Forum Discussion
I'm switching from Xfinity and still have both network but my windows 11 laptop says can't use T-Mobile WiFi
I'm switching from Xfinity and still have both network but my windows 11 laptop says can't use T-Mobile WiFi when i select it and connect, try to.
Unsure what windows troubleshooting I need to do but it's odd and must be a unique issue since I've not seen it on the board.
I did a pc reset after trying a restore and it worked.
I realize I had network drives mounted via old network which may have been the problem?
The t-mobile router doesn't work with some Dell computers. T-mobile Philippines support was clueless. So was Dell support. I solved the problem by connecting via a wifi extender.
That probably was related to the behavior. Interesting but it sort of makes some sense. The OS was probably just doing what it does to try to maintain the drive mounts.
I did a pc reset after trying a restore and it worked.
I realize I had network drives mounted via old network which may have been the problem?
I still suspect the problem is a driver issue with the laptop adapter. Other things work as I recall so that is the one thing that stands out. The driver OR the adapter capability. Drivers are a pain.
T-Mobile supports 6. But my xfin has WiFi 6 disabled.
I will see if it can connect to my Xfinity guest or tether to my phone tomorrow. It gives the same error for the guest network but I gave the wrong password I think. So i think it's the computer not T-Mobile, which is what most are agreeing with.
The 802.11ac is WI-FI 5 in effect. The 802.11ax is WI-FI 6. The current generation of wireless. It is supposed to be backward compatible as any wireless network standard. There are some fundamental differences between the two and how they work so that is probably part of the equation. If the laptop is only 3-4 years old I still would expect it to be 802.11ac.
Some wireless adapters are not supported in Linux so it might still not help us out. When I have an older laptop or desktop client that has an older wireless adapter I just buy a USB wireless adapter and upgrade the capability of the wireless connection. I find it counter productive to fight with an older technology at times. I do so when I have to but I prefer to move forward when I can. I have avoided Windows 11 on my Alienware as it works great on Windows 10 and I have seen too many odd reports about Windows 11 upgrades.
It's connected to my Xfinity ac radio which has Google WiFi, ax does not seem familiar to me. The laptop is 3 maybe 4 yrs. It's original Dell warranty expired January 2021
What I am saying is if it will boot a live Ubuntu image with a different driver and connect to the T-Mobile gateway that seems to point to the driver in Windows not the adapter itself. I don’t know if the Xfinity is 802.11ac or 802.11ax radios. If the laptop adapter and driver work with 802.11ac but not with 802.11ax then knowing what the adapter is to try to get it to connect to the T-Mobile gateway will be helpful.
If the laptop is not very old and the adapter is 802.11ac it should be able to connect to the T-Mobile gateway without too much effort but that does not seem to be working. I am just curious as to what the adapter is capable of as I don’t know what we are missing by not looking and knowing its capability.
With the Dell laptop model specifications for the wireless adapter then we would know its capability. Booting with a live Linux image on a bootable USB drive does not touch the Windows environment what so ever. It would just be a test and then you shut down, remove the USB drive and then boot back into Windows just as you always have. The live image just runs in RAM so it would have nothing to do with the main drive or the Windows load. But that would just be a test. We can stay focused on trying to get it connected with Windows. No problem.
