IP address conflict

WiFi is WiFi. WiFi "hotspots" are routers - whether we call them "mobile hot spots" or "dedicated routers". They are designed to behave in exactly the same manner so devices can connect to them trouble-free. The network behind the router, whether hard-wired or mobile - is transparent by design.

Mobile hotspot user functionality is typically limited to prevent people from screwing up the relatively limited amount of bandwidth available on a mobile network when compared to that of a hard-wired connection (and to prevent people from getting several-thousand-dollar mobile data bills). But that doesn't mean the WiFi protocols the mobile devices use are any better or worse - they're the same. The same DHCP protocol is used everywhere for the sake of ubiquity and it does sometimes get confused - whether the network behind it is mobile or hardwired. Pulling the plug on your Netgear router or your mobile MiFi device should have the same effect. Sometimes they need a break.

1492 wrote:
The hotspot is still running router software. My new Netgear Sprint hotspot's built in router firmware has almost the same feature set offered by my Linksys router. So, I'm not sure what's considered a typical router?

True, the hotspot is still a router but the HTC One uses a very limited subset of the software. The HTC One is a phone with WiFi hotspot capabilities. It is not, as far as I've been able to discover, a hotspot device like the Netgear. It basically provides a mini version of DHCP for up to 10 devices on the WiFi and NATs the packets to/from WiFi onto and off of the cell data connection.

A traditional router is usually a separate piece of gear (like your Netgear) that one can log into and change a lot of different parameters. You can set up static routes, static addresses for some devices, specify the number of dynamic addresses it will serve, specify NAT blocks and ranges, etc. The HTC One Phone hotspot software/app doesn't have those capabilities.

The hotspot is still running router software. My new Netgear Sprint hotspot's built in router firmware has almost the same feature set offered by my Linksys router. So, I'm not sure what's considered a typical router?

1492 wrote:

bob_nestor wrote:


The information I gleaned from the forum is that is a problem that has existed on HTC Android devices since version 2.3 of the OS up to and including version 4.2 (which I think is the latest Android OS).

Do you mean the latest Android OS to have this issue? It's certainly not the lastest Android release, as I'm running Android 5.x on my Samsung Note for some time.

BTW, never seen this issue on any Android devices? Have seen IP conflicts message on desktop/notebooks running WiFi on Windows, so not usual from my perspective. But also not common.

I don't think you can negate that it has nothing to do with the router. Try connecting to a different access point and see if the issue still persists?

As I thought I'd clearly stated, the issue relates to HTC devices which run Android OS between 2.3 and 4.2 (possibly later). There were no reports of problems on non-HTC devices running Android OS. I didn't check to see what the latest version of Android is, but I assumed it was 4.2 which it was the last time I'd checked.

So, are your devices HTC or not? If they're not HTC then you probably aren't experiencing the same problems.

As the OP stated, he's only using an HTC One hotspot on Verizon and a computer. There's no other typical router involved that I can see if I read what he posted correctly, unless he failed to describe things in his network that he didn't think were important.

With the setup he described his computer is connecting via WiFi to the HTC One which is set up to be a hotspot. The HTC One is acting as a router and can handle up to 10 devices in this manner. There are no additional setup capabilities in the HTC One hotspot other then specifying the hotspot name and password that I could find in my Google searches.

2oldman wrote:

Stopping the Bluetooth services seems to help. I tried turning them back on and I immediately got the error. As for anyone trying to connect to me, that's highly unlikely. I have one neighbor 100' from me.. that's it. And a pretty strong password.

Bluetooth doesn't have anything to do with WiFi. That is unless Bluetooth signal in your HTC hotspot is interfering with WiFi transmission using the same band, which would become apparent with connections issues. But would also likely generate complaints from other users with your particular hotspot model?

bob_nestor wrote:


The information I gleaned from the forum is that is a problem that has existed on HTC Android devices since version 2.3 of the OS up to and including version 4.2 (which I think is the latest Android OS).

Do you mean the latest Android OS to have this issue? It's certainly not the lastest Android release, as I'm running Android 5.x on my Samsung Note for some time.

BTW, never seen this issue on any Android devices? Including my HTC devices. Have seen IP conflicts message on desktop/notebooks running WiFi on Windows, so not usual from my perspective. But also not common.

I don't think you can negate that it has nothing to do with the router. Or the routing firmware in the hotspot. Try connecting to a different access point and see if the issue still persists?

I've done some Googling on HTC mobile hotspot and ran across a thread on an Android developer forum that seems to address this.

The information I gleaned from the forum is that is a problem that has existed on HTC Android devices since version 2.3 of the OS up to and including version 4.2 (which I think is the latest Android OS). It has not been observed on any other devices other than those produced by HTC, so it doesn't appear to be an Android issue, just an issue with the HTC enhancements to the Android OS for their devices.

One user suggested that they found a workaround which is to disable then reenable WiFi on the Android device. Another user found that the problem only happens when the Android device is allowed to go into sleep mode and disabling sleep solved the problem.

I have seen those from time to time . epically if if using park Wi-Fi and there are so many clients that someone is manually assigning an I/P address.

It can also be a clue that someone is trying to hack.. Just so you know. (But then so can most all error messages save 401).

On my netowrk the router has an IP address for chatting with the park.. And each device chats with the router on either a pre-set manually programmed IP address OUTSIDE the DHCP range or on a DHCP dynamically assigned address. no conflicts in quite some time.

Thanks. I'll shut it down now.. sun just came out so time for a walk.

2oldman wrote:
It's an HTC hotspot via Verizon. I have never touched any settings except the Name of the hotspot and its password.

On the Advanced Mobile Hotspot config page, LAN settings: (from the top)
Local IP
IP address:
some numbers

Subnet mask:
some numbers

LOCAL DHCP
DHCP (check box checked)

Starting IP
some numbers

OTHERS
Reset to default settings

Okay - the Local IP and Subnet mask will be very similar. They will be very different from the Starting IP range which is probably starts with 192.168.x.x. It is that range where the conflict lies.

There should be a way to view devices connected to the hotspot and their addresses, which will probably be 192.168.1.x. The router will dole out addresses to things that know the password pretty much in order. 192.168.1.101, 192.168.1.102, etc. As someone else mentioned, sometimes a sleeping device will attempt to log back into the router using an address that the hotspot gave up and granted to another device.

Again, I'd restart the hotspot and let the devices (I know you said there's only 1 or 2) re-request addresses. If you see more things connected than you are expecting change your SSID and password.