Internet sharing isn't currently available error after 8.1 update

[ShBi]

I have an AT&T Lumia 1020 that I've been using on Cricket (formerly Aio) for a few months now. Everything worked fine, including internet sharing. I received the 8.1 update on Friday, and when I tried enabling internet sharing today it no longer works. It simply gives me an error saying "Connection not shared" and then "Internet sharing isn't currently available."

Has anyone else had this problem after upgrading to 8.1? I've tried messing with the APN settings, those screens seem to have changed with the 8.1 update as well, but so far no luck. Access Point isn't yielding any better results. Just wondering if anyone else had this same problem and has a solution.

 

[yipsan]

Same here. But on att mvno.

 

[Nimdock]

I may be off base but this is my theory.

I think the official release of 8.1 may have fixed a bug that allowed cell phones to use Internet Sharing when not officially allowed by the carrier. I'll tell you my story and let you judge whether it makes sense or not.

I recently switched to a 1520 (from a 920), as soon as I got it I updated everything before even taking a look (it came with WP8) so it went to Cyan (WP8.1). When I put in the sim card for AIO/Cricket the Internet Sharing option did not even show up.

I reverted the phone back to WP8 using the Nokia Recovery Tool and Internet Sharing showed up again and worked just fine. I re did the upgrade thinking that maybe since now I had it set up it would stick all the way to 8.1. It didn't. Internet Sharing was gone again. Now, there is one difference and is that Internet Sharing is at least still showing up for you. For me it was completely gone.

Then I switched to an AT&T (GoPhohe) sim card in a plan that does officially offer tethering and Internet Sharing was back and working just fine without tinkering with it. Because of that I completely switched to GoPhone and as a bonus now I finally have Visual Voicemail once again.

AIO/Cricket does not have tethering as an official part of their plan. Sure when it has worked it has worked fine but nowhere does it specifically said it is included as opposed to AT&T (GoPhone) which is listed on their plans' page.


If yipsan's plan does include official tethering then my theory loses some steam and it might be something completely different.

 

[ShBi]

Thank you for sharing your observations. I suspect that's what's happening. I recently tried internet sharing with a family member's Lumia, also on Cricket, and that phone received an error message saying "internet sharing is not enabled for your plan". Of course another family member on Cricket that has the Nexus phone, his tethering works just fine. So you may very well be right, the WP update may have "fixed" this. Which really stinks. I don't use internet sharing much, but I liked knowing the option was available in case I needed it. Really a shame.

 

[Ed Boland]

Internet sharing working fine here on my AT&T 1520 with Cyan/8.1 update 1 dev preview.

 

[yipsan]

I may be off base but this is my theory.

I think the official release of 8.1 may have fixed a bug that allowed cell phones to use Internet Sharing when not officially allowed by the carrier. I'll tell you my story and let you judge whether it makes sense or not.

I recently switched to a 1520 (from a 920), as soon as I got it I updated everything before even taking a look (it came with WP8) so it went to Cyan (WP8.1). When I put in the sim card for AIO/Cricket the Internet Sharing option did not even show up.

I reverted the phone back to WP8 using the Nokia Recovery Tool and Internet Sharing showed up again and worked just fine. I re did the upgrade thinking that maybe since now I had it set up it would stick all the way to 8.1. It didn't. Internet Sharing was gone again. Now, there is one difference and is that Internet Sharing is at least still showing up for you. For me it was completely gone.

Then I switched to an AT&T (GoPhohe) sim card in a plan that does officially offer tethering and Internet Sharing was back and working just fine without tinkering with it. Because of that I completely switched to GoPhone and as a bonus now I finally have Visual Voicemail once again.

AIO/Cricket does not have tethering as an official part of their plan. Sure when it has worked it has worked fine but nowhere does it specifically said it is included as opposed to AT&T (GoPhone) which is listed on their plans' page.


If yipsan's plan does include official tethering then my theory loses some steam and it might be something completely different.

Let me add more info to my situation. On the 920 forum, member Trooter found a way to make unlocked att lumias to have internet sharing working. When my 1020 was on 8.0 and black, I followed the steps and had internet sharing working until I updated to 8.1 and cyan.

After the update, I followed those steps again, but it does not work for the airvoice sim anymore, although it works on a lycamobile sim. These are both mvno and they generally have no formal rules in allowing tethering or not. I had been using this feature for at least 7 months.

What I have noticed while poking around is that the preinstalled apn info on the sim varies between sims. In my case, the airvoice sim has att presets, in fact 3 presets was shown when phone was on 8.0 and only one on 8.1. The lyca sim has no presets for apn at all.

So, I should say I can partially get internet sharing working, but it seems to depend very much on the sim. And the message I get when using the airvoice sim is "connection not shared" and it takes a good 20s to spit this message out.

 

[yipsan]

More detail in my case is that , I can get internet sharing working on a lycamobile sim, but not airvoice sim. They are both mvno, and they generally do not have rules about tethering. Maybe some preset data on the sim triggered it.

When I toggle internet sharing, it takes about 20s to spit out "connection not shared" on the airvoice sim.

 

[Ordeith]

My question to ATT: Why not allow tethering on Cricket?
The plans are tiered according to data allotment, people can purchase extra data as needed. One would think that giving customers more ways to use this data would actually result in more revenue.
Perhaps it is some misconception that people that seek tethering will be driven to ATT proper with their plans? If so I would submit that your cricket customers are likely price conscious above all else and are more likely to be driven to T-Mobile than ATT if they are looking to get plans with tethering.
Doesn't it make sense just to allow tethering on cricket?
Blocking the function seems like a lose, lose decision. Lose potential revenue, lose potential customers.
You have been using cricket to respond to T-Mobile's uncarrier pricing. You can use Cricket to respond to some of their features as well.

 

[sinime]

Seems to be working on my att 1520... I'm curious though, if it's an issue with the carrier supporting tethering or not, it should still work on cricket... I was just in a store and it says mobile hot spot is included at the $50 a month plan.

 

[Ordeith]

Seems to be working on my att 1520... I'm curious though, if it's an issue with the carrier supporting tethering or not, it should still work on cricket... I was just in a store and it says mobile hot spot is included at the $50 a month plan.

Really? Can you maybe take a picture of that?

 

[sinime]

Really? Can you maybe take a picture of that?

 

[Ordeith]

I just talked to Cricket support. They say the sign was in error, officially there is no hotspot/tethering support on Cricket.

Thanks for the pic, though.

 

[sinime]

Lol, it's on their flyer they're giving out.

 

[Ordeith]

Lol, it's on their flyer they're giving out.

Yeah, some miscommunication for sure.

 

[Bjorn_Nordin]

Had similar problem with internet sharing ( 920) after cyan. I am now running 8.1 with update 1 and it works,even with cyan. Solution for me was simple,just change net provider in settings and back again to your own and it worked for me again.

(I think I just changed from 4g to 3g and back)

 

[Ordeith]

Had similar problem with internet sharing ( 920) after cyan. I am now running 8.1 with update 1 and it works,even with cyan. Solution for me was simple,just change net provider in settings and back again to your own and it worked for me again.

(I think I just changed from 4g to 3g and back)

How do you do that?

 

[Bjorn_Nordin]

Go to Settings, cellular & Sims, sim settings and there you have the option to change highest connection speed and network selections.

I went to 3g and let the phone find the network and there after 4g again.

Hope this will help.

 

[Ordeith]

I can follow that on my Lumia Black and Lumia Amber devices. But on Lumia Cyan it is totally different. I have an on/off slide next to a manual option. Sliding to on brings up a form for SIM apn settings. It looks nothing like the other phones.

 

[SubhP]

I got the same problem in my new Lumia 640. Got a perfect solution in an youtube video. Internet sharing worked when you enable the connection from Phone's Notification area (the slide down from top in the home screen)!
Must be a bug in Windows 8.1. Good thing that the enabling through 'notification area' is bypassing the bug.
Search in you tube for -Quick Setup of Internet Sharing on Windows Phone 8.1.. ID v6_c023lyvw