Internet connection

Missing Personal Hotspot on iPhone? How to enable Internet tethering if your carrier disabled it.

NOTE: THIS POST WAS WRITTEN FOR IPHONE IOS 4.x. THIS POST MAY NOT NECESSARILY HELP YOU IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH VERSION 6.x AND LATER.

Here is the solution to get Internet tethering (sharing) back if you are suddenly missing Personal Hotspot with iPhone’s iOS 4.3.5 upgrade.

My post about tethering the iPhone Internet connection with the iPad was one of the most popular until Personal Hotspot was introduced in iOS 4.3. I thought it was the end of the problem with tethering. Very short-lived though as iPhone allows the carrier to disable Personal Hotspot. A friend of mine who is on Go Mobile Malta lost his Personal Hotspot function when he upgraded to iOS 4.3.5.

No problem.. this is how we sorted it out! The following works and gets Personal Hotspot and re-enables Internet tethering if your carrier stops it.

1. Take note of your cellular data settings before you proceed. If you don’t complete this step, stop here. The configurations are available at Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network.

2. We will now reset these to original factory settings. Settings > General > Reset. Here choose Reset Network Settings. iPhone will ask you to enter your personal code if your passcode lock activated. The phone will reboot to reset. Keep your fingers crossed :)

3. Return to the APN settings screen we talked about in step 1 (Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network) and complete all the settings details copied before. You will find that in addition to this there is an Internet Tethering section at the very bottom. Use the same APN key as for the Cellular Data section which you will find at the very top of this screen.

Cellular Data Internet Tethering for Personal Hotspot on iPhone
Cellular Data Internet Tethering for Personal Hotspot on iPhone

4. Once you have the APN settings complete you need to return to the “Network” screen. Click on the Network back arrow shown below to do this.

Network Back Arrow

5. From the Network screen switch Off the Mobile Data and then switch it On again. You may not need this step but sometimes it helps to kind of reset the data connection with your carrier.

After you have completed the above you will find that there is a Personal Hotspot option in the Settings screen.

And Hey Presto! Enjoy using your mobile Internet connection with other devices like iPad, Macbook or your other laptop while you’re on the go. You can even share your iPhone’s Internet with friends over WiFi or Bluetooth.

Will your Kia be tethering iPhone’s internet connection and taking commands through Siri?

Attention:

If this solution has worked for you please share it with others.  One more click to tweet this solution or post it on your facebook.

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Share iPhone 4 Internet connection with your iPad

Have you tried to tether your iPhone 4 internet connection to share it with your iPad? It’s not possible. But now that iOS 4.3 software update is out and downloadable through iTunes, iPhone 4 users are offered a new function called Personal Hotspot. Apple’s website says… “Enable Personal Hotspot and share your mobile data connection with your Mac, PC, iPad or other Wi-Fi-capable device. You can share your connection with up to five devices at once over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB.” Thanks Apple…. it’s been a long while coming but we’re all grateful that this basic feature is finally here.

In my post on iPad 2 of the 14 March I had mentioned the Piper Jaffray survey that found that 65% of those who bought an iPad 2 on its US launch date already owned an iPhone. Now, I ask, will any iPhone user buy an iPad 2 with 3G? Probably not. It will be interesting to look at the trends of purchases following Apple’s release of Personal Hotspot on iOS 4.3.

Troubleshooting Bluetooth Internet Tethering on iPhone 4

Many seem to have problems getting to share their 3G internet connection over bluetooth between their iPhone and their Mac. It’s called Tethering. And if you look up this issue, many posts will just tell you to forget it because your carrier probably doesn’t allow it.

Persistence brought me to a solution. Macbook was telling me the pairing was successful. iPhone was telling me Tethering was ON, but that my Macbook had been discovered and “Not Connected”. The solution lies with fixing the Bluetooth PAN settings on the Macbook. But first remove all links that the iPhone and Macbook created between them during previous pairing attempts.

Here’s the blog post from @Peaz2.0 that tells you how to reconfigure Bluetooth PAN. When you’ve done it you can tether your iPhone 4’s internet connection with your Macbook. You will know that it’s working because a blue bar will appear on your iPhone just like the one below.