Why is my phone hotspot so slow?

A phone hotspot is usually slow for one of two reasons: your plan has slowed hotspot data after a monthly allowance, or the cellular signal where the phone sits is weak. Less often, the Wi-Fi link between the phone and your laptop is the bottleneck: the hotspot is on 2.4 GHz, the phone is overheating, or too many devices are pulling data at once.

A quick two-step test tells you which one you're dealing with.

Find the bottleneck in two tests

1. Test on the phone itself. Turn off Wi-Fi on the phone and run a speed test in its browser, on cellular, in the exact spot where the phone will sit.
2. Test from the connected device. Join the hotspot from your laptop and run the same test.

Then compare:

• Both are slow. The cellular connection is the limit: signal, network congestion or a plan restriction. Read the next two sections.
• The phone is fast, the laptop is slow. The hotspot link is the problem: the Wi-Fi band, the distance between devices, heat or the number of connected devices. Skip to the later sections.

Run each test two or three times. Mobile results jump around more than home broadband, and testing mobile data properly explains how to get a number you can trust.

Your plan may slow hotspot data on purpose

Many "unlimited" phone plans don't include unlimited high-speed hotspot data. They give you a monthly hotspot allowance, then cut hotspot speed sharply for the rest of the billing cycle. Data used on the phone itself keeps its normal speed, which is why browsing on the phone feels fine while the laptop crawls.

Two examples from the carriers' own terms at the time of writing:

• T-Mobile says that on many of its plans, once the high-speed tethering allowance is used, tethering continues at a maximum of 600 kbps.
• Verizon's plan information says Unlimited Plus hotspot data drops to up to 3 Mbps on 5G Ultra Wideband and 600 Kbps on 5G/4G LTE after 30 GB in a month.

600 kbps is 0.6 Mbps. That's enough for email and chat, and too slow for video calls or anything else in HD. If your hotspot was fine at the start of the month and got slow later, this is the likely reason. Check the hotspot usage in your carrier's app. The fix is a hotspot data add-on, a different plan or waiting for the new cycle.

Some plans also give hotspot traffic lower priority than other data when a cell is busy. Verizon's terms say hotspot data may be "temporarily slower than other traffic" during congestion. That shows up as a hotspot that's fine at lunchtime and slow in the evening. Plan priority isn't the same as ISP throttling of a specific service, but the effect on your test result looks similar.

Weak signal or a busy cell

If the phone's own test was slow too, the hotspot is just passing along a weak connection. Phones lose a lot of signal indoors, especially in basements, behind thick walls or in the middle of large buildings.

Things that help:

• Move the phone, not the laptop. Put it by a window or on a higher floor, where signal bars are strongest. The laptop can stay where you're working, as long as it's within good Wi-Fi range of the phone.
• Keep it out of pockets and bags. Your body and bag fabric absorb signal.
• Check whether you're on 5G or 4G. A phone that keeps falling back to an older network will be slower. Why mobile data is slow covers network type, congestion and signal in more depth.

The hotspot is on 2.4 GHz

The Wi-Fi link between the phone and the laptop can limit you too. On iPhone 12 and later, Personal Hotspot has a Maximize Compatibility switch. Apple's platform security guide says it turns off 5 GHz (and 6 GHz, where available) and restricts the hotspot to 2.4 GHz. Apple's own iPhone guide warns that it may reduce performance for connected devices.

Turn it off unless an older device can't connect without it. Many Android phones have a similar band setting in their hotspot options, often labelled 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz or "extend compatibility". Choose 5 GHz when your devices support it. 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz explains why 5 GHz is faster at short range, and a hotspot is always short range.

If the Wi-Fi link keeps dropping or stays slow, try USB tethering. A cable takes the Wi-Fi link out of the picture and charges the phone at the same time.

Heat, battery and too many devices

A phone running a hotspot is working hard. It's keeping a cellular connection active, running a Wi-Fi access point and often charging too. When phones get hot, they protect themselves by slowing down, and the hotspot slows with them. Take the case off, keep the phone out of direct sun and away from the laptop's exhaust vent, and don't leave it on a soft surface such as a bed.

Every connected device also shares the same cellular connection. A laptop that joins a hotspot will happily start cloud backups, system updates and app syncs, and those can use the whole connection before you've opened a browser. To stop that:

• Windows: mark the hotspot as a metered connection in the Wi-Fi network's properties. Windows then holds back many updates and background downloads.
• Mac: turn on Low Data Mode in the hotspot network's Wi-Fi details, where your macOS version offers it.
• Disconnect anything you're not using, including a tablet or a second laptop left on the hotspot.

A VPN on the laptop can slow things down further, because it adds its own overhead and routes traffic through a distant server. If speed matters more than the VPN for a task, check whether the VPN is the problem.

A short checklist

When your hotspot is slow, work down this list:

1. Test on the phone, then from the laptop, to see which side is slow.
2. Check your hotspot allowance in the carrier's app.
3. Move the phone to the spot with the best signal.
4. Turn off Maximize Compatibility, or set the hotspot to 5 GHz.
5. Try a USB cable instead of Wi-Fi.
6. Cool the phone down and stop background syncs on the laptop.

If the phone's own speed is low in every location and at every time of day, the hotspot can't do better than that. In that case it isn't a hotspot problem. It's the coverage or the plan.