Portable Hotspot Works in 2.4 Ghz Instead of 5 GHz on Xiaomi Redmi Note 5, 6

802.11n Instead of 802.11ac

Our reader asks: the problem is the following. I have set up a mobile hotspot on my Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and selected the 5 GHz band in its advanced options. I just want it to be visible to as little people as possible.

As you might know, not everyone has a device supporting 802.11ac standard and another reason is that 5 GHz Wi-Fi signal covers a way smaller spot.

But when I activated the hotspot I found out that my phone is nevertheless distributing 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. Why does it ignore the settings? 

Here is how it looks. You select 5 GHz band in the AP settings: 

But the hotspot works in 2.4 GHz:

How to Make Portable Hotspot Work in 5 GHz Instead of 2.4 GHz on Xiaomi

The “problem” (which is actually not a problem) hides in peculiarities.

The thing is Xiaomi phones are capable of redistributing the Internet obtained via Wi-Fi. The effect when you select 5 GHz but get a 2.4 GHz hotspot takes place only if you connect your Xiaomi phone to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi access point or wireless router. In this case its “Portable Hotpot” will also work on the lower band.

If you want your Xiaomi phone to run a 5 GHz mobile hotspot you should:

• either disconnect the phone from Wi-Fi to make it use its cellular connection;
• or connect to a 5 GHz Wi-Fi access point.

Restart your Portable Hotspot if no effect (off→on).

Okay, let’s launch Wi-Fi analyzer and check. Well, as we can see, now everything is just the way it should be:

Thank you for your attention! And by the way, what can you add on the topic? Feel free to write in the comments!