Hotspot 5ghz

[Inell Krolick]

Formany months I've accessed a public xfinitywifi hotspot using my tablet which only supports 2.4 GHz wifi. About 3 weeks ago it stopped being able to connect to it. In fact it doesn't even show up on the list of available networks. Yesterday and today I checked it out again using my phone (which supports both 2.4 and 5 GHz wifi) and found that the hotspot was no longer broadcasting on 2.4 GHz. Only on 5 GHz. The phone connected to it just fine on 5 GHz. So it seems like the hotspot is still functional, but has stopped broadcasting on 2.4 GHz. How can I get it to resume operation on that frequency?

As background, this hotspot is on a utility pole in a commercial/industrial park, and not associated with any of the nearby businesses (I checked with all 3 nearby businesses and all use Verizon as their ISP). I used the signal strength of the 5 GHz wifi from the hotspot to pin down its position to the pole (the signal is -40 dB at the pole and between -55 and -60 dB near the adjacent buildings).

I have tried contacting Comcast technical support by phone, but can't get through the automated system as it does a check on my home internet and tells me that all is ok. I got through to Comcast technical support chat from Facebook, and was told that all hotspots where associated with homes or businesses and that they couldn't do anything about how they worked (I think they were just blowing me off).

Finally I have found someone experiencing and explaining EXACTLY what has occurred to me in the last 2 weeks, only, this is happening to my xfinitiywifi SSID being broadcast from my home router. Both xfinitywifi and XFINITY can only be connected to via 5Ghz devices. Devices that are 2.4Ghz can not even see these SSID's to connect to them. VERY frustrating.

As I explained earlier in this thread, I am not trying to access a hotspot eminating from either another customer or a business. The hotspot is located on a utility pole outside in the open, and no customer or business within a quarter mile has Comcast internet service (they all use Verizon).

I do not understand the distinction between a public hotspot and a Comcast Gateway, so I can't address which of those I am using. As I wrote, the address listed on the Xfinity Hotspot app is 99 Airpark Road, Princeton, NJ 08540 (this in not where I have my xfinity internet service). I have attached a screenshot from the app showing the hotspot and its address. I have also attached a screenshot of details about the hotspot from the app where it confirms that the hotspot is located outdoors, not inside a customer's or business' facility.

So, summarizing, the xfinity hotspot that I had been accessing on 2.4 GHz and would like to access again on 2.4 GHz is not affiliated with any Comcast personal or business customer. It is located outside in the open and at least a quarter mile from any other location with Comcast internet service. So it must be under direct Comcast control, as there is no one else to control it. How can I get Comcast to restore service on 2.4 GHz from this hotspot.

Yes, the hotspot is at an airport, but it is not affiliated with any of the businesses there. I spoke with all 4 businesses on the aiport and none of them have Comcast service...all use Verizon (the airport, itself, a car rental service, an electrician contractor, and a roofing and gutter contractor). So it doesn't seem to be affiliated with any Commercial entity.

Same mine just disabled few days ago on 2.4ghz hotspot. Looks like all apartments around me disabled 2.4ghz hotspot from WIFI Scanner only see 5ghz hotspots. My Private 2.4ghz still broadcasting so comcast has disable the 2.4ghz hotspot for some reason. I even tried factory resetting the gateway and turning hotspot features on and off. So now older devices can't use xfinity hotspot unless get 5ghz adapter for them.

Tech support from Comcast have repeatedly insisted to me that they do not have any control over hotspot operation. That all of them are located in residential or commercial entities and that the Comcast customer controls if and on what band a hotspot is broadcast. That doesn't seem to be the case in your situation, as you haven't made any changes to your router and it stopped broadcasting on the 2.4 GHz band on its own (or more likely under Comcast's command).

In my case I know that the hotspot is not affiliated with any entity in the vicinity, as there are no residences within a half mile, and none of the businesses within about a quarter mile are Comcast customers. The hotspot is on its own located on a utility pole out in a driveway at least 30 ft from the nearest building.

Have you tried posting a new thread on your experience? Maybe a tech support person will respond and with your information you can at least prove that the change was not made by you. At that point I would expect them to find another creative excuse to do nothing. But at least you can try.

Having the same problem with travel router tl-wr902ac. It will bridge to xfinitywifi 5ghz but cannot get an IP address (all zeros). It works if I put in a static address, but this is not a solution. Why can't it get an IP address on 5G? (It used to get IP addresses on 2.4G).

Called Camcast support and got yelled at by some woman, who did not even understand my problem. Is it possible to restore 2.4 GHz signal on home router? You said that on public hotspot you could not. Thanks.

In my case they acted like the hotspot that I was accessing could not exist because there are no residences or businesses with Comcast service within a half mile of the hotspot location. So I gave up. I will be looking for other Cable and Internet service when my contract expires.

Yes, both have their advantages and disadvantages. Longer range in the 2.4 band is handy for a baby monitor, but it makes for more congestion in crowded urban scenarios. The shorter range of 5 GHz leads to less interference with neighbouring networks.

After a short while the AP disappears again (even if the option to automatically switch it off, is disabled). Even if devices are connected the AP gets disconnected and does not appear in the list of available networks anymore. On the FP4 it is still marked as running, though.

Yeah definitely ends upp only being 2.4Ghz whatever you do. As I stated earlier I did a hard reset just to get this to work and now I can only choose a 2.4GZ setting, Confirmed on my connected laptop

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Recently, I upgraded to Android 12. I had this problem previously on Android 11. A few months ago, after a reboot, the 5 GHz Wi-Fi hotspot would work. Now, soon after the OS update, I noticed that a restart no longer helps. Between the two instances, I did not use the hotspot feature, so I am not sure whether the change is because the hardware problem progressed or because the software works differently.

My laptop with Windows 10 can connect to 2.4G WiFi as well as 5G WiFi, but when I turn on the hotspot in Windows 10 settings, it says that only the devices supporting 5G WiFi can find the hotspot. I am wondering whether it is my wireless adapter or Windows 10 that limits 5G WiFi broadcasting.

I change another 2.4G WiFi connection and then turn on the hotspot in settings and then I can find my AP now. But it make me more confusing...Why the adapter works in this way? Moreover, the built-in hotspot settings on Ubuntu can only share internet connection from Ethernet...

Your adapter is dual-band which means you have to configure Windows so it knows which band you want to use (2.4GHz or 5.0GHz) for the virtual router. This configuration might be at the device level, which means you want to look at the configuration of the device in Device Manager. If you still can't figure it out there are multiple third-party programs that will provide you that granularity configuration of your network.

However if you are connected to your network using the 2.4GHz band, and you're using the adapter to create a virtual hotspot, that would explain the reason you can only create an 802.11n 5.0 GHz hotspot. You can't create a virtual network on the same band you are connected, to an existing network on given your current hardware.

The reason you were able to do it with the other adapter is likely because the configuration of that adapter allows you to configure both bands to the same frequency. I can only use my two decades worth of engineering experience to make an educated guess, considering, I know nothing about the other adapter. Given how this feature works in the first place I am confident that I am right, connected to your network using the 5.0GHz instead, and you will be able to create a virtual network on the 2.4GHz band.

The updates in the question and this comment to the other answer clarifies an important point: it's not that a 2.4GHz hotspot cannot be created, but rather that the hotspot is always created on the same band as the main WiFi network: If the wireless card is connected to a 2.4GHz network, then the hotspot is on the 2.4GHz band. If the wireless card is connected to a 5GHz network, then the hotspot is on the 5GHz band.

This is because the wireless adapter in question (and pretty much all dual-band consumer wireless adapters in general) only has one radio. The radio can work either on 2.4GHz or on 5GHz, but not both at the same time. In fact, it can only work on one specific channel (or one specific combination of channels, in case of "wide channels") in one of the frequency bands at the same time. This is a hardware limitation, and it means that when you use the same adapter for both your upstream Internet connection and your hotspot, then both must be on the same channel, in the same frequency band.

Consumer WiFi adapters can often have several virtual connections active at the same time: for example, your adapter has both an client mode connection that connects to your upstream wireless network, and a master mode connection that serves as the hotspot AP. However, both these virtual connections are running on the single radio, and they must share the same channel.

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