Same issue here. Still using a Samsung S3 which was working fine until last Wednesday. Data and all other features are working fine, but the #1 feature I have ever used is the hotspot and it is doing the same thing you described.
I am beginning to suspect the phone is outdated, which is understandable, but the way Verizon handled this so far has been garbage. I've wasted almost three hours on the phone and money on my pay-by-the minute phone I had to use while they tried to do things to the Samsung phone and, while the CS and tech folks I dealt with were very professional and helpful, all they could do was send off a ticket into a black hole where two times I got the exact same insultingly stupid response: I need to buy a signal booster!
A signal booster, huh? Never mind I've been living here for almost 11 years, get three bars on average and used a hotspot every day for 10 years with no issues. And never mind that I have the Jetpack my employer gave me so I can work from home right next to me, working just fine. I can understand that the issue is complicated but, rather just state "Hey, we're working on it...", they respond with a totally stupid, illogical response that only and blockhead would fall for and then close the ticket out. They could have at least checked to see how long I was living at this address before they tried using a lame excuse like that, not that it makes any sense, since lack of signal would have produced a different error message.
I've been expecting to have to buy a new phone for a couple years, but the way this has been handled totally trashes me off. Not happy with these guys at all right now, but I live in the sticks and it's the only game in town other than satellite.
Eight days and counting. No Hotspot authentication. My original ticket opened on Wed 06/10 was "resolved" twice in the last week with a text message containing a short video to "educate me" about my issue with a weak signal from the Verizon tower and it would be resolved if I purchased a network extender. My Hotspot has worked flawlessly for years and was working just fine at 4:30AM CDT on Wed 06/10. At 8AM CDT that same morning I encountered my first Hotspot authentication error.
This morning (06/18) I initiated another support call to see where my original ticket stood. Level one tried to give me the weak tower signal story and told me I needed to buy a network extender. I am a retired software engineer that has been around since before 56KB modems were state of the art technology in the business environment. After letting this rep know WHY I literally was not buying his story or a network extender, he sent me on a ten minute elevator music wait for level two.
Level Two. I was picked up by a tech named James, who was a breath of fresh air. James worked hard to figure out my issue including switching my wife's old phone to look like my phone to see if it was something mechanically wrong with my phone. No change, no physical issue with my phone. Switching everything back, James hit on the phone model question and went offline to get some information. When he returned, he had the answer I was expecting and it sounded like there was a large group of customers having the same issue. It boils down to any cell phone running Android 4.x.x. regardless of the brand of phone is going to have this issue. Verizon implemented a higher level of security (a good thing) that cannot be accessed by phones running Android 4.x.x. It appears that this can be implemented at the application level and on Wed 06/10 early AM it was Hotspot's turn. James issued a new ticket for me that would be linked to a higher level ticket already in place to resolve this system wide issue. He said he would check back in with me in a few days.
James did remind me that by year end my phone will be moving into End Of Life. I am OK with that, as long as Verizon is up front about the sunset of Android 4.x.x with a timeline that gives the customer time to look into options and make a logical move forward. They know who has these phones and should be communicating what their plans are regarding Android 4.x.x phones on their network. Verizon has a great network where I live. I do not need a Verizon rep trying to rush me into buying a network extender or a new phone. Granted, some customers may be looking for an excuse to get a new phone, but a misstep by Verizon should not be the reason for making the big cash layout. I have been a Verizon customer since December 2001 with Nokia 5100 series phones.
An update on my side of things.
Spent nearly TWO HOURS (1h53m) on the phone today, mostly holding, to see if I could get a definitive answer. Spoke with two wonderfully nice reps, even read @EdSled's post to them and joked with the Tier 2 rep to call James and confirm. Still no dice.
We are 8-9 days into this and the only thing close to a definitive answer I received was retracted by another employee two days later.
Speaking with the Tier 2 rep, I asked about getting a SIM card, popping it in my tablet (it is a cell tablet, I just never needed that) and getting it up and running for a few weeks until we figure out a solution. $80/month. But I'm getting a $60 bill credit, so I can deal.
Went out, got a nano SIM, came home, had another two hours phone call (27m and 1h31m combined - phone died) trying to get the tablet set up. Got transferred to four different reps just because I'm on an old plan. The second customer care rep came up with the plan of activating it on a sub account, but then sent me over to telesales because cc can't activate new lines. All the reps I spoke with were super nice, although the first telesales rep kept trying tomget me to change my plan. After that, I told the next two reps, when explaining everything, that I would track them down if they changed my plan. 🤪 The second telesales guy laughed and said as soon as he saw my plan, he knew what he was getting into.
Anywhoo, today, alone, I've spent nearly four hours on the phone - and I still don't have an answer. I also asked (when we hadn't figured out the sub account loophole yet) about activating the nano SIM on my account and throwing it into the tablet to access data and found out that there is no way to get a new SIM activated on my phone.
So, to recap - my phone will be violently murdered by Verizon by the end of the year.
If my SIM Card gets fried, I'm out of luck.
And VZW may have cut a feature that I'm paying away from me accessing it.
All this with virtually ZERO notice being given. I find out because my feature stops working.
I get it. My phone is old. But dang, Verizon - communicate to your customers better. heck, communicate to your employees better so THEY know what to tell us. Yeesh.
I apologize for the negative experience you had, and all the time you spent trying to get your mobile hotspot fixed, Theunclebob. Let me look over your concerns and try to find a solution. What is the make and model of your device? What exact plan are you currently on? What are your city and zip code where you are currently located? There are many factors that go hand in hand to make sure you are on the right plan, with the right device that has a mobile hotspot feature that can be used. We do post a support page https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/ that can help with many device concerns. Please answer the questions above so we can get you on the path of a working device.
Thanks,
EdwinL@vzwsupport
Please follow us on Twitter under VZWSupport.com
This thread is beginning to read like a Lewis Carroll book!
Hi Edwin@vzw_customer_support.
I do appreciate your attempt to assist, however a good of your questions are already answered in this very thread. That said, between the answers we ARE managing to get from tech support reps, it's apparent that troubleshooting my individual device isn't a solution to the issue. What we want (not trying to speak for everyone, but I think we're in the same boat) is a clear communication from Verizon as to what the exact issue is that is negatively impacting our service and if there will be a fix for it, or if we need to look for other options going forward.
It is, frankly, appalling customer service that 8-9 days later, no one can get a straight answer as to what is going on. That's what I want.
Ok, finally able to cut/paste link to browser and connect from outside My Verizon. As you can see, it seems to have worked.
Not being able to use the features you love is terrible, MattWG49. When this issue started with your phone, do you know if other devices started having the same trouble too? ZakC_VZW
Definitely not. I have a Verizon Jetpack provided by my employer that works perfectly fine. The issue is some sort of computer / security glitch on your end, not a hardware issue with the phone.
Thank you for sharing this information, MattWG49. We want to make sure your Mobile Hotspot is working correctly. Allow us the opportunity to further investigate. Can you please clarify how your Mobile Hotspot is not working? Are you able to enable this feature http://spr.ly/6601GMg3t?
SylviaT_VZW
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