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Good reliable smartphone for tethering?
cooler
09-06-2016
What good reliable smartphone do you recommend for the purpose of tethering, that uses a micro SIM card, ideally.

I have a Nokia Lumia 520, but I can only use tethering for about 50-60 minutes then it stops working and I have to go to the Internet Sharing screen on my phone and turn it off then back on again to resume the connection.

This problem never occurs when I use a MiFi device with my laptop, so it seems the problem must be on the phone's side, rather than it being a fault with my laptop's WiFi. I first noticed this problem with tethering when I used an EE 100GB SIM with this phone. At the time, I thought the tethering problem was network related, but the same problem is happening now im on Three, so it clearly isn't a network related problem.

I can't find any solution anywhere, so it seems that buying a new phone might be the best option. I haven't done a hard reset of the phone because that reverts it back to the old OS, which means that a lot of apps can't be used as they require the latest software.
TheBigM
09-06-2016
A hard reset wouldn't take you back to the old OS, it would just reinstall the current OS (blowing away any apps and data though).

Only using the device recovery software tool on the PC can install the older OS onto the phone (assume you mean going back from Windows 10 to Windows 8.1)
cooler
09-06-2016
Originally Posted by TheBigM:
“A hard reset wouldn't take you back to the old OS, it would just reinstall the current OS (blowing away any apps and data though).

Only using the device recovery software tool on the PC can install the older OS onto the phone (assume you mean going back from Windows 10 to Windows 8.1)”

I'll see if doing a hard reset makes any difference then. thanks.
samuel79
09-06-2016
Originally Posted by cooler:
“What good reliable smartphone do you recommend for the purpose of tethering, that uses a micro SIM card, ideally.

I have a Nokia Lumia 520, but I can only use tethering for about 50-60 minutes then it stops working and I have to go to the Internet Sharing screen on my phone and turn it off then back on again to resume the connection.

This problem never occurs when I use a MiFi device with my laptop, so it seems the problem must be on the phone's side, rather than it being a fault with my laptop's WiFi. I first noticed this problem with tethering when I used an EE 100GB SIM with this phone. At the time, I thought the tethering problem was network related, but the same problem is happening now im on Three, so it clearly isn't a network related problem.

I can't find any solution anywhere, so it seems that buying a new phone might be the best option. I haven't done a hard reset of the phone because that reverts it back to the old OS, which means that a lot of apps can't be used as they require the latest software.”

This s normal use Tbh its unlikely the phone rather than the network thats kicking you off any phone thats got 2gb + ram should do

best all round is probably the sony xperia z3 £100 for a good used one on the bay
engineermoore
09-06-2016
I have a Vodafone smart 6 ultra from work and it's great for tethering, there's an option to tether it using usb and my laptop recoginises it as a wired connection when I plug it in. It has been very reliable so far
cooler
10-06-2016
Originally Posted by samuel79:
“This s normal use Tbh its unlikely the phone rather than the network thats kicking you off any phone thats got 2gb + ram should do

best all round is probably the sony xperia z3 £100 for a good used one on the bay”

This problem never happened when I used the Three One Plan on this same phone. So why would tethering stop now after about 50-60 minutes, but didn't on the One Plan? Doesn't make sense to me.
jonmorris
10-06-2016
I'd recommend a phone that allows you to set a hotspot on 5GHz, as that can solve the issue of the problem of the phone to device being the weakest link in a very congested area.
cooler
10-06-2016
Originally Posted by jonmorris:
“I'd recommend a phone that allows you to set a hotspot on 5GHz, as that can solve the issue of the problem of the phone to device being the weakest link in a very congested area.”

I did a hard reset of the phone. Unfortunatly, it didn't make any difference, the problem still exists.

When I goto the WiFi networks connection screen on my laptop, it shows 8 WiFi networks. So the amount of surronding WiFi networks is likely causing interference then?
jonmorris
11-06-2016
It could be, or it could just data stopping and a reset fixing it. I had some occasions where my EE 100GB SIM 'froze' although leaving it for a bit usually fixed the lack of data flow if you didn't do a flight mode toggle or total reboot.

The antenna isn't going to be as good on a phone as other nearby routers, hence you being able to eliminate one likely cause of problems by going with 5GHz.
sdduk
11-06-2016
Why not just get another MiFi device so small you can keep in your pocket and you know it works.
cooler
11-06-2016
Originally Posted by sdduk:
“Why not just get another MiFi device so small you can keep in your pocket and you know it works.”

Im on the AYCE plan which includes 30GB hotspot allowance. The data allowance is 50% more than mobile broadband for a cheaper price per month. Also, the SIM plan im on isn't compatible with a MiFi device.
sdduk
11-06-2016
Originally Posted by cooler:
“Im on the AYCE plan which includes 30GB hotspot allowance. The data allowance is 50% more than mobile broadband for a cheaper price per month. Also, the SIM plan im on isn't compatible with a MiFi device.”

Yeah i see now to get All You Can Eat Data you have to have a phone and not a dongle.

I've had a couple of phones and used them for tethering and both turned there self off after a little while even my EE Osprey turns off after a while so i think you will struggle to find a phone that doesn't turn its self off.
cooler
12-06-2016
Originally Posted by sdduk:
“Yeah i see now to get All You Can Eat Data you have to have a phone and not a dongle.

I've had a couple of phones and used them for tethering and both turned there self off after a little while even my EE Osprey turns off after a while so i think you will struggle to find a phone that doesn't turn its self off.”

When I got the phone in 2014, this problem never happened. It stayed connected for hours with no problems of the internet stopping.

Also, when the internet stops working, the Internet Sharing screen on the phone shows the button is still set to 'On'. So it's not turning itself off based on not being used.

The Internet Sharing screen says 'Sharing will turn off automatically if not used for a few minutes'. However, if that was happening, I guess the button would be set on 'Off', instead of 'On'.
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