I have a MiFi but I don’t use it. The battery lasts only about 5 hours and this lets me fall back to my regular cellular data sometimes. Using an Android phone as your dedicated WiFi router can get you going for up to 10 hours. This is what I’ve been doing in the last two years when I ditched my modems.
One of the Android devices I’ve been using lately specifically for this purpose (Infinix S2) got an Android 7.0 update a few days ago and I installed the update. This is when I started having issues with the WiFi hotspot. My MacBook Pro stopped detecting this same hotspot. I tried everything I could but it didn’t work. Every other device was working fine and detected the WiFi network: PS4, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Windows PC and every other gadget in the house.
Before now, I’ve had this same issue with another device running Android N, the latest Tecno Camon CX. Every device was detected its wireless hotspot except this same MacBook Pro.
Fixing the problem
Until this happened, I’ve always selected 2.4GHz to transmit WiFi signal and it has been working fine. Surprisingly, this same 2.4GHz band doesn’t seem to play well with certain devices on Android N. If you’re having issues connecting your devices with your WiFi hotspot, you may need to make a little change to your hotspot settings.
All you need to do is to change the AP band from 2.4GHz to 5GHz (if your Android phone allows it). After switching to 5GHz band, the same MacBook Pro latched on to the network almost immediately.
You should note that switching to 5GHz AP band reduces the WiFi range, you may start getting less WiFi signal if you move too far from the hotspot. Also, some devices won’t work with 5GHz WiFi network (like the PS4).