Google’s Pixel smartphones are having a weird issue that is preventing some users from starting a mobile hotspot. The problem appears to be fairly widespread, affecting hundreds of Pixel users over the past several months. Devices on Verizon’s network, including Verizon itself, Total Wireless, US Mobile, and StraightTalk, are affected. The company says it’s actively working on a resolution but hasn’t released a fix yet.
According to user reports on Google’s official Issue Tracker, this hotspot issue on Pixel phones has been around since at least May last year. It seems to have cropped up following the Android 13 beta update but continues to exist even today, months after the stable Android 13 release. The problem affects every Pixel model that received the big Android update — Pixel 4 to Pixel 7 series. But that isn’t all. Some Pixel 3 series users, who remained on Android 12, have also reported similar hotspot issues.
The specific problem is that the mobile hotspot does not start on the affected Pixel units. Users see various error messages such as “authentication failed, please try again later”. Even though the problem only exists on devices on Verizon’s network, it doesn’t seem to be a carrier restriction. Some carriers do not allow mobile hotspot access in select phone plans but the device can recognize such restrictions and notify users accordingly. The problem is a little different here.
Moreover, many affected users have confirmed that their phone plan comes with mobile hotspot data. But they are still unable to access it. Their Pixel phone simply doesn’t allow them to enable mobile hotspots. For some users, the problem surfaces randomly. Hotspot does work sometimes but refuses to turn on some other times (via). A few got occasional success by repeatedly trying to enable hotspots, but the issue surfaces again in the future.
Google says it’s working on solving this hotspot issue on Pixel devices
Google said in September last year that it is “actively working” on resolving this hotspot issue on Pixel phones. But months later, there’s still no fix available, leaving affected users frustrated. In the meantime, the problem continues to spread and affect more users. Some users say recent system and Carrier Services updates have patched the issue on their Pixel units. But these are one-off reports. Most users are still having the problem. Hopefully, Google will not take much longer to find out the root cause of this problem and solve it.