Why is my hotspot not working verizon

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I am currently working from home and my mobile hotspot is crucial for me, especially at times when my Wi-Fi stops working.

Connecting my mobile data to my laptop through the hotspot is the best solution to problems like the lights going out or a problem with the Wi-Fi connection. 

However recently whenever I tried to connect to my laptop via hotspot I would have to turn my laptop on and off and then the same with my hotspot as well. And once it was visible and I clicked on it, it refused to connect. 

So I scoured the internet looking for a solution to the problem and having read through all the relevant articles and information I finally came up with this guide with step-by-step troubleshooting to solve the problem. 

In case your Mobile Hotspot through Verizon is not working you should restart your phone, check if you have selected the right bandwidth, check if you are in a coverage area, and check your network settings.

In this article I have talked about the various reasons for your Verizon mobile hotspot not working and various ways to solve this problem including turning airplane mode on and off, turning off power saving mode, updating the software, and checking if Verizon has a network outage. 

The Verizon hotspot on your phone might have stopped working for a variety of reasons. Some of these may be:

• Issues with phone carriers- It is possible that you might be facing technical issues with your current phone carrier and it is possible that your current plan may not include a hotspot facility. In this case, you need to contact Verizon support and check if hotspot facilities are included in your current plan
• Signal Strength- It is possible to check if you are in an area that is receiving sufficient coverage from Verizon and that your signal strength is sufficient to support another device. You should also check if your mobile data has got used up
• Settings- You may have to activate the hotspot feature on your phone before you can use it. It is also possible that you got the Wi-Fi password wrong or that there is an issue with your VPN settings
• Issues with payments- Some Verizon hotspot issues arise because of problems with plans and due payments
• Power saving mode- Sometimes the problem with your hotspot may have arisen because your phone is working on power-saving mode

Restart Your Phone

Often the data connection is slowed down or stops working because of software bugs on the phone. Restarting the device gets rid of these bugs. 

Restarting the phone also solves memory issues and clears the device cache which helps the device to work faster and more efficiently overall.

In order to restart your phone you simply need to press the volume low and the power buttons at the same time and select the restart option. 

Check If Your Have Run Out Of Bandwidth

Most newer phones use 5 GHz bandwidth to be able to transfer data faster. It is possible however that an older phone would have lower bandwidth and so you may need to switch to a lower frequency of around 2.4 GHz for your hotspot to work.

There are two separate ways of lowering your bandwidth depending on whether you are using an iPhone or an android device:

For iPhones:

• Open ‘settings’ and navigate to ‘personal hotspot’
• Select ‘maximize compatibility’ and your phone will switch to the right band

For Android devices:

• Open ‘settings’ and from there navigate to ‘connections’ or ‘network and internet’
• Now navigate to ‘mobile hotspot and tethering’
• Tap on ‘mobile hotspot’ and from here navigate to ‘configure’
• From here navigate to ‘band’ or ‘Wi-Fi hotspot’
• Tap ‘AP Band’ and select 2.4 GHz

Check If You Are In Coverage Area

Verizon has the largest mobile network coverage of any operator in the USA with around 70% area coverage with its 5G coverage at around 11% and still expanding.

There are still some parts of the USA however that receive lower coverage from Verizon. 

Verizon has the best coverage in the states of Arkansas, Georgia, and Kansas which are all covered entirely by the service while its coverage is the lowest in the states of West Virginia, Montana, Nevada, and Alaska.

The coverage in Alaska is abysmally low at around 2%, and the coverage in the other three states varies between 40-50%. 

You can check if you are in an area that receives Verizon coverage by checking this Verizon coverage map.

There are chances of poor connectivity in the home if you are in the basement or in a room filled with furniture. 

If you are in a rural area you might find that the signal cuts easily and your data which was working a minute back stops working quite suddenly.

In order to solve this problem, you have to move out of the area you are in, such as relocating to a new part of the house or moving to another location if you are in a rural area.

Check The Network And SIM Settings Of Your Device

The problem with your hotspot might be your network or SIM settings. You can access these differently on different devices.

On an iPhone:

• Go to ‘settings’ and click on ‘cellular’
• Click on the slider near the cellular data
• Tap on ‘personal hotspot’
• Select the slider that says ‘allow others’
• Customize your Wi-Fi hotspot with a password

On android devices:

• Go to ‘settings’ on your android device
• Select the ‘network and internet’ option
• Click on ‘hotspotting and tethering’
• Select ‘Wi-Fi hotspot’
• Enable the ‘bluetooth tethering’ option by clicking on it
• Customize your Wi-Fi hotspot with a password

In case your Hotspot is still not working you might consider resetting your network connections which should override any bugs or glitches in the software.

In order to reset your network settings you need to do the following depending on whether you have an iPhone or an Android:

For an iPhone:

• Navigate from ‘settings’ to ‘general’ and from there to ‘reset’
• Click on ‘reset network settings’
• You may have to enter a passcode to enter the settings
• Tap on ‘reset network settings’ again

For an android device:

• Navigate from ‘settings’ to ‘general management’ to ‘reset’
• Click on ‘reset network settings’ and then on ‘reset settings’
• On some models, you may need to tap ‘reset wifi, mobile, and bluetooth’ and then finally reset settings

In addition, you may want to check your SIM settings especially if you are using a dual SIM phone.

If you are, you may want to check that you have the right SIM selected for mobile data usage allowing your hotspot to pick up data from the right SIM.

Toggle Airplane Mode On And Off

Using Airplane Mode on your phone can help with turning off Wi-Fi and data and thus give your network a chance to reset and help with a resolution for the issue.

To turn on airplane mode use the following steps:

On an iPhone:

• Open ‘control centre’ by swiping the top right corner of your screen. 
• Select the airplane icon to turn on airplane mode. With this Wi-Fi and mobile data will turn off
• After 30 seconds click on the airplane icon again and connect to the hotspot

On an android device:

• Swipe down from the top of your screen to access the quick settings menu
• Click the airplane icon to turn on airplane mode. Wi-Fi and data will be turned off
• After 30 seconds click on the airplane icon again and try and connect to the hotspot

Turn Power Saving Mode Off

It is possible that the low battery on your phone has caused internet services to be turned off. So it is crucial to check the power saving mode. In order to do this:

For an iPhone:

• Open ‘settings’ and from there navigate  to ‘battery’ and then ‘low power mode’
• Tap the switch to turn it off

For an android device:

• Open ‘settings’ and from there navigate to ‘battery and device care’ and from there to ‘battery’
• Tap the ‘power saving mode’ switch to turn it off

Update The Software

At times a pending software update may be the cause of your Verizon hotspot not working.

The update might be related to the Wi-Fi and hotspot network. To resolve this issue check if your device has any pending software updates. In order to activate the software update on your phone you need to:

For iPhones:

• Navigate from ‘settings’ to ‘general’ to ‘software update’
• If an update is available tap install

For Android devices:

• Navigate from ‘settings’ to ‘about phone’ to ‘check now for update’
• If an update is available a button will appear
• Select this button

Remember to restart your phone after the update is done. 

Check If Verizon Is Going Through A Network Outage

Another problem that may have arisen is with regard to network outage. If you are not able to connect your hotspot the problem might be a network outage.

In this case, you should check your other network settings including data and mobile coverage to see if there is a general problem.

You can additionally check websites like Verizon’s Down Detector to see if you are experiencing outages in your area. 

Contact Verizon Support

In case none of these solutions solved your problem the next best step to take is to contact Verizon for support.

In order to contact Verizon, you can check out Verizon Customer Support for further information and solutions. 

Final Thoughts

Another option that you can try out as a last-ditch effort is to factory reset your phone.

A factory reset will resolve the internet not working issue and clean the cache files to make your device work faster. 

Before you attempt a factory reset it is important to remember that this will clear all the data on your phone so you have to back up your data before you try this option.

In order to do this you will need to navigate to settings and from there select ‘factory reset’.

You will be prompted to check that you really want to go ahead with this step and once you select this option your phone will be reset.

After this, you can check your Wi-fi hotspot again to see if it is working. 

You might also try turning off the VPN on your phone. In order to do this for android you need to navigate to ‘settings’ and from there to ‘connections’ or ‘network and internet’ and from there to ‘more connection settings’ or ‘advanced’ and from here tap your VPN to turn it off.

For an iPhone, you need to navigate to ‘settings’ and then tap the VPN button to turn it off. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my Verizon hotspot keep dropping?

This may be due to the fact that the number of devices that can be used on a single hotspot has been exceeded or because Verizon tower coverage is very low in your area.

Why is my hotspot so bad?

The basic factors that may be causing this can be bad reception or exceeding your data cap or maybe because of how your hotspot is configured.

The broadcast setting on your phone has an effect on speed.

Why does my Verizon hotspot not work anymore?

If your Verizon hotspot has stopped working, you should check if your wireless carrier has enabled this option.

How do I fix my Verizon hotspot?

Why is my hotspot all of a sudden not working?

Why is my Verizon iPhone hotspot not working?

Did Verizon disable hotspot?