Genuine warning for anyone moving to Lebara (UK): tethering issue

jnm21

Hi folks, I know there have been a few warning threads that have been more personal experience/dislike than a genuine issue that could affect everyone.  This one shocked me & I would have doubted it if I had not seen it myself.

Just a little background, I have worked in an IT support role & bought my own first mobile in December 1999!  I have been somewhat mobile mad ever since.

So I was on Vodafone & regularly tether my phone to another when needed with no issue.

I moved to Lebara & find no issue with the 4G internet on it (as fast as Vodafone).

I never thought it was possible to have issues tethering two phones that had tethered many times, where the internet is working on the one providing the hotspot.

Now the solution was simple, but alas not obvious at the time I needed it!  I googled the issue & found someone had the exact same issue, with the exact same phone (P20 Pro) - they were suspecting Lebara understandably.  Thankfully someone mentioned that this is a known issue with the P20 (all models?) & gave me the tip that it is APN related.

I deleted the APN (which I had saved from the Lebara message) & recreated manually - all resolved - no dreaded 'no internet connection'!  The thread (is it OK to link to another forum on here?) suggested various levels of reset may be required, but thankfully the APN was all I had to do.

Lesson learned - test tethering after a SIM change!  

Lebara UK APN settings can be found here https://mobile.lebara.com/gb/en/trouble-accessing-the-internet

Currently:

APN name: uk.lebara.mobi
Username: WAP
Password: WAP

Frozen_up_north

Using one phone to create a hotspot for another can cause another issue. In this case tethering an iPhone in order to update the operating system (iOS) on another iPhone, basically the phone doesn’t start downloading, just sits there.

The fix is to “extend the range”, you don’t need to fiddle around with a £30 range extender if you have a Windows 10 PC or laptop with WiFi, there is a little publicised built-in Windows feature. Click on the WiFi symbol and create an access point/hotspot from Windows. You can use whatever SSID and PSK you like. We often use it to update iPhones. You can also use a wired internet connection and create a WiFi access point this way too.

jnm21

@Frozen_up_north thanks for that - tried my mum's phone (in case dad or I ever need to tether off is - mum is a silver non-surfer), a P Smart (i.e. another Huawei), also on Lebara - tried everything short of a factory reset & it would not play!

With Covid, it will be a while before I would have a laptop away from WiFi, but I'll keep it in mind.

I think newer phones even have WiFi bridge mode (WISP mode in router speak I believe). 

d123

Just as an FYI, I’m currently on my iPad connected to my Lebara mobile connection in my OnePlus Nord. I didn’t have to change any settings to do so.

jnm21

Cheers - I'm wondering if it is the age of the phone or the brand (Huawei). 

sevenhills

I haven't been able to tether using Lebara. Not sure what the problem is.
I tried the above, no difference. When it states that you received a text that resets your settings, never had that.
Internet and everything works on mobile, but not tethering. I have been with Lebara around two months.

Grandad2b

Thanks for the heads up. I now need to see whether I can tether my using my iPhone..
It's not critical right now but could be quite soon

sevenhills

Grandad2b said:

Thanks for the heads up. I now need to see whether I can tether my using my iPhone..
It's not critical right now but could be quite soon

I managed to connect using tethering. I restored the defaults.