Public wifi - Hardware determines what you can connect to?

[louiswho]

First time using Android, starting cheap...https://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-11-Galileo-Pro-with-WiFi-11.5-Touchscreen-Tablet-PC-with-Keyboard-Case-Featuring-Android-6.0-Marshmallow-Operating-System/53990867. Usually $179, today $79. I like the ability to use the detachable keyboard.

Anyway, connect to Wi-Fi at home with no problems. Went to coffee shop, could not find the coffee shop Wi-Fi connection (found plenty of others). Other people there could see that connection in the list of available Wi-Fi connections, I could not. One person had two phones, one with cellular coverage, one without, and he had the coffee shop Wi-Fi connection listed on both. On my iPhone 4s, I could not see it, my provider is Verizon. Those with phones that had Sprint, could see it.

So, besides the possible different hardware technology (phones, tablets), is there also a difference in what you can see in Wi-Fi connections, between carriers?

BTH, yes, I will be using a VPN.

 

[dpham00]

It probably doesn't support Wi-Fi 5ghz, both your tablet and the 4s.

You can have your friends who can connect install wifi manager to see what frequency Wi-Fi is being broadcast at. My guess would be 5ghz which is why your devices can't see it.


https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=org.kman.WifiManager&hl=en&token=ahIInkkR

 

[louiswho]

Your reply get me looking...
https://ordering.ges.com/025600458/download/558607. Open the PDF, it states that tables, and the 4s do not have 5ghz

This link, 6 ways to make the most of Wi-Fi on your Android device | PCWorld, scroll down to "stick with one frequency band", shows the choice between the bands. I do not have this option on the 'Advanced' selection on the tablet, and 'advanced' itself does not show on the 4s.

 

[louiswho]

So, the questions are...is everything going to 5ghz, and even thought my current purchase seems ok for most things, in a year, I will need to purchase a more up to date one? Also, my home router being a Netgear N600 dual band, if I get a newer tablet or phone (with 5ghz abilities), they will work on my router?

 

[Rukbat]

Most people involved in the industry aren't going to 5 GHz, but some small shops hire someone who thinks that "the latest is the greatest" (incorrectly), so he installs, in this case, 5GHz only. It's possible that someone understood part of a problem - that Bluetooth can interfere with 2.4 GHz wifi, and turned it off to make sure no one had a problem - but sitting 100 feet from the router, if it's placed to cover the coffee shop's customer area, won't have the problem to begin with, so it's a poor understanding of both the problem and the fact that some people just don't have 5GHz available.

Any devices you buy in the future, other than cheap Chinese phones and tablets that probably don't have wifi at all, will have both bands as long as both of them are in use, so there's not much to worry about going forward. (The Galileo is probably one of the cheap Chinese tablets, speced and ordered by RCA.)