No, like…what he’s trying to do is to put the phone on an existing WiFi access point, then have the phone itself act as a second WiFi access point:
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.
He’s trying to use it as an ad-hoc range extender. Like, he presumably has one device that can’t see the existing wireless access point, is out of range, so he wants to put the phone somewhere that’s still in range of the first access point, then chain access from the phone to his device by having the phone act as a second wireless access point.
Android can do that — I’ve done it — but this check that shouldn’t be done and disrupts his use case is causing him annoyance.
That sounds like a hardware limitation more than anything. Is it normal for standard consumer wifi chips to be able to receive and broadcast simultaneously on two different networks? I know that’s definitely not something you can usually do with PC hardware.
That sounds like a hardware limitation more than anything.
According to one of OP’s follow-up comments, he says that it works if he puts a random SIM in without service on it, so it’s not a limitation on his phone, at any rate.
EDIT: Actually…hmm. Now that I think about it…was I using Bluetooth tethering on my phone at the time rather than a WiFi hotspot? I was just remembering being startled that the phone would link the laptop to a WiFi network, and I’d used multiple approaches (WiFi, Bluetooth, USB) to link the phone at the time.
No, like…what he’s trying to do is to put the phone on an existing WiFi access point, then have the phone itself act as a second WiFi access point:
He’s trying to use it as an ad-hoc range extender. Like, he presumably has one device that can’t see the existing wireless access point, is out of range, so he wants to put the phone somewhere that’s still in range of the first access point, then chain access from the phone to his device by having the phone act as a second wireless access point.
Android can do that — I’ve done it — but this check that shouldn’t be done and disrupts his use case is causing him annoyance.
That sounds like a hardware limitation more than anything. Is it normal for standard consumer wifi chips to be able to receive and broadcast simultaneously on two different networks? I know that’s definitely not something you can usually do with PC hardware.
According to one of OP’s follow-up comments, he says that it works if he puts a random SIM in without service on it, so it’s not a limitation on his phone, at any rate.
EDIT: Actually…hmm. Now that I think about it…was I using Bluetooth tethering on my phone at the time rather than a WiFi hotspot? I was just remembering being startled that the phone would link the laptop to a WiFi network, and I’d used multiple approaches (WiFi, Bluetooth, USB) to link the phone at the time.