Disable hotspot support for account?

[Notre]

Hi,

I'm considering switching my kids phones over to public mobile. I'd like to select a plan with a small amount of data. The one thing I'm concerned about is the ability to use the phone's data as a wifi hotspot. I'd like to turn that off, so that they don't blow through their data. Both children have iPhones, and there's no ability to restrict that with iPhones. (You can turn off hotspots, but there's no way to prevent the child from turning it back on). Is it possible for Public Mobile to disable hotspot support on my children's account, if I switch over to public mobile for their phones?

[AE_Collector]

I flip back and forth between a Moto X Play Android Phone and iPhone 6s Plus. I do find the lack of controls on Apple both disappointing and surprising. I can set data to alert me AND STOP at  any level until I bump the alert level with my Android phone but not the iPhone.

[will13am]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@GinYVR wrote:

@NotreI would interpret the ability to turn on / off hotspot ability on the account side has been broken? ie you cannot turn off data on your kids' phones.

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I've never actually heard of any carrier who would entertain requests to disable hotspot. Some carriers (not necessarily Canadian carriers) have taken steps to block such a feature, but this wasn't at the request of the customer.

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Long ago Public Mobile had two different APNs one of which was supposedly intended for hotspot.  That was deprecated for all the time that I have been here.  

[will13am]

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@Notre wrote:

I spoke with the moderator for a while.  The moderator said the hotspot functionality was broken for iOS and Android.  I'm a Public Mobile customer and I'm using an old Windows Phone.  I can report that the hotspot functionality does work with my Windows Phone.  I can't test it with an iPhone as the SIM card sizes are different.  The moderator said there was no way either through self serve or for Public Mobile technician/support to change a setting on an account to disable hotspot support.  But the moderator said it is broken in general, and has been for some time (I guess despite my success on Windows Phone)....

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Recently, I was away from home for a couple of weeks where I was doing a lot of hotspotting successfully.  I just tried again right now.  Hotspot works.  I am using an android phone.  I respectfully disagree with who ever gave you the wrong information.

[computergeek541]

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@GinYVR wrote:

@NotreI would interpret the ability to turn on / off hotspot ability on the account side has been broken? ie you cannot turn off data on your kids' phones.

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I've never actually heard of any carrier who would entertain requests to disable hotspot. Some carriers (not necessarily Canadian carriers) have taken steps to block such a feature, but this wasn't at the request of the customer.

[GinYVR]

@NotreI would interpret the ability to turn on / off hotspot ability on the account side has been broken? ie you cannot turn off data on your kids' phones.

[computergeek541]

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@Notre wrote:

I spoke with the moderator for a while.  The moderator said the hotspot functionality was broken for iOS and Android.  I'm a Public Mobile customer and I'm using an old Windows Phone.  I can report that the hotspot functionality does work with my Windows Phone.  I can't test it with an iPhone as the SIM card sizes are different.  The moderator said there was no way either through self serve or for Public Mobile technician/support to change a setting on an account to disable hotspot support.  But the moderator said it is broken in general, and has been for some time (I guess despite my success on Windows Phone)....

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No, it is not broken. It works just as it should. Public Mobile has no restrictions on hotspot usage, so I'm unsure as to why a moderator would say that.

[Notre]

I spoke with the moderator for a while.  The moderator said the hotspot functionality was broken for iOS and Android.  I'm a Public Mobile customer and I'm using an old Windows Phone.  I can report that the hotspot functionality does work with my Windows Phone.  I can't test it with an iPhone as the SIM card sizes are different.  The moderator said there was no way either through self serve or for Public Mobile technician/support to change a setting on an account to disable hotspot support.  But the moderator said it is broken in general, and has been for some time (I guess despite my success on Windows Phone)....

[Notre]

Thanks @geopublic.  I sent a message to the moderator. I'll let the group know what they say

[geopublic]

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@Notre wrote:

The kids phones while iPhones are nearly dumb phones in nature because of restrictions.  Youtube is blocked on their phones, so there's no apps on the phone that will consume a lot of data.

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@Notre  Won't hurt to contact the PM moderator team and ask them if they can disable the hotspot feature at the account level. When you get a response please share it with us. 

To contact Public Mobile click here. The link  sends you to the private message function and adds the moderator team as recipient for a private message. You just have to enter a title and text in the body of the message describing the problem and post. The message will be received by the moderator team and they will respond to it. You will receive the response in your private message inbox.

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[Notre]

The kids phones while iPhones are nearly dumb phones in nature because of restrictions.  Youtube is blocked on their phones, so there's no apps on the phone that will consume a lot of data.

[Notre]

Thanks for your reply.  They do have wifi at home.  It's at other situations whether they may use their phone as a hotspot and then not have any data left for the rest of their period

[Notre]

That is good, for sure, that there's no overages!  I'd like them not to blow through their alloted data so they can use it for stuff they 'need' as opposed to want spur of the moment.  An example is the find my iphone functionality, which would be unusable unless they happened to be connected to wifi at the time

[lakshmikanth]

No there is no option like that , Anyway you will run out of data 

[stonechucker]

@Notre, maybe set a hotspot password on both devices they do not know.  At least they'll have to go and find it to change it.  If it's really a concern, perhaps install 'NetNanny' type software would be a good idea.

It's the home version of corporate firewalls policy settings and other such evil that no one likes.  Others call it a parenting tool.

[stonechucker]

What are you expecting them to use the phone as a hotspot for?

The hotspot is meant for sharing the phone's data - do they have WiFi devices or game consoles that don't already have home WiFi?

[geopublic · Accepted solution]

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@Notre wrote:

Hi,

I'm considering switching my kids phones over to public mobile. I'd like to select a plan with a small amount of data. The one thing I'm concerned about is the ability to use the phone's data as a wifi hotspot. I'd like to turn that off, so that they don't blow through their data. Both children have iPhones, and there's no ability to restrict that with iPhones. (You can turn off hotspots, but there's no way to prevent the child from turning it back on). Is it possible for Public Mobile to disable hotspot support on my children's account, if I switch over to public mobile for their phones?

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@Notre  Unfortunately no there isn't. Not sure though why they would need the hotspot to use up all their data. They just need to turn data on and start watching youtube videos and they can use it up pretty quickly as well.

[ChuckYeah]

No, but on the plus side, no overages. So if they do it, they'll just run out of data and have to wait for the plan to cycle to do it again... Or maybe not!