Samsung A42 - Unable to tether why?

[hegill]

I just bought the unlocked Samsung A42. My brother also just bought the unlocked Samsumg S20 FE. We are both on consumer cellular which uses either AT&T or the T-mobike networks. Both of us use the AT&T network through our carrier. He can enable tethering but I can't. When I try to turn it on I  either get a message saying my service doesn't support it or there is a temporary network issue. From a technical standpoint I just want to know what specs support tethering on these phones ie: bands etc and why his phone works but mine doesn't. Samsung and consumer cellular tech support are both pretty useless here in that they are not really technical they just read from scripts. It is obvious that any real technical questions never get forwarded to the level of technical experts that can answer this question. Samsung is in the best position to answer this question because they understand what the differences are between these phones and the networks specifications they need to use to make these phones work on the different carrier networks. If someone could answer this question that would be great.

[LongHiker]

@hegill 

Does your service plan include hotspot? Not all plans do. If the plan doesn't support it, the carrier won't enable it on your phone. 

[hegill]

Yes my service plan includes a Hotspot. I was able to tether on my old LG G5 RS988 before I moved over to the Samsung A42.

[LongHiker]

@hegill I would do a search on the internet for hotspot issues with Consumer Cellular. I ran across some interesting articles.

It may also be that the APN settings in your A42 are not correct. The interaction between Consumer Cellular and AT&T may require something specific to Consumer Cellular. 

[NotNerdyNed]

I used to work for Consumer Cellular. Call or chat with them to enable the feature. It isn't on by default. They will turn it on and help make sure it works.

[hegill]

Well actually the tethering feature is enabled on their end. Consumer Cellular said that AT&T indicated the A42 is not fully compatible with their network but they can't explain what that means. I did notice that of the phones in the A series lineup, the A42 is the only one that does not come in an AT&T version. Would not think that should make a difference on an unlocked phone such as this that supports GSM and CDMA architectures. Pretty sure if I had an unlocked A32 or an A52 they would work. Shame of all of this is that there just isn't a really good technical resource in Samsung or Consumer Cellular. The tech I spoke to yesterday couldn't even give me a valid phone number for corporate.

[hegill]

Right now I gotta say I'm looking at getting rid of this phone so I can get something that will allow me to tether and that will also give me a real FM Radio app. The A42 has the FM chip. What they don't tell you is there is no FM Radio app for it. When I asked Samsung support about this they referred me to a 3rd party app in the Samsung store which is an internet streaming app. While I'd prefer to use a Samsing phone I have to say that the Motorolas do it all. Not only does the Motorola website allow you to search for a phone based on carrier compatibility but the 5G edge has speakers that are specifically tune for audio performance and their phones come with a real FM radio app. Does not make sense to include an FM radio chip on board and then not be able to use it.

[Stephanie Nikki · Accepted solution]

Please reach out to your carrier directly regarding issues using their services.