Tethering with an Alcatel Pixi 3

[#1]

Has anybody had any luck getting wifi tethering to work on an Alcatel Pixi 3 3.5 mobile phone and a PlusNet PAYG sim?

I can get mine to work on an EE PAYG sim no problem, but the PlusNet sim just won't have it.  It'll let me connect another device (PC, tablet etc) wirelessly but I get no internet.  I have a Moto G4 and the PlusNet sim works flawlessly for tethering on that.

I've checked the APN settings and they look fine. 

Any ideas?

[#2]

Hi ChuftSoFar,

Thanks for getting in touch with us!

Our SIM cards are 30 day rolling contracts; meaning that you pay a monthly line rental for your bundle allowance which will refresh on the same date every month and if you wish to leave, you have to give us 30 days notice of termination. If you would like any further information regarding this, feel free to ask away!

With regards to tethering, our SIMS do hold this functionality however, it is not guaranteed and depends solely on the handset and if the handset allows. If the handset is not compatible with tethering or does not have this feature installed, I'm afraid we cannot offer technical support with this. 

While we don't offer technical support with handsets or specific devices, I have performed a quick Google search to help you with this. The following is what I have found:

• Tap the Settings icon.
• Tap More.
• Tap Tethering & Portable Hotspot.
• Tap Wi-Fi Hotspot.
• Tap the status switch beside Off.
• Tap Set Up Wi-Fi Hotspot.

You can always give the Alcatel Tech Support Team a call on 02074 580026. 

I hope this helps ChuftSoFar! 

- Rebeka 

[#3]

Hi Rebeka, I think you misunderstood me.

I don't wish to leave plusnet and this alcatel phone does support hotspot tethering and is working on an EE sim. It just isn't working on plusnet.

I shall give alcatel a call but it seems plusnet related to me.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Have a look at https://community.plus.net/t5/Mobile/Tethering/td-p/1406005

[#5]

Thanks for the link Colin, unfortunately it didn't help me though, it seems more to do with chinese phones.

I got a response from Alcatel and here's a snippet of what they say:

"if the hotspot function itself turns on just fine but there is no internet on the WiFi network provided by the phone, you should contact your network operator to check for APN errors or if they monitor hotspot traffic differently."

What are the current APN settings that I can try?

[#6]

Hi ChuftSoFar,

The current APN settings for Android are as follows:

1. Go to Menu > Settings > Wireless & Networks (or More) > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names > Menu > New APN

2. Without changing any other settings, type in the following info:

   Name: EE Internet
   APN: everywhere
   Username: eesecure
   Password: secure
   MMSC: http://mms/
   MMS Proxy: 149.254.201.135
   MMS Port: 8080
   Authentication type: PAP
   APN type: If there's a choice, choose internet+mms. If the keyboard appears, type* 

3. Tap Menu, then Save

4. To start your new APN, make sure the line is ticked or the radio button is lit by tapping on it.
5. Check the notification bar for 4G, H, 3G, E or G with up and down arrows beside it. That'll show your connection is working.

- Rebeka 

[#7]

Alcatel are owned by a Chinese company.

Make sure to delete all other APN's (and profiles if they exist although that's more for iPhones) and reboot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCL_Corporation

TCL's primary products are ... GSM and CDMA mobile phones,

It primarily sells its products under the TCL brand name in ...; under the Alcatel (mobile phones) and Thomson (TV) brands in Europe.

[#8]

Still no hotspot joy with adding those APN settings Rebeka.  As before, my PC connected to the phone and the phone shows 'H+' but still no internet.

Is there anything else I could try? Say there is

Does it make any difference that the phone is 3G NOT 4G?

[#9]

 @ChuftSoFar

Hi Cuftsofar

The link that Colin provided above does indeed refer to Chinese imports but I’ve heard this problem also effects some UK stock Samsung phones too so if you ignore the references to Chinese phones the problem seems to be the same one, whatever that problem actually is as I don’t know.

Do a Google for ‘DF Tethering Fix_1.9.3’ and read up on how to use that APK file and more important has anyone used it without having to route the phone.

As for the phone being 3G only does not effect tethering in itself it just means in general, slower download speeds than 4G.

[#10]

Hi ChuftSoFar,

Do you not have any data on your handset either? Or is it just data when trying to tether?

- Rebeka 

[#11]

@ChrisAtBristol

I had a look at the DF fix and it says it requires a rooted phone.  I don't really fancy rooting my phone to test it out.

@RebekaPreston

With tethering switched on or off; my phone can get internet fine.  It's any device that uses the hotspot that can't get the internet.

[#12]

@ChuftSoFar

You are right to not wanting to meddle with rooting but just to verify that the Chinese theory is the problem you could try a sim from another network to see if that works as other sims from other network work (PN didn’t) in my phone before rooting the phone and applying the DF fix.

That will not fix your problem but at least you will know what the problem is, well sort of know because I don’t know myself what’s causing this.

[#13]

I have a similar problem to the original poster. Alcatel pixi 4 though. Internet and tethering fine on Virgin, but no tethering with plusnet. Internet on, phones linked but no Data sharing. Tried putting in the settings you gave, no difference. My wife was going to move to plus net from Virgin too, but now is unsure as its very handy to share Data if one of us runs out, plus I wanted to use it for my laptop, but no joy there either.

[#14]

Sometimes adding the 'dun' option to the APN type will work. If not then use the 2nd option in colin_maybe's link above. I.e the settings put global tether_dun_required 0

This does not require rooting the phone, it does require enabling usb debugging ( you can disable it again afterwards ) and installing ADB on a pc

[#15]

DUN and done! Such a simple answer thank you! Why couldn't plusnet tell me that on the phone...