Personal hotspot - iPhone 5s vs Android phones

[Oohara]

Hi everyone,

Posting in this subforum because I'm looking for answers preferably from folks who have experience with the personal wifi hotspot on the iPhone 5s as well as android phones, and who use the hotspot not just with Apple products but with different setups, including Windows PC.

Is the personal wifi hotspot of the iPhone 5s reliable, and does it stay on indefinitely even with the screen turned off, or with other apps running on top?

I switched from iPhones to a Note 2 this year and the hotspot on the Note 2 has been infinitely better than that of the 4S. With the 4S I was forced to leave the screen on always to keep the hotspot running, and even then it would sometimes just stop working. I also had trouble connecting with more than one device at a time or when switching devices.

With the Note 2 it always works. It kicks into action almost instantly, the 4G speed is transmitted flawlessly and it never shuts down, no matter what devices I connect or how long the phone sleeps, or even when I for instance surf the web on the phone while running a stream on my tethered Windows laptop at the same time.

I'm asking because I'm considering getting a 5s as well, but I really need the hotspot to work as on the Note 2. I don't want to pay extra for LTE functionality on future tablets and I need to be able to connect reliably to it with my Windows laptop.

Thanks for reading and please leave any snide Android vs iOS comments out of this thread

 

[nefan65]

I used the iPhone 5 Hotspot a few months back, and it stayed on regardless of the screen on or not. It worked quite well, but did get hot. And battery drained quick, so I had to plug it in.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Hi everyone,

Posting in this subforum because I'm looking for answers preferably from folks who have experience with the personal wifi hotspot on the iPhone 5s as well as android phones, and who use the hotspot not just with Apple products but with different setups, including Windows PC.

Is the personal wifi hotspot of the iPhone 5s reliable, and does it stay on indefinitely even with the screen turned off, or with other apps running on top?

I switched from iPhones to a Note 2 this year and the hotspot on the Note 2 has been infinitely better than that of the 4S. With the 4S I was forced to leave the screen on always to keep the hotspot running, and even then it would sometimes just stop working. I also had trouble connecting with more than one device at a time or when switching devices.

With the Note 2 it always works. It kicks into action almost instantly, the 4G speed is transmitted flawlessly and it never shuts down, no matter what devices I connect or how long the phone sleeps, or even when I for instance surf the web on the phone while running a stream on my tethered Windows laptop at the same time.

I'm asking because I'm considering getting a 5s as well, but I really need the hotspot to work as on the Note 2. I don't want to pay extra for LTE functionality on future tablets and I need to be able to connect reliably to it with my Windows laptop.

Thanks for reading and please leave any snide Android vs iOS comments out of this thread

Take a look at this thread on what I posted about tethering. It's works on my S4, might work on the Note 2. Worth a try. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1624644/

 

[3bs]

Devices won't connect unless you're in the Personal Hotspot settings page on your iPhone which is a huge PITA.

 

[Oohara]

Devices won't connect unless you're in the Personal Hotspot settings page on your iPhone which is a huge PITA.

This was indeed very annoying with the 4S. Do you know if this the same way on the 5s?

Take a look at this thread on what I posted about tethering. It's works on my S4, might work on the Note 2. Worth a try. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1624644/

Thanks man but the tethering on my Note 2 already works perfectly

I used the iPhone 5 Hotspot a few months back, and it stayed on regardless of the screen on or not. It worked quite well, but did get hot. And battery drained quick, so I had to plug it in.

Thanks, did you use it a lot though? I keep reading a lot of complaints also from people using the iP5, like in this thread. What I'm hoping is that something will have improved with the upgrade to 5s/iOS 7, but I can't find any info on that yet.

 

[3bs]

Personal hotspot - iPhone 5s vs Android phones

This was indeed very annoying with the 4S. Do you know if this the same way on the 5s?

It's still the same on my 5S unfortunately. It works great otherwise but I'm using a Mac.

 

[Oohara]

It's still the same on my 5S unfortunately. It works great otherwise but I'm using a Mac.

Ah ok, that's too bad. I could live with that as long as it worked well otherwise though, good to hear that it does (on Mac at least). Have you used it with iPad or any other tablet?

 

[3bs]

Personal hotspot - iPhone 5s vs Android phones

Ah ok, that's too bad. I could live with that as long as it worked well otherwise though, good to hear that it does (on Mac at least). Have you used it with iPad or any other tablet?

Yes I have with my iPad Mini and Galaxy S4 and it works fine with those too as well. It's not a big deal having to go into the settings it's just a bit annoying so I don't think that should away your decision.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Thanks man but the tethering on my Note 2 already works perfectly

.

Sorry, I misread.

 

[Oohara]

Yes I have with my iPad Mini and Galaxy S4 and it works fine with those too as well. It's not a big deal having to go into the settings it's just a bit annoying so I don't think that should away your decision.

Cool, that's very good to know (The setup I'm considering is an iPad Air + Nexus 7 + Windows laptop.)

How hot does it run with prolonged use of the hotspot? My 4S would actually get really hot after 10 minutes or so, to the point where I feared it might actually take damage (I always use a case).

 

[3bs]

Cool, that's very good to know (The setup I'm considering is an iPad Air + Nexus 7 + Windows laptop.)

How hot does it run with prolonged use of the hotspot? My 4S would actually get really hot after 10 minutes or so, to the point where I feared it might actually take damage (I always use a case).

It gets pretty hot but I can't tell you how hot off the top of my head.

 

[Oohara]

Sorry, I misread.

Hey no worries. Actually I might take the opportunity to ask - how hot does your S4 get when running the hotspot? iPhones seem to get very hot, my Note 2 doesn't change temperature whatsoever... I'm wondering if this comes down simply to size, i.e. more material to lead off the heat = less heat in phone? If so, iPhones would always be doomed to get really hot when running the hotspot.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Hey no worries. Actually I might take the opportunity to ask - how hot does your S4 get when running the hotspot? iPhones seem to get very hot, my Note 2 doesn't change temperature whatsoever... I'm wondering if this comes down simply to size, i.e. more material to lead off the heat = less heat in phone? If so, iPhones would always be doomed to get really hot when running the hotspot.

Doesn't get hot at all when tethering. Only thing that gets my S4 hot is having the screen on for a long period of time. The i4S use to get pretty hot and burn battery lige much quicker when tethering. Can't speak for the 5 and above.

 

[Shuri]

Doesn't get hot at all when tethering. Only thing that gets my S4 hot is having the screen on for a long period of time. The i4S use to get pretty hot and burn battery lige much quicker when tethering. Can't speak for the 5 and above.

The 5 doesn't get this hot, but still. And battery drops quickly. But you don't need to leave the screen on, thats for sure. (referring to the ops experience with the 4S)

 

[Jessica Lares]

Heh. I had a MacBook Pro, iPod Touch 4th gen, iPad Mini, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle Fire, and an iPhone all hooked up to my Android hotspot before.

Running Netflix.



And I usually use the hotspot to load up videos when I'm in the car for awhile.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I never tethered when I had an iPhone because I never had any devices to tether to. Tethering is really easy and works well on android. I've been able to tether my iPod touch, galaxy tab 2, iPad mini, chromebook, kindle paperwhite and another S3 phone simultaneously to my s4 and previous galaxy note.

 

[ChazUK]

Bluetooth tethering is far less power consuming from my experience. I do use that when possible on my HTC One.

 

[Oohara]

I never tethered when I had an iPhone because I never had any devices to tether to. Tethering is really easy and works well on android. I've been able to tether my iPod touch, galaxy tab 2, iPad mini, chromebook, kindle paperwhite and another S3 phone simultaneously to my s4 and previous galaxy note.

Yeah, my Note 2's hotspot really works quite flawlessly too.

Now I'm hoping that the 5s will be just as good in this regard, with the most important part being that its hotspot doesn't shut down spontaneously, regardless of the screen being on or off.

Anyone else with experience of running the wifi hotspot on their 5s?

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I've heard if a carrier doesn't update your IMEI in their system, it can cause intermittent issues with tethering on iPhones. That's only if you pay for it though. Don't know if it's true or not.

 

[macred]

Thus far I'm finding the personal hotspot of my Note 3 out performs that of my wife's 5S. That's not a knock on iOS7, just a fact of life.

 

[Oohara]

Thus far I'm finding the personal hotspot of my Note 3 out performs that of my wife's 5S. That's not a knock on iOS7, just a fact of life.

In what way is the 5s hotspot worse?

 

[macred]

In what way is the 5s hotspot worse?

The 5S doesn't send a very strong signal. I first tested it at home under known conditions, as long as I had the receiving device (iPad 4) in the same room & within a few feet it was decent. Yet disconnects were an issue and quite random at that.

When using the Note 3 as the hotspot, the connection was locked on no matter where I went with the iPad, and my home is quite large. Also the N3 had no problem serving more than one device, whereas the iPhone wouldn't.

So that was my experience which seems to be in line with those at work who've tried it with their iPhone 5S models.

It may be due to the fact that the antenna performance of the N3 is pretty amazing. It's never dropped a call and voice calls are very clear with good quality sound.

 

[maxxed]

The Note3 tethering is far better for Wifi tethering connections than my 5S. Simply put, Personal Hotspot sucks and to keep having to 'turn it off and on again' is a waste of time.

The note3 is always on and you dont have to be on the hotspot page on the phone to connect devices. Its nice having an ipad just connect and work, without messing around.

Having said that, usb tethering sucks on android and the note3, especially with macos.

 

[Oohara]

The Note3 tethering is far better for Wifi tethering connections than my 5S. Simply put, Personal Hotspot sucks and to keep having to 'turn it off and on again' is a waste of time.

The note3 is always on and you dont have to be on the hotspot page on the phone to connect devices. Its nice having an ipad just connect and work, without messing around.

Having said that, usb tethering sucks on android and the note3, especially with macos.

Ugh. This is so annoying. My plans for going iPhone + Wifi Nexus 7 don't seem to be realistic given the state of iPhone hotspots. And today I found out that my carrier has JUST stopped all dual sim deals for my awesome 15 gb/month plan, so the backup plan of iPhone + LTE Nexus 7 is out the window too.

Looks like it'll have to be a) shell out on a separate tablet data plan or b) live with intermittent disconnects on the tablet/fiddling with iOS settings menu ad nauseam or c) scrap those iPhone plans alltogether.

My first world life, so hard!!

 

[Stuntman06]

Hey no worries. Actually I might take the opportunity to ask - how hot does your S4 get when running the hotspot? iPhones seem to get very hot, my Note 2 doesn't change temperature whatsoever... I'm wondering if this comes down simply to size, i.e. more material to lead off the heat = less heat in phone? If so, iPhones would always be doomed to get really hot when running the hotspot.

I have an SGS3. I've not noticed my phone getting hot when turning on the hotspot. The only time it gets warm is when the screen is on. I use Waze whenever I drive and it does get quite warm.