Galaxy S II wifi hotspot not working

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rjl

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Topic # 94434 11-Dec-2011 00:03

Just bought a Galaxy S II from Telecom (GT I9100T, Android 2.3.3).

With the wifi hotspot enabled, I can see it and connect OK from my laptop, but within moments the connection drops out. Sometimes I manage to download one web page, usually I'm not quick enough. If I set a ping going to the default gateway of the hotspot before enabling it I generally get about half a dozen replies before it drops out and I start getting either timeout or "destination network is not reachable" replies from the pings.

The same thing happens from two different windows 7 laptops. At the suggestion of the Telecom help desk I've tried various APNs and also tried disabling security on the wireless hotspot. Neither made any difference.

A bit of Googling turned up lots of people reporting this issue on various Android handsets, including lots of S IIs, but all the ones I found related to overseas carriers. I found a couple of threads from people who had resolved it with a firmware upgrade (moving to 2.3.4). But according to Samsung Kies I have the latest available firmware (presumably that means the latest for the Telecom network).

I also saw various threads suggesting that some carriers were deliberately disabling hotspot functionality because it allows people to use too much data (i.e. use what they've paid for).

Has anyone heard of others having trouble like this with S IIs on the XT network? Any suggestions for what to try next - I drew a complete blank with the Telecom help desk. It's particularly annoying because wireless hotspot was my main reason for changing phones and plans.

Thanks.

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Reply # 556529 11-Dec-2011 06:32

I've an SII on vodafone, no problems at all, maybe you should find someone with a vodafone sim and give it a go in your phone to prove it either a network or phone problem.

rjl

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Reply # 556545 11-Dec-2011 09:07

Good idea, thanks, I'll ask around.

openmedia

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Reply # 556567 11-Dec-2011 11:14

I've had the same issues with my Telecom SII and after 5-6 weeks I've finally got resolution.

Go into your APN list and reset to defaults

Settings -> Wireless and networks -> Mobile Networks -> Access Point Names -> Reset to default.

Then select Telecom Data and scroll to the bottom

Change the APN type to internet+mms+dun

Press the settings key to save the settings.

I now have much more reliable USB and wifi hotspot and I can browse locally on the phone.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat New Zealand as a Solution Architect for all things Linux, Virtual and of course Cloud. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

rjl

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Reply # 556611 11-Dec-2011 15:06

Thanks for this. I was really hopeful for a minute there - it definitely changed the behaviour - though didn't actually get me much further.

When I first made the change it didn't seem to have made any difference, but disabling and re-enabling the wifi hotspot a couple of times without attempting to connect in between allowed it to disconnect without reporting an error, which seemed to let it start in a cleaner state. Having done that I was able to run a ping against the hotspot default gateway for several minutes without it dropping out.

But as soon as I tried to browse anywhere from my laptop I just got DNS errors. So I tried a ping and an nslookup of www.google.co.nz from a command prompt and both failed. The nslookup got a request refused (or some such) response. I could still browse from the phone at this point, it was only the hostspot which wasn't working.

After a few failed attempts the connection then went into an error state as far as windows was concerned (yellow exclamation mark in the system tray).

I'd be interested to know if you are on exactly the same device and the same firmware release as me. The model version numbers I can see are:

Model Number: GT-I9100T
Android version: 2.3.3
Baseband version: I9100TDOKG2
Kernel version: 2.6.35.7-I9100TDOKH1-CL443486 root@DELL141 #2
Build number: GINGERBREAD.DOKH1

Whatever all that means!

Thanks.

openmedia

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Reply # 556616 11-Dec-2011 15:14

Ok do you have Juice Defender or another battery management tool installed. I've got Battery Defender and as soon as the screen saver kicks in I loose 3G data unless I disable the tool.

Also try a comparison between USB tether and wifi tether.

With my new Telecom confirmed APN settings and Battery Defender disabled things are rock solid.

You might be interested in the following links from the Vodafone AU Forum if you are still having issues
? http://community.vodafone.com.au/t5/iPhone-and-Android/Vodafone-Samsung-Galaxy-S2-Wifi-hotspot-tethering-not-working/td-p/18473
? http://blog.vodafone.com.au/blog/device-software-wrap-up-november-2-2011/
? http://blog.vodafone.com.au/blog/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-mr-update-dukh1/

gzt

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Reply # 556618 11-Dec-2011 15:16

Are you rebooting the phone between each attempt?

It's an old windows admin trick which sometimes works on other operating systems ; ).

Oh yeah.. don't forget to reboot windows at the same time while you are at it.

rjl

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Reply # 556629 11-Dec-2011 15:57

@openmedia: I haven't downloaded any power management tools (yet! - only got it yesterday and this is my foray into Android). The built-in screensaver is active - but this fails before that gets a chance to kick in. As it is at the moment I'm not even able to get a browse to a single page, since the DNS lookup always fails, which means its not even getting as far as it was yesterday.

Thanks for the Vodafone links, I will check them out.

BTW - are you on the same versions as me or have you rooted yours? There were some very similar sounding postings from someone overseas saying that going to 2.3.4 fixed it, but Samsung don't offer that here and I'm nervous about trying unsupported firmware (even if I could make enough sense of any posts to know which ones to try).

@gzt: I rebooted both phone and PC repeatedly yesterday as I was trying things, but haven't rebooted either since trying @openmedia's suggestions. Your probably right, I should.

rjl

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Reply # 556630 11-Dec-2011 16:01

USB tether works fine, BTW.

gregmcc

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Reply # 556636 11-Dec-2011 16:30

BTW - are you on the same versions as me or have you rooted yours? There were some very similar sounding postings from someone overseas saying that going to 2.3.4 fixed it, but Samsung don't offer that here and I'm nervous about trying unsupported firmware (even if I could make enough sense of any posts to know which ones to try).

I done 2.3.4 upgrade over a month ago now right thru Samsung Keis, so you shouldn't have any problem doing it

gzt

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Reply # 556639 11-Dec-2011 16:34

Are you running any firewall/net protection or oem access control type software on your Windows box?

Sometimes it is slow to figure out a new network and it might be worth using the correct procedure to disable it.

Also on occasion some of the absolutely terrible oem wifi connection management software confuses the inbuilt windows stuff making it a bit difficult to see what is going on. I have dealt with problems where it has been happy to connect to some networks but not others, and it is not really necessary.

If you have another phone in the house you can attempt to connect that to the SII to rule out the windows box, but I guess you would have done that already if you had one available.

rjl

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Reply # 556654 11-Dec-2011 17:25

@gregmcc: Hmm - Kies claims I have the latest available. Maybe they withdrew 2.3.4 again? Will try again.

@gzt: I am running windows firewall (which did detect the new network and prompt me to classify it when I first tried connecting. I have tried disabling it completely but it made no difference. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I'm also just using Windows 7 wifi connection management. I know what you mean about some of the OEM software (been there back in XP days), but it's not that.

Good thought on the other phone. I'd tried from a personal laptop as well as my work one, so kinda thought I'd ruled out it being a specific PC issue, but I guess it could be that SII and Windows 7 don't get along. I do have my old Nokia E71 - no SIM, but it should still be able to connect to wifi, I'll try that.

rjl

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Reply # 556667 11-Dec-2011 18:42

@gzt: I connected successfully from my E71 and browsed for several minutes with no issue. Then I rebooted my laptop and it tried to auto-connect to the hotspot as it was restarting. At that point the E71 reported a network timeout. When I disabled the hotspot on the phone it showed as being in an error state.

So it definitely seems to be that Windows 7 doesn't play nicely with the SII - resulting in the SII going into a broken state. As I say, 2 different windows 7 laptops with very different builds and different wifi management software both fail in the same way - so it seems to be a fairly generic issue.

The fact that so many people are reporting what sounds like the same issue and saying it's fixed by firmware upgrades does make it sound likely that it's going to need a fix at the phone end.

@gregmcc: I'm puzzled why you could upgrade to 2.3.4 with Kies and yet it tells me I have the latest version. Did you have to do anything special, or did you just right click the device and say upgrade firmware? The upgrade option is greyed out for me.

Has anyone got any suggestions about how to get support on this out of Telecom? The second tier support guy I spoke to yesterday said he had no record of any issues and quickly ran out of ideas. Shortly afterwards I got a text telling me the issue had been resolved, which doubtless makes the call centre stats look good but doesn't do a lot for customer satisfaction.

openmedia

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Reply # 556673 11-Dec-2011 18:57

Got the same firmware etc.

I do have one laptop where I can't do DNS resolution or route via wifi, but USB tether works.

My other machines can do wifi and USB.

gzt

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Reply # 556674 11-Dec-2011 18:58

That's interesting the windows connection kills it. Are you sure that was it, or was the connection going to die anyway? not that it matters a lot, but it gets me thinking parameter modifications might be possible to make it work - not that it should be necessary in the first place : ).

rjl: Has anyone got any suggestions about how to get support on this out of Telecom?

Basically set aside at least an hour to go into a telecom retail store and start by explaining the problem and your conclusions nicely in a comfortable chair and then if no acceptable progress or replacement is forthcoming, switch to annoying whine/grump mode for up to the next 45 minutes until they give in and call some one who has authorization to solve it or just give you another one.

Technofreak

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Reply # 556680 11-Dec-2011 19:08

How are you setting up the connection on the Win7 device?

I'm not sure how the WiFi hotspot works on Android but on Symbian using Joiku it operates as an ad hoc connection. Perhaps you need to set up an ad hoc connection on the computer.

I should add that Win 7 seems to be more particularly in how you connect to some WiFi hotspots, at least that has been my experience. if you are using Win 7 starter the as hoc option isn't shown unless you do a search for it.

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