Create hotspot on iPad for laptop

[Tomski]

Hello, everybody.

I have an iPad with a data plan but I also need to use my laptop at times when I am on the road and there is no wifi (some of my work applications don’t run well on the tablet or phone). 
When I try to enable hotspot on my iPad, I get the message “contact Telus”.

I’ve tried the various non-human “help” services but can’t get any answers.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A big thanks to all of you who provide great answers here 🙂

Cheers,

Andreas.

[Luddite]

@Tomski  Why not switch your current phone plan to the $40 plan? Of course switch SIM cards until you've used up the data on your iPad SIM. 

[Tomski]

Never ears of a thing like that but will look into it. Thank you!

[Tomski]

Will check into that. Thank you!

[wetcoaster]

---

@Nezgar wrote:

@Tomski  I guess one other option is to take the SIM you currently have in the iPad and put it into a dedicated hotspot device like a Novatel MiFi, ZTE MF928, or similar... Then both devices can use the mobile hotpot, but I guess it still is a 3rd "thing" to carry around...

---

I use a $40/15GB plan in a ZTE MF928 when I'm on the road, and after spending more time on set-up than I had hoped for, it works flawlessly and doesn't take up any room at all, really.

@Tomski 

Not a 🍎 person, so I'm not sure if that iPad carrier setting limitation applies to Koodo's phone plans as well, but if it doesn't then you could jump on that current $39/20GB promo?

[Nezgar]

@Tomski  I guess one other option is to take the SIM you currently have in the iPad and put it into a dedicated hotspot device like a Novatel MiFi, ZTE MF928, or similar... Then both devices can use the mobile hotpot, but I guess it still is a 3rd "thing" to carry around...

[Tomski]

Thanks for this.

I think you are right in that Public has not changed anything on this.

I wanted to avoid having to use my iPhone as a hotspot ever so I can keep my minimum sized data plan. 
Maybe it would be worth switching back to Koodo then for the $60 tablet data plan as that might let me create a hotspot for my laptop (and phone, if needed) but I would have to confirm that with Koodo first.

Thanks everybody!

[Tomski]

I guess what I have for the iPad is technically a cell phone plan but I am not using anything other than data. I have a 20 GB plan on 4G that costs $50 all included. Quite pleased with it and so much cheaper than with any other company. 
However, you are right that Public does not really offer tablet plans, which is why I started with Koodo on a tablet plan. This gave me a cell number that I could then transfer to Public. So, now I have a Koodo SIM card that I had to buy but am no longer using. I only paid pro-rated fees on the Koodo service as long as I had it but since the cheapest tablet plan with Koodo was $60 all included per month, I’m fine.

Looking forward to read some other responses.

[LitlLdy]

@CalgaryBen , ahhh, that makes sense! Thank you for taking the time to reply so quickly! I wasn’t sure if it was possible through Public Mobile!

[softech]

on the APN side, Android is much more flexible.  Apple is fully locked down and nothing we can do 😞

[CalgaryBen · Accepted solution]

---

@Tomski wrote:

I have an iPad with a data plan but I also need to use my laptop at times when I am on the road and there is no wifi (some of my work applications don’t run well on the tablet or phone). 
When I try to enable hotspot on my iPad, I get the message “contact Telus”.

---

---

@LitlLdy wrote:

@CalgaryBen , since you’re good with Apple devices, any advice? 🙂

---

See this article I wrote back in 2019... specifically the "Note" at the end.  I think it's still applicable, unless Public Mobile produced a carrier profile for iPads (but I don't think they have).  I've copied it here, for reference:

@CalgaryBen wrote:

Note: You're going to be disappointed if you want to use the iPad to provide a "Personal Hotspot" (access point) for other devices, as you basically can't do this on Public Mobile.  It's not because of a rule or policy at PM, or a limitation of the iPad.  It's due to the lack of a Public Mobile Carrier profile for iPads to configure the Personal Hotspot APN (or allowing it to be configured by the user).  If you go Settings --> Cellular Data --> Set Up Personal Hotspot, you'l see a prompt indicating "To enable personal hotspot on this account, contact TELUS".  The TELUS carrier profile that gets loaded on the iPad allows the user to configure the data APN, but pre-configures the Personal Hotspot APN (under the hood) to isp.telus.com, hence the iPad indicating that it essentially cannot get an IP address from PM using this APN and to contact the provider to provision the account/line to use this APN (which PM of course can't).

---

On a side note, I think corporate IT departments have a tool for managing/administering iPads, and can configure this stuff, but I'm not sure (I don't work in IT!), but that might be an avenue to pursue.  Otherwise, using the iPhone as a hotspot seem to be a better solution.

[LitlLdy]

---

@Tomski wrote:

Hello, everybody.

I have an iPad with a data plan but I also need to use my laptop at times when I am on the road and there is no wifi (some of my work applications don’t run well on the tablet or phone). 
When I try to enable hotspot on my iPad, I get the message “contact Telus”.

I’ve tried the various non-human “help” services but can’t get any answers.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A big thanks to all of you who provide great answers here 🙂

Cheers,

Andreas.

---

@Tomski , I thought Public Mobile didn’t have plans (data only plans) for non cell phone devices! Unless you’re using a cell phone plan from here but I’ve never tried it!

I use my iPhone as a personal hotspot to my iPad but haven’t tried anything else! I think it would use up way to much data! Someone with more experience may respond on here to tell you how! Sorry, I’m so help!

Edit: This is the only advice I could find from Apple If Personal Hotspot is not working on your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular) 

@CalgaryBen , since you’re good with Apple devices, any advice? 🙂