Unable to create wifi hotspot

[jzmtl]

This is seriously frustrating, since the reason I bought big data pack on my phone is so I can be the hotspot for family members when we are all out.

My phone is an unlocked Galaxy S5, when I was with Bell everything works without a hitch, now it's completely unable to work.

I can start a wifi hotspot no problem, and other devices can connect no problem, however no data is getting through. My windows 10 laptop is stuck on "identifying" step, and other phones just show wifi symbol with an "!". 

Google lead me to some old posts here regarding incorrect APN, but I checked my APN and it seems to be correct. There's Mobile Internet on sp.mb.com, with APN type as default,supl,mms. And Tethered Mobile Internet on isp.mb.com, with APN type dun. These are correct settings according to the old forum post I found.

There's literally no change except Bell to Koodo, so I can only conclude the problem is with Koodo's network. 

Any help?

[Ausman]

Great stuff! Worked like a charm

[Rorschtet]

Hi, I'm using Mi A1 with Andriod 8.1.0.  I am also facing the same tethering problem. I cannot share my phone's internet to any other devices (laptop, phone) but I can connect other devices to my phone's hotspot. I have tried all the methods you guys mentioned above including adding dun to my carrier's APN setting but it keeps saying my mobile carrier doesn't allow adding type of duns. 

PS: I just updated my phone System this morning and hotspot sharing was working fine before updating my phone.

[jzmtl]

That is strange. Is the APN setting coming from SIM or network? There is a default one that I can reset to after mucking around with it, so I tend to believe it's from SIM. 

[outdoorsaddix]

@jzmtl iPhones get the correct APN setting automatically, I don't know too much about network technology, does anyone know why Androids don't? I am curious. 

[jzmtl]

Although it would be simpler if PM could just programmed their network/sim to give the correct APN to begin with lol. 

[will13am]

Glad our worked for you, because happy wife = happy life.    I wish this forum had a sticky feature so that popular questions like this one stays on the front page.

[jzmtl]

This is embarrasing. I swear I tried adding dun to APN type multiple times when I was troubleshooting several weeks ago and it never worked. But now it does, tether went through... So I don't know what to say besides what, the, ....

Hopefully it'll keep working when I need it, wouldn't want to incur any wrath from the wife. 

Thanks!

[will13am · Accepted solution]

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@jzmtl wrote:

Oh yes, many times, I actuall first noticed this problem several weeks ago and tried that APN setting. Mine defaults to none for the MVNO setting, changing it to GID/4D4F actually cause the phone itself to unable to connect to mobile network. 

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It is interesting that having data in the MVNO fields prevents connection to the network.  I use an Oppo Find 7a and One Plus One on this network and both use GID/4D4F in the MVNO fields.  There is no problem at all connecting to the network.

On your problem with tethering, what you need to do is use the sp.mb.com APN, but add dun to the APN type field.  In other words the APN type field should be default,mms,dun,supl.  That should resolve your tethering problem. 

BTW, I have recommended this to a few other customers having tethering problems and it has worked.  I am confident it will work in your case as well.  I wish somehow the reference to the tethering APN can be removed from the system because it contains incorrect information.

[Indexx]

That's pretty odd, I see why you're frustrated, I would be too.

Some more solutions that come to mind:

1. Try changing the wifi security to "open" if you haven't already done that, to see if it might be a problem with passwords, security, etc.
 

2. Try changing the mobile tethering so it would be the same as mobile internet ("sp.mb.com")

3. Try reseting APN settings and starting over:
Three dots in the APN settings menu lets you "Reset to Default"

This seems to be a problem with the tethering APN settings on your phone.

As a last (and unwanted) resort try using a third party app, such as FoxFi.

[jzmtl]

Oh yes, many times, I actuall first noticed this problem several weeks ago and tried that APN setting. Mine defaults to none for the MVNO setting, changing it to GID/4D4F actually cause the phone itself to unable to connect to mobile network. 

[Indexx]

Have you tried restarting your phone? I know that weird issues like this sometimes fix themselves with a restart 🙂 at least for me they do.

Also, I'm looking at this thread with APN settings:

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Phones-Hardware/How-do-I-set-up-data-APN-on-my-smartph...


Make sure the MVNO settings on your phone are the same as on that post.

MVNO settings change between Telus/Koodo/Public.