X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot

X200, X201, X220 (including equivalent tablet models) and X300, X301 series specific matters only.
Post Reply
Message
Author
atanasoff
Freshman Member
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:25 am

X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot

#1 Post by atanasoff » Tue May 13, 2014 7:36 pm

I have an X201s which connects fine to a fixed hotspot I tested it on (a university public 801.11n, if that matters). Using my phoneternet hotspot it disconnects within a minute or two. It will reconnect manually, but will soon disconnect.
I'm using Access Connections as I find it far less bother than windows, or perhaps I'm just familiar with it. AC 5.
The same phone hotspot can remain connected indefinitely to different thinkpad, so it seems not to be that. It also works if conneced via usb cable, that's not a solution as I don't care to lug a cable around.

Is this a common issue, and does anyone know where to look for the cause?

Atreides
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:38 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Re: X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot

#2 Post by Atreides » Thu May 15, 2014 11:13 pm

What wifi card are this and the other Thinkpad using?
Current: X1 Carbon Gen 3 - 20BT-S1LV00 - i5-5300U - 8GB DDR3L - WQHD Touch - 256GB SSD
Previous: X60s - 1702-3QU | X200s - 7466-44U | X230 - 2325-2RU | X240sx - 20AK-A00RHH
Projects: 560 - 2640-2OU | 600E - 2645-3AU | T21 2647-6AU | X60t - 6366-L6U

atanasoff
Freshman Member
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:25 am

Re: X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot

#3 Post by atanasoff » Fri May 16, 2014 1:37 pm

Atreides wrote:What wifi card are this and the other Thinkpad using?
Old, works fine: Atheros 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI
New, headaches: Intel Centrino Advanced 6200 AGN

It's frustrating enough that I've had to set the machine aside for the most part, as I'm usually connecting on wifi of some sort.

Atreides
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 7:38 pm
Location: Washington, DC

Re: X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot

#4 Post by Atreides » Sun May 18, 2014 4:49 pm

Have you installed the latest drivers from Intel?
Current: X1 Carbon Gen 3 - 20BT-S1LV00 - i5-5300U - 8GB DDR3L - WQHD Touch - 256GB SSD
Previous: X60s - 1702-3QU | X200s - 7466-44U | X230 - 2325-2RU | X240sx - 20AK-A00RHH
Projects: 560 - 2640-2OU | 600E - 2645-3AU | T21 2647-6AU | X60t - 6366-L6U

FryPpy
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 459
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:29 pm
Location: Moscow, Russia

Re: X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot

#5 Post by FryPpy » Sun May 18, 2014 5:20 pm

atanasoff wrote:
Atreides wrote:What wifi card are this and the other Thinkpad using?
Old, works fine: Atheros 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI
New, headaches: Intel Centrino Advanced 6200 AGN

It's frustrating enough that I've had to set the machine aside for the most part, as I'm usually connecting on wifi of some sort.
And what is model of your phoneternet hotspot???
I think it works in 2 bands - for older WiFi for example - g @ 2.4GHz and old Thinkpad can use it. And for newer WiFi - n 5 GHz. Your X201 can use any of bands. And by defaut prefer n. But maybe 5Ghz (n) band overloaded or jammed. What signal strength shows AC or windows wireless applet when connected?
Can you reconfigure your hotswap or make X201 use g band?

atanasoff
Freshman Member
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:25 am

Re: X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot

#6 Post by atanasoff » Sun May 18, 2014 6:49 pm

-----------
And what is model of your phoneternet hotspot???
I think it works in 2 bands - for older WiFi for example - g @ 2.4GHz and old Thinkpad can use it. And for newer WiFi - n 5 GHz. Your X201 can use any of bands. And by defaut prefer n. But maybe 5Ghz (n) band overloaded or jammed. What signal strength shows AC or windows wireless applet when connected?
Can you reconfigure your hotswap or make X201 use g band?
---------------

Further testing reveals that the problem isn't limited to the phonespot, it's also at public hotspots. I've found only one wifi spot where it works, which just happened to be the first public location I tried. It's a university network and probably using different equipment than the typical public space wifi.

My Phoneternet hotspot is via a Moto Photon which does 2.4 only, b/g/n. No 5GHz. That's plenty, as both g and n are new and fast enough.
A few minutes on Google showed this was a known issue with a trouble ticket at Intel but I couldn't find how (if?) it was resolved.

I tried disabling N mode on the 201s, no change.
Signal strength shows 99%, using 802.11g

atanasoff
Freshman Member
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:25 am

Re: X201s wifi does not like phone hotspot, tried new driver

#7 Post by atanasoff » Tue May 20, 2014 7:54 pm

Further:

From the Lenovo site, I d/l and installed
Intel Wireless LAN (11agn 11bgn 11ac) version 17.0.2
which includes a problem fix
"- Fixed an issue where the wireless connection dropped"


with somewhat high hopes.

Nope. Not fixed.


--
detail:
This is the latest applicable driver; while it doesn't list the 6200 card it does list 6205, it installs, looks OK in Device Manager and operates. I suspect leaving 6200 off the list was an oversight, as the earlier drivers tell one to go look for a later version. Meanwhile, the old one connects without complaint.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad X200/201/220 and X300/301 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests