Macs to the latest OS as well?

Unfortunately, no. Not an option at this time.

But the fact that I can connect to free Wi-Fi anywhere acorss the US with no problems on my MBP w Mountain Lion and my two Retina MBP's with Sierra says to me my OS's are okay.

Could be causing problems because Apple added a feature called "instant hotspot" or whatever it's actually called. It uses Bluetooth to scan your iCloud connected devices, then if you want hotspot turned on, you can turn it on in the client device. But you don't have to use this, my point is that it could be doing something weird with older MacOSes when expecting it to be doing the new hotspot feature.

That went over my head...

I am NOT on the Cloud in any way, nor will I be for privacy and security reasons.


If someone could please clarify...

Q1.) My understanding is that Bluetooth is for things like conneting to wireless keys. Since that doesn't apply to me, it seems like having Bluetooth = Off is okay.


Q2.) My understanding is that the Wi-Fi setting in iOS is talking about me connecting MY iPHONE to a Wi-Fi hotspot and NOT using my iPhone's hotspot.

If it is the former, then leaving Wi-Fi = Off would be fine, since I do NOT want to conenct my iPhoen to the hotel's Wi-Fi.

But I (obviously) DO want to conenct my MBP's to my iPhone's Personal Wi-Fi hotspot!!

Also just an FYI, if you're switching on and off different wireless systems, sometimes it can make the phone kind of finicky, like it'll take a minute or two to fully reconnect, or it may fail to connect. You are switching Airplane mode on and off and wifi on and off (you can leave Bluetooth off, you just have to manually activate hotspot then).

Yeah, I sometimes saw that "lag" with my old AT&T hotspot.

But something else strange is going on here...

Yesterday I would turn on my iPhone's personal hotspot and it would take 5-10 minutes for it to appear as a choice in one of my MBP...

And today I am a dead duck, because I haven't been able to get my iPhoe's personal hotspot to appear as a chocie but once, and when I tried to conenct I got some Network Diagnostics Error popup.

I am getting Wi-Fi chocies on Retina #2 from some nail salon across the orad, someone's Toyota Camry, and so on.

How in the hell can I not conenct to my iPhoen which is 6 inches away from my MBPs??

Also to be clear, if you're using wifi hotspot you cannot turn off wifi. You can switch it "off" in Control center, which just turns off its automatic connection to wifi hotspots but it allows tethering, but if you turn it off in Settings, then it kills the hotspot entirely. Do not touch wifi settings if you're using wifi hotspot, for the love of god.

So "Wi-Fi" applies to my iPhone's personal Wi-Fi hotspot, and not just outside Wi-Fi hotspots that I might be connecting to to try and save data (e.g. McDonalds), right??


Personally, if you're so privacy conscious you should stick to USB, but I would consider wifi perfectly secure so long as the passcode is secure.

So interestingly I tested out hotspot at home and my iPhone with iPad also freaked out on me. Partly because I restored my iPhone from iCloud as it was repaired, and I reentered the wifi password on the iPad like 10 times, eventually it finally worked, or I was typing the password wrong, I don't know.
[/QUOTE]

 

[jaytv111]

Unfortunately, no. Not an option at this time.

But the fact that I can connect to free Wi-Fi anywhere acorss the US with no problems on my MBP w Mountain Lion and my two Retina MBP's with Sierra says to me my OS's are okay.

Well that'll make things tougher. Because if there's an OS bug in there then it's probably been fixed and if you don't install any OS upgrade it will hamper your ability to solve the problem.

That went over my head...

I am NOT on the Cloud in any way, nor will I be for privacy and security reasons.

OK so that will also make things a little harder to tell what should happen, if you don't use iCloud then a lot of people will be trying to diagnose the problem but they will use iCloud on their Macs and iPhones and iPads and won't have a clue if iCloud makes a difference or not (it really shouldn't but I don't have a clue).

Q1.) My understanding is that Bluetooth is for things like conneting to wireless keys. Since that doesn't apply to me, it seems like having Bluetooth = Off is okay.

Bluetooth is a data transfer protocol. Just like wifi, or even ethernet or USB. It is mainly for low-power applications, like audio or small data exchange. It can in fact be used for tethering, but it doesn't have to be. In addition, the instant hotpsot feature is a little different twist, it uses Bluetooth to "sense" how close your devices are, if they're close then you can ACTIVATE wifi tethering, but it doesn't use Bluetooth for the actual tethering. The thought is that BT saves battery and then wifi is faster, but keep the wifi tethering off until needed and then it will save battery.

Q2.) My understanding is that the Wi-Fi setting in iOS is talking about me connecting MY iPHONE to a Wi-Fi hotspot and NOT using my iPhone's hotspot.

It is WIFI IN GENERAL, not Wifi JUST on the iPhone. I literally just did it myself, if I turn off wifi IN SETTINGS then it cuts off the wifi hotspot, no ifs ands or buts. But I can turn it "off" (fake version of off) in Control Center and it's fine.

But I (obviously) DO want to conenct my MBP's to my iPhone's Personal Wi-Fi hotspot!!

Yes that seems to be the case. Although you're probably better off with USB at this point.

But something else strange is going on here...

Yesterday I would turn on my iPhone's personal hotspot and it would take 5-10 minutes for it to appear as a choice in one of my MBP...

And today I am a dead duck, because I haven't been able to get my iPhoe's personal hotspot to appear as a chocie but once, and when I tried to conenct I got some Network Diagnostics Error popup.

I am getting Wi-Fi chocies on Retina #2 from some nail salon across the orad, someone's Toyota Camry, and so on.

How in the hell can I not conenct to my iPhoen which is 6 inches away from my MBPs??

There could be something else going on, with crowded wifi places, you could be incapable of using wifi in this area if there is spectrum exhaustion. So, there is only so much spectrum (frequencies) available, if there are tons of other people's devices blasting networks out there (like the Camry, a person's hotspot, the business hotpsot, in addition to the hotel), then it exhausts the spectrum and causes problems for all 2.4 Ghz devices.

I just realized, does this Mac have 802.11ac, because that heralded dual band devices, so it may be the case that the Mac is not a good fit for wifi-exhausted areas, and a slightly newer Mac could work better because it could switch to 5 Ghz.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

@jaytv111,

Thanks for the detailed responses and trying to hekp so far!

Well that'll make things tougher. Because if there's an OS bug in there then it's probably been fixed and if you don't install any OS upgrade it will hamper your ability to solve the problem.

I understand, but I have my life/business between these 3 MBPs, and upgrading is a task that I won't have time for this year. (I've got 3TB of data and apps and dev environments that I can't screw with right now.)

OK so that will also make things a little harder to tell what should happen, if you don't use iCloud then a lot of people will be trying to diagnose the problem but they will use iCloud on their Macs and iPhones and iPads and won't have a clue if iCloud makes a difference or not (it really shouldn't but I don't have a clue).

Being a privacy and security nut, I can't ever see myself using "The Cloud" and thus iCloud.

Sorry, but that one is non-negotiable.

Bluetooth is a data transfer protocol. Just like wifi, or even ethernet or USB. It is mainly for low-power applications, like audio or small data exchange. It can in fact be used for tethering, but it doesn't have to be. In addition, the instant hotpsot feature is a little different twist, it uses Bluetooth to "sense" how close your devices are, if they're close then you can ACTIVATE wifi tethering, but it doesn't use Bluetooth for the actual tethering. The thought is that BT saves battery and then wifi is faster, but keep the wifi tethering off until needed and then it will save battery.

I see.

It is WIFI IN GENERAL, not Wifi JUST on the iPhone. I literally just did it myself, if I turn off wifi IN SETTINGS then it cuts off the wifi hotspot, no ifs ands or buts. But I can turn it "off" (fake version of off) in Control Center and it's fine.

I have Wi-Fi turned on.

And on the W-Fi tab, I see under "My Networks" my hotel's Wi-Fi.

"Ask to Join Networs" = Notify

"Auto-Join Hotspot" = Notify


Q3.) Could there be some other stupid setting that I turned off that could be causing issues? (I did try my best to lock down iOS 13.5.1 after installing it last night.

Yes that seems to be the case. Although you're probably better off with USB at this point.

Q4.) I backed up iOS 10.x Should I do a recovery to it? (Of course I had similar, but not as bad of issues with iOS 10.x)


Q5.) How do I connect to the Internet if I physically tether my MBP to my iPhone?

Will I have to choose my iPhone as a hotspot on my MBP? Can you explain?


I appreciate your comments above, but in the end, this simply shouldn't be so difficult...

There could be something else going on, with crowded wifi places, you could be incapable of using wifi in this area if there is spectrum exhaustion. So, there is only so much spectrum (frequencies) available, if there are tons of other people's devices blasting networks out there (like the Camry, a person's hotspot, the business hotpsot, in addition to the hotel), then it exhausts the spectrum and causes problems for all 2.4 Ghz devices.

Interesting point, but if that was the case, then I would likely have issues connecting to the hotel's Wi-Fi, right?

I just realized, does this Mac have 802.11ac, because that heralded dual band devices, so it may be the case that the Mac is not a good fit for wifi-exhausted areas, and a slightly newer Mac could work better because it could switch to 5 Ghz.

I don't know what that means...

How do I check?

 

[jaytv111]

You can try returning to iOS 10. Couldn't hurt.

I haven't seen any other iOS settings regarding hotspot that's relevant when I tried it out in my house a while ago.

If you plug in USB (Lightning cable), turn on personal hotspot, click yes that you trust the computer, (optionally turn off wifi and Bluetooth on both devices to force USB, since you will use USB only), then on the Mac it automatically connects over USB. It also saves battery and sidesteps 2.4 Ghz spectrum exhaustion issues entirely.

The hotel wifi network might be "stronger" than other devices and "drown out" other devices even including your iPhone. But I don't really know.

What year is the Mac and what model (Macbook Pro?)? 13 inch, 15 inch?

 

[Ambrosia7177]

You can try returning to iOS 10. Couldn't hurt.

I haven't seen any other iOS settings regarding hotspot that's relevant when I tried it out in my house a while ago.

OMG! Between trying to get my fricking iPhone and mobile plan working and getting my Twitter account unsuspended, I'm ready to jump ship?!

I have wasted the last month of my life with much of this, and definitely the bettwe part of the last two days with these hotspot issues...

The best I can tell at this point is that my problem is a cellular connectivity issue (i.e. piss-poor signal in my area).

This afternoon I tried out this helpful page from Apple...

If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular)

After running "Reset Network Settings" it *seemed* like I fixed things, as I was able to INSTANTLY connect all 3 of my MBPs to my iPhone personal hotspot.

But then after supper, I tried again, and I couldn't even get my iPhone hotspot to apepar as a Wi-Fi choice on any of my 3 MBPs... (WTF?!)

After leaving my mouse pointer hovering over the Wi-Fi icon for an HOUR my iPhone personal hotspot appeared, but when I tried connecting I got that Network diagnostic pop-up error again.

Then about 11:00pm tonight I tried again, and my iPhone persnal hotspot appeared and I was able to connect on each of my 3 MBPs.

I will have to keep a journal and see how things go...

If you plug in USB (Lightning cable), turn on personal hotspot, click yes that you trust the computer, (optionally turn off wifi and Bluetooth on both devices to force USB, since you will use USB only), then on the Mac it automatically connects over USB. It also saves battery and sidesteps 2.4 Ghz spectrum exhaustion issues entirely.

Yeah, I just read this - from the page above - Connect your Mac to Personal Hotspot with USB, and I have it working, although it makes me nervous since I don't understand it really...


Q6.) So I can turn OFF Wi-Fi and leave Bluetooth set to OFF as well?

Under System Preferences > Netowrk, I see "Texas_Toast's_iPhone" and it says "connected" and has a green dot.


Q7.) How do I know my connection is 100% secure??

It throws me off to not be able to click on the Wi-Fi icon on my Mac and see that I am connected to my personal hotspot.


Q8.) Related to Q7, how can I get feedback to know I have things et up securely, and that no one else can share my hotspot connection, nor can people see my Internet traffic?

The hotel wifi network might be "stronger" than other devices and "drown out" other devices even including your iPhone. But I don't really know.

Yeah, I was wondering about that tonight. Although strangely, I put Retina #2 on my bed, and when I looked at it 40 minutes later, I saw like 10-12 other hotspots available...

So the hotel Wi-Fi clearly isn't drowning out other people.

What year is the Mac and what model (Macbook Pro?)? 13 inch, 15 inch?

This MBP is like 2009, 13", OS-X 10.8.5

My Retina MBPs are like 20015, 13", macOS 10.12.6


Retina #2 is conencted to my iPhone's hotspot via Wi-Fi and I only have 1-bar on my phone.

Earlier I had 3-bars, yet I wasn't even getting my iPhone's hotspot to appear on any of my Macs.

What is also strange, is that I simply upgraded my 8-year old AT&T hotspot to a mobile plan, so if the issue was AT&T connectivity, I should have had the same issues with my dedicated hotspot, right?

All very strange, and very annoying!!

 

[jaytv111]

My intuition is that it comes down to macOS bugs, maybe ones that could be fixed in the newer macOS versions.

Frankly, it should just view the iPhone as any other hotspot. Windows certainly does. But with "instant hotspot" that screws things up, it seems.

Shouldn't have anything to do with the earlier hotspot. Really shouldn't have anything to do with the signal strength of the iPhone. Only thing the iPhone needs is to have a data connection at all, otherwise it can live on low signal on the cell connection.

I suggested the spectrum exhaustion as a potential source of problems. Reality is it could go in and out depending on actual use of the spectrum. Best test for that is to go somewhere with less people, businesses, etc and test out hotspot.

I think the latest Macbook is your best bet as it can use 5 Ghz too. Your earlier Macs will not be able to use 5 Ghz. 5 Ghz is also speedier and less crowded.

If you use USB, you absolutely can turn off BT and wifi on both devices. Both wireless standards are unused when you use USB. It also saves battery and it won't have problems with interference, assuming the cell connection is working. It's also a little faster on the iPhone to use USB instead of wifi, but cellular connections aren't fast enough on the iPhone to max out USB yet.

Connection security comes down to whether you use the latest wifi security or not, and whether you use VPN full time or not. WPA2 is the standard and the iPhone uses that, and it's "good enough" for anyone who's not susceptible to the CIA or PLA targeting them. It may be broken in time and then people will have to move to WPA3, which is new and not used yet in most wifi applications, not sure if the iPhone hotspot could use WPA3 yet, maybe with absolute latest Macs and iPhones only.

But VPN is mostly the tool to stop wifi insecurity from being a problem. If you use a VPN then even an open wifi connection is secured. However, then you have to trust your VPN provider, since they will see all your traffic.

As for USB, it's as if the Mac had its own internal cellular connection. It's secure from a local attack, but it's still the internet, so you'd use VPN to protect that connection, too.

Also the only thing left I can suggest is to clear out known wifi hotspots on the Mac (even the iPhone hotspot, too). It could screw around with the list ordering and maybe the iPhone is not showing up when it should.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

@jaytv111,

Am probably jinxing myself for sharing this, but...

Early today I went out to my car in the parking lot and brought my iPhne and MBP. I fired things up, tried to access my hotspot, and tada, access!

So it must have just been my hotel room, right?

Wrong.

So then I drove like 5 miles to a Walmart to get some soup, and befoe leaving, I tried things from Walmart's parking lot.

I was unable to even see my hotspot... WTF?!

Then I drove a mile towards "home" and pulled over. Same experiment. No dice.

Then I notcied a new AT&T store, and swung in to the parking lot.

Even being 50 feet outside an AT&T store, I couldn't see my hotspot...

Went inside, screamed bloody murder about my hatred of cellphones, social media, and especially Twitter!!

I shwed him what was going on in the store, and even he couldn't conenct to my hotspot.

So next he suggested "resetting" my SIM card on his iPad.

Things then worked in the store, but I was skeptical.

I did a test in the parking lot, and it seemed to work. Then I tried in my hotel's parking lot - 4 miles away - and it seemed to work.

Now I am back "home" and I have all 3 of my MBP's running off of my iPhone's hotspot.

So I *think* that may have been the issue, but time will tell...

(I vaguely recall having a similar issue when I bought my AT&T hotspot back like 10 years ago. And after they reset my SIM card and/or account, things worked fine from then on out. Something about needing to re-synch with the local cell towers?)

Now if I could just get the pr cks at Twitter to unsuspend my never used account I'd be golden...

 

[Ambrosia7177]

Just an update since it is Friday...

Looks like I have gotten my iPhone hotspot issues resolved.

Ever since I visited a local AT&T store and they "reset" my SIM card, things eem to be working.

I only had one day where I couldn't get my hotspot to appear on a cheap ASUS Windows tablet that I have, but no real concerns there.

More important is that I seem to be able to connect to all 3 of my MBPs any time I want.

Hopefully things stay working?! *fingers crossed*