This phone is broken (broken screen) and was given to me, so I figured I’d use it as a WiFi extender, but I guess I can’t.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 @pawb.social
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    2 days ago

    Do you normally have SIMless service? 🤨

    The hotspot function basically just lets you connect other devices to the Internet through the phone’s cell service. No service == no hotspot.

    Apps may allow you to use it as a range extender tho.

    • zurohki@aussie.zone
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      2 days ago

      My phone will hotspot when it’s connected to WiFi. I can even tether it to a desktop PC and use it as a WiFi adapter.

      • forrgott@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        Well, technically that’s not a “hotspot”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s a Wi-Fi extender.

        • kernelle@0d.gs
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          1 day ago

          I’ll have to disagree on that one, WiFi extenders extend an existing network, keeping the same network and DHCP is done by the original access point.

          A hotspot creates a new network, and DHCP is handled by the hotspot, not the network on the WAN side.

        • m-p{3}@piefed.ca
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          2 days ago

          And a poor Wi-Fi extender as well, since you halve your network bandwidth by using an extender with a single radio chip.

          • TurboWafflz@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            I’ve only seen that option on phones with two radios, it uses the 2.4GHz radio for one connection and the 5GHz radio for the other

            • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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              1 day ago

              I am not entirely sure what kind of radio fuckery happens, but my phone (Oneplus 6 with LineageOS) can be connected to a 5 Ghz wifi network and have a 5 GHz hotspot open at the same time.

              I am assuming the wifi chip has two (or more) somewhat independent frontends, since my home wifi and the phone hotspot are on two different 5 GHz frequencies.

            • forrgott@lemm.ee
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              2 days ago

              That’s kinda required. I doubt one antenna can simultaneously send and receive.

              Anyway, there’s still only one controller, so your bandwidth is still halved.

                • forrgott@lemm.ee
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                  2 days ago

                  Oh, I should clarify; this is more than send and receive - there’s some amount of network routing involved with being a Wi-Fi extender or relay or whatever.

                  What I probably meant to say is one antenna cannot send/receive simultaneously on more than one network.

                  But, yes, duh, thank you for calling me out on that one!

              • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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                1 day ago

                I am not sure if the bandwidth is really limited by the controller, or by the modulation / signal-to-noise ratios in practical scenarios.

    • NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com
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      2 days ago

      Might be someone wanting to share the WiFi on something like a tablet. Or someone using an Android phone as an “iPod Touch”, basically everything the phone has minus cellular capabilities but still wanting to share the WiFi with other devices.

      I could see this being very popular on flights and cruises where they charge you per device to pay for this one device and then share with other devices.

      • SaltySalamander@fedia.io
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        2 days ago

        The device can just connect to whatever wifi network the tablet is connected to. There’s no reason to “share the wifi connection”.

        • NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com
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          2 days ago

          I could see this being very popular on flights and cruises where they charge you per device to pay for this one device and then share with other devices.

    • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      My phone does that just fine. It’s a Samsung limitation. All it does is create an access point and forward traffic via its default route.

        • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          Of course it does(*).

          (*): assuming you mean “works” in the sense of “turns on, lets me use it just fine, does everything that does not require an active cell connection”