Personal hotspot won't work

[Anniehen]

Is this still an issue for Vodafone PAYG? Basically every time I try to do anything with this network I can't. Charging for iMessage is a joke!!!
I now can't create a hotspot. It directs me to Vodafone website which is as good as useless. I can't connect to live chat (it says connection is down) and so I rang the phone number and can't reach a person - I just get directed to yet another Vodafone web page. No support whatsoever

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi,

You may need to speak with customer service to see if this feature can be activated on your account. 

This feature is sometimes reserved for Pay Monthly Customers.

iMessage messages are not charged for as long as they remain in a blue bubble and sent to other iPhones. Mobile data needs to be turned on too. If you don't have a data allowance in your tariff then a charge can be levied for turning on data per day.

If the message turns green then this is a normal text and as such can then charge for a mms message as these are not part of your normal text allowance. 

Link > Why-have-I-been-charged-for-a-text-message.

[Anniehen]

Thx for your response. I will try to chat online with them again. I am trying to iMessage international numbers and I have had to buy credit to do this as they charge for it.

[BandOfBrothers]

You're welcome. 

As i mentioned hotspot / tethering which allows a person to pair a tablet , computer etc to use the data allowance through the phone is usually restricted to Pay Monthly so they may not be able to activate this on a Payg account. 

Have you considersd skype or Viber as alternatives as long as the other parties have them. 

And or email. 

[Annie_N]

There is no reason not to tether on PAYG, but there can be a problem with iPhones, where it requires either a different APN, or authorisation by CS. Don't let them tell you it isn't permitted on PAYG, but not all the staff may know where to find the enabling switch!