Laptop can’t see Wi-Fi from phone – why and what to do?

If you distribute the Internet from an Android phone or iPhone via Wi-Fi, you may encounter the fact that the laptop does not see the distributed network, although everything is configured correctly and it is possible that other devices are properly connected to this network.

This manual details why this can happen and how to fix the situation when the laptop does not show the mobile hotspot created on the phone. On the topic of the distribution itself, you can read the instructions: How to distribute the Internet via Wi-Fi from a Samsung phone , Modem mode on an iPhone .

Wi-Fi network range as the main cause of the problem

The main reason a laptop may not see Wi-Fi when sharing from a phone is an unsupported wireless range. The essence of what is happening is as follows:

1. Many modern phones share 5 GHz Wi-Fi by default.
2. Not all laptops and computer Wi-Fi adapters support this range, only 2.4 GHz is supported.
3. Result – the network is not visible in the list of available networks.

The solution for this case is simple – switch the Wi-Fi distribution on the phone to 2.4 GHz. This can be done as follows:

1. On Android(I give an example for Samsung Galaxy, but on other smartphones with Android the logic of actions should be the same) go to Settings – Connections – Mobile hotspot and modem, click on the item “Mobile hotspot” and click “Configure”. In the “Preferred Frequency” section, you can select the desired network band.
2. On iPhone,go to Settings> Personal Hotspot and turn on Maximum Compatibility.

After the steps have been completed, check if the Wi-Fi network is now displayed on the laptop.

Additional Information

In most cases, the above will fix the problem, but if that doesn’t work, pay attention to the following points:

• Do not set a name for the distributed network using Cyrillic, emoji, special characters – there are problems when using them.
• Try turning off the distribution of Wi-Fi on the phone and then turning it on again, also try turning it on and then turning on the flight mode (“Airplane” mode) on the laptop – the adapter will be restarted and it is possible that it will see the network.
• Make sure that your laptop sees other Wi-Fi networks, if not, then the problem is most likely from the laptop itself (its Wi-Fi adapter), in more detail: What to do if Wi-Fi does not work on a laptop .