Galaxy A6 hotspot is slow and keeps disconnecting

Some people may use hotspot or mobile tethering in order to allow other devices to connect to the internet. If you happen to have a problem when using hotspot or mobile tethering on your Galaxy A6, learn how to deal with it below.

Problem: Galaxy A6 hotspot is slow and keeps disconnecting

I recently got a samsung Galaxy A6. Prior to this I had an HTC desire. I use my phone as my internet, setting up the hotspot and using the internet on my laptop, tv & console. On my previous device this worked fine, I was able to play games, use netflix and surf the internet & watch youtube & twitch without problems most of the time (occasionally it was slow at peak times). However on the A6 I am finding that the speed is unacceptably slow, for example I tried to watch a 10 minute youtube video in 480p today and it took several attempts to load, would stop loading the video after a few seconds and I’d have to restart my data in order for it to load a few more seconds before stopping and repeat the process. leaving the video to load for 1 hour resulted in 1:31 of 10 minutes loaded. The connection is frequently dropping out leaving me with the yellow triangle on my wifi tab on the laptop and trying to watch Netflix, connect to a console or watch Twitch is completely impossible. I tried downloading a file to get an idea of speeds and 900mb video file took over 5 hours to download. This was at 3am (I work strange hours) when on my old device this was the fastest time, often getting speeds over 1mb/s (which I personally find very good – I’m not expecting speeds equal to ISP like BT et al, rather a couple of few hundred kb/s has always been acceptable and worked well enough for me). My phone is all up to date. I have found on my previous device that on 4g (LTE) I would have extremely slow internet and that putting it to 3g/2g worked much better. The same appears to be true for this new phone, however 3g/2g is only slightly better. I have tried USB tethering instead to my laptop, whilst this did appear to be faster, it only worked for a minute or so before stopping and the speed was again only slightly faster (20kb/s at most) and tethering is not really a viable solution as my TV & console would no longer be able to connect. To further show just how bad this internet is, in writing this message, it has disconnected 5 times and the I am not a robot thing below is saying the connection has timed out. I’ve had to reload the website 8 times and it has so far taken me 45 minutes to send this. If you require my carrier, it is Three. Thanks.

Solution: The reason of the problem can either be due to poor network service (mobile data is slow), the device has a problem with its radio or there’s an unknown software bug that interferes with network function. To troubleshoot the issue, these are the set of troubleshooting steps that you can do:

Verify mobile data is working

Hotspots require stable mobile data connection in order to provide reliable internet connection to other devices. There’s a chance that the problem is caused by a network issue. Be sure to check that your mobile data service is working normally first. Do periodic speed tests for a few days to see if there’s any problem with mobile data. You can install apps like like Speedtest by Ookla from the Play Store to do this task. If there’s inconsistent speed test results for several days, you need to talk to your network operator about this. Network services can encounter problems from time to time so this is a necessary first step to knowing whether or not the cause of the problem is beyond your control.

Wipe cache partition

If your carrier will say that there’s no mobile data issue in your area, the next troubleshooting step is to deal with a possible issue on the device. To do that, the next thing that you want to do is refresh the system cache by wiping the cache partition.

  1. Turn off the phone completely.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up and Power buttons simultaneously for a few seconds and then release both buttons when the Samsung logo appears.
  3. As soon as you see the Android bot logo, tap on the screen to enter recovery mode. You will then a list of options including reboot system now, reboot to bootloader, wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache partition, and others.
  4. Press the Volume Down button several times to highlight/select wipe cache partition option.
  5. Then press the Power button to confirm selection. Your phone will then start wiping cache partition and then prompts you to Reboot system now when done.
  6. Press the Power button to confirm system reboot.

Reset network settings

Clearing up the current network configuration comes after wiping the cache partition. Here’s how to do it:

  1. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
  2. Tap Settings > General Management > Reset > Reset network settings.
  3. Tap RESET SETTINGS.
  4. If you have set up a PIN, enter it.
  5. Tap RESET SETTINGS. Once complete, a confirmation window will appear.

Reseat SIM card

Some users were able to fix network issues by temporarily disconnecting the SIM card. If you haven’t tried this simple step, be sure not to skip it. Removing the SIM card while the unit is on can cause some data to be corrupted. Be sure to turn the phone off before you remove and reinsert the SIM card.

Reset all settings

If you’ve changed some settings in your phone and you don’t know how to revert them back to default, then this procedure will come in handy. It also has similar effects as with a reset but none of your files and data will be deleted when it’s done. So, basically, it’s effective in dealing with almost all settings and/or configuration and here’s how it’s done…

  1. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
  2. Tap Settings > General Management > Reset > Reset settings.
  3. Tap RESET SETTINGS.
  4. If you have set up a PIN, enter it.
  5. Tap RESET SETTINGS.
  6. The device will restart to perform the reset of settings.

Factory reset

Should none of the troubleshooting steps above work, make sure to wipe the phone with factory reset. Follow the steps below on how to factory reset your Galaxy A6:

  1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Samsung account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Samsung credentials to finish the master reset.
  2. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
  3. Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts > Backup and restore.
  4. Tap the following sliders to desired setting:
    • Back up my data
    • Automatic restore
  5. Tap the Back key (bottom right) until you reach the main Settings menu.
  6. Tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
  7. Scroll to the bottom of the screen, then tap RESET > DELETE ALL.
  8. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
  9. If prompted to verify your Samsung account, enter the password, then tap CONFIRM.
  10. Wait for the device to reset.

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