Over two months after ASUS broke the hotspot function, they still have not fixed it. They have provided no timeline for fixing it. They have not acknowledged it as a known problem despite the pages of reports here and around the internet. They still want $85 just to look at a phone that anyone ships to them with this problem that they caused. They've failed to even mildly improve on the one terrible workaround available: delete all the data on your phone, go back to Android 12 without the latest security patches, and never let your device restart so that you aren't auto-updated to Android 13 and forced to lose your data again.
What they have done is sent junk mail with WebStorage offers to those who created an account in order to seek help.
Previously, I was greatly impressed with the Zenfone 8 and recommended it and the 9 to anyone who would listen in hopes that ASUS would stick around to make a Zenfone 10. Since ASUS pushed a bad update and broke their users' phones, I am warning people away from the brand entirely. This practice of giving perfectly functional devices serious problems after little more than a year is like a nightmare out of the 1990s.
Unless anyone reading happens to be game for a class-action lawsuit over planned obsolescence, your best bet is this: Buy a new phone from a company other than ASUS.
