Solving the Orange UK Android hotspot internet connection problem
UPDATE 12/04/12: Some people are reporting that the settings are locked on certain HTC models. In the comments below, a reader called Mark appears to have solved this. Hopefully it will help some of you.
UPDATE 02/04/12: According to the comments below, this is also confirmed to work on the HTC Wildfire S on the Orange UK network.
UPDATE 07/11/11: I can now confirm that this solution definitely works with both the HTC Desire (original) and the new HTC Sensation on the Orange UK network.
One of the things I was most looking forward to with the Android 2.2 update was the ability to create a wi-fi hotspot using your phone, or tethering as it’s more commonly known. Extremely handy when travelling on trains in the UK as very few of them have broadband facilities available. So it was one of the first features that I tried out after my phone upgraded itself, but was immediately disappointed to find that although my laptop connected to the hotspot easily, there was no internet connection available.
I searched long and hard for a solution to this and it soon became immediately apparent that this is an issue specifically for HTC phones on the UK Orange network.
Luckily the solution is easy, but don’t be surprised if you have to repeat the following steps after each Orange update – annoyingly it does occasionally reset to the default settings. This should get you up and running though…(in theory!)…
1. On the home screen click Menu -> Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Access Point Names
2. You should see the following three options:
Orange Internet
Consumer Broadband
Orange MMS
Select Consumer Broadband
3. Change the following settings, taking care to make sure that you copy these details exactly (including capital or lowercase lettering)…
APN from consumerbroadband to orangeinternet
Username from <Not set> to Orange
Password from <Not set> to Multimedia
Authentication type should be set to CHAP.
4. Press your Menu button, tap “Save”
Now in theory, you should be able to create a hotspot and connect to the internet. Hope that helps someone!
Emanuele Ciriachi says:
September 7th, 2011 at 11:15 pm
Can’t believe that, on top of installing UNREMOVABLE USELESS APPS that eat at your mobile broadband quota, Orange had also to turn your portable Wi-Fi hotspot into a lame duck.
Thank goodness for random knights in shiny armor of the internet always ready to solve other people’s problems!
The Hippy says:
September 10th, 2011 at 11:27 am
I have to admit that the sheer volume of unremovable apps that Orange add to their mobiles is annoying; especially when the HTC Desire has a notoriously low amount of memory. That said, I’ve been with the network for 12 years and found them to be a very good provider and also their promotion of the Android platform has been second to none (kudos).
Thanks for taking the time to reply!
Ri says:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:18 am
Thanks very much. Great help.
The Hippy says:
September 15th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
You’re very welcome. Glad to be of help.
Headboy_Roy says:
November 10th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
After speaking to Orange for an hour and then doing the same with HTC, I used Google and found this solution.
Fixed problem in seconds.
It’s just a shame Orange & HTC were not aware of this.
Many Thanks
The Hippy says:
November 11th, 2011 at 10:26 am
I’m pretty sure that Orange are aware of it, but I’m not entirely sure as to the reasoning behind them doing it. Glad I could be of service anyway.
richard says:
February 4th, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Great fix, thanks
hollie says:
February 20th, 2012 at 9:09 pm
Thankyou SO much for putting up this life saving post!! thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou! i had no idea why it was being so evil.. much love to the burnedouthippy!x
hyperboy says:
February 22nd, 2012 at 11:50 am
Brilliant. Thank you.
Now Orange, have you read this? Good. Can you tell your effing tech support guys please?!
:^)
Derek Lancaster says:
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:36 pm
FANTASTIC !!!
I ahve spent days and days trying to sort this out. Orange told me I would need to buy another data package to get this to work. I have looked at tethering apps and I was about to attempt to root my phone which I didn’t want to do.
Thanks a million
carlo says:
March 21st, 2012 at 6:34 pm
I seem unable to alter my consumer broadband APN as it has a padlock symbol next to it. The Wi-Fi hot spot was working fine before the update. Any idea’s?
Allan says:
March 28th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Hi, tried to change the settings but the consumer broadband section is locked can anyone offer a solution
Thankyou
RL says:
April 2nd, 2012 at 11:58 am
Came across this via an android forum. Thank you! It works for my HTC Wildfire S.
Tim says:
April 2nd, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Just spending a few minutes researching forums, I found your solution & it worked straight away. Many thanks for the info…
darren says:
April 8th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Allan says:
March 28th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Hi, tried to change the settings but the consumer broadband section is locked can anyone offer a solution
i have the same promlem as Allan,
(yet it was working before with the above changes)
Phil Reid says:
April 8th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Thanks so much for this – I’d tried a load of different things but to no avail, this sorted it out!
cuky says:
April 10th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
many thanks, very good. orange and htc should give u a free connection for a year
Mark says:
April 11th, 2012 at 11:35 am
The consumerbroadband APN was locked on my Desire HD and I found the following workaround (with a little trial and error)
Edit the orangeinternet APN and make the following changes:
Username from to Orange
Password from to Multimedia
APN type from default,hipri to default,hipri,dun
The Hippy says:
April 12th, 2012 at 8:38 am
Thanks Mark – hopefully that will solve the issues that others appear to be having. I’ll add an update to the post to ensure that people read your comment. Thanks again.
ian says:
April 14th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
thank you to everyone who has contributed to this, fixed it using Mark’s workaround, all working fine now!
Miles says:
April 18th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Many thanks Mark: My consumerbroadband was locked also, but your fixed worked!
Thanks again.
schmaulie says:
April 27th, 2012 at 11:31 am
Hiya,
Had the same problem with T-Mobile UK on the Incredible S.
Just changed the APN setting as per Mark’s post:
- APN Type from default,hipri to default,hipri,dun
- Left everything else as was.
It’s now working fine.
Many thanks fo this, saved me a lot of hassle and effort phoning T-Mob or HTC.
Schmaulie
Toby says:
May 1st, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Genius, thank you.
Derek Lancaster says:
May 11th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Mark and Hippy,
Thanks very much. Genius. I have just had a download from Orange that screwed it up but you have saved the day again. Brilliant
YAS says:
May 13th, 2012 at 12:42 am
Grt. This really helped. Thanxxxxxxx…..
Zena Davis says:
May 23rd, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Having the same problem with O2. Up until about a month ago, I could use my HTC Desire S as a wifi hotspot for my iPad 2, then it suddenly stopped working. The O2 tech guys told me that you can only use an iPhone to connect to an iPad…wrong! Just followed The Hippy’s instructions above, but not all of them were relevant because I’m not on Orange, what worked was changing the password to Multimedia. I’m really chuffed to be have my wifi back
Garry Smith says:
June 3rd, 2012 at 12:05 am
Mark, you beauty! Thanks fella!
Matt T says:
June 4th, 2012 at 9:38 am
Thanks Mark for that Android 4 Ice-cream sandwich update on my HTC Sensation XE, worked a treat.
Probably should have it own thread as it will happen a lot more over the coming months with it being rolled out on many many devices in June July.
Toby says:
June 7th, 2012 at 11:18 am
Mark & The Hippy,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Derek says:
July 2nd, 2012 at 3:17 pm
My problem is that the Orange Internet APN is locked as well as the Consumer Broadband APN. Any ideas?
The Hippy says:
July 2nd, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Sorry Derek, I’m not qualified to help you any further than I already have. I’d suggest posting on a relevant forum if you need specific help with something.
fatgeorge says:
July 9th, 2012 at 11:40 am
TOP MAN!! works a treat! very shabby to lock out this facility, I have 500m data, and maybe use 3m on the phone. Will get good use of it now with a tablet. Nice one!
Adam says:
July 16th, 2012 at 7:49 pm
Fantastic! Thank you very much. Perfect, immediate fix.
Phil says:
August 5th, 2012 at 1:21 am
Hi The Hippy and Derek
I have found a workaround for the lockout problem which works for me ->
Create a new apn.
I did this with the relavent details as outlined in this blog, thanks The Hippy.
i.e
1. On the home screen click Menu -> Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Access Point Names
2. You should see the following three options:
Orange Internet
Consumer Broadband
Orange MMS
Select the menu option (menu button) and create a new APN.
3. Change the following settings, taking care to make sure that you copy these details exactly (including capital or lowercase lettering)…
APN from to orangeinternet
Username from to Orange
Password from to Multimedia
Authentication type should be set to CHAP.
Note, You can set the Name from to whatever you like, I decided on WiFi.
4. Press your Menu button, tap “Save”
5. Activate the newly created APN by tapping it
Now you should be ready to use WiFi hotspot.
Em says:
August 27th, 2012 at 11:28 pm
A huge thank you!! I’ve been struggling for ages to figure out why I could connect but didn’t get internet. Appreciate you posting this!
Chewie says:
September 8th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Thanks for posting this information, works a treat.
CJ says:
September 29th, 2012 at 10:13 am
Mark, you are a legend. Tried all the above, but it was the “dun” that done it! Works great now. Thanks a bunch!
dbrother says:
October 14th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
I have this problem on T-Mobile, have changed all the settings as instructed but there is a password, does anyone know the default password on HTC Desire (it is 2 characters)?
Jono says:
October 19th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I tried Phil’s work around on my HTC Incredible and it worked fine.
Thanks for the help guys, you helped recover a frustrating situation.
Angela says:
October 27th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Hi I am having problems with connecting my htc wildfire to my new ipad3 I have tried the above ideas but on my iPad it seems to connect to my htc but I cannot get on the Internet! Any further ideas, as dreck my settings on my phone were locked upon trying phials idea the apn didn’t activate
They_want_control00 says:
November 26th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
This does help a great deal. Creating your own ANP and deselesting the existing one, that can’t be deleted by the way, is the only way to go. I’m sure orange will think of a new way to try and stop this. It’s all part of their plan!!
laura says:
January 20th, 2013 at 12:26 am
cant beleive this. I’ve been struggling for hours with this and now it works. Thank you
Jill says:
February 3rd, 2013 at 11:24 pm
Thank you so much for putting this up. I had trouble getting my kindle fire to connect to my portable wifi hotspot on my htc wildfire s. Im on orange and have had similar trouble before. Thanks again burnedouthippy!
Marvs says:
February 15th, 2013 at 9:14 am
Thanks very much for posting this, proved invaluable whilst waiting for my Virginmedia installation
neil says:
February 21st, 2013 at 3:01 pm
These workarounds do not work on the new android code 4.2.1 or 4.2.2. The reason being is that google implemented code that so that isp’s can now see which traffic is for tethering. That being so even those with tethering as part of there allowance are still unable to connect as this is a software bug. Google need to fix this. The only other option is to downgrade to eariler android code. 4.1.2 and eralier should be fine.( google have yet to even admit this is a bug although the internet has many forums regarding this )
Andy says:
February 21st, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Thanks to Mark and The Hippy for posting this explanation – it’s allowed me to solve the problems I was having tethering my i-Pad to my mobile.
ronald says:
May 10th, 2013 at 4:28 pm
I drop a comment when I appreciate a article on a site or I have something to contribute to the
conversation. I just wanted to thank the Hippy for the help.