My Wifi only sees some (not all) of the networks.

[danjab]

My WiFi does not see all the networks in range.  Right now I am at a trade show, and it does not see the network I'm supposed to connect to, but my phone does.  I have had this experience a couple of times now.  I ran the diagnostic and it says the drivers are up to date.  What else can I do so that I can see all networks?

[banhien]

@danjab 

Your machine is HP Notebook 15t-dy100 CTO which is a CTO machine, we can't get its REAL specs. Please check Device Manager to see what it is. I think is may have a wifi adapter which supports 2.4GHz ONLY.

The following information does NOT say what is its wifi adapter

            https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/pdp/hp-laptop-15t-7df84av-1

Regards.

[danjab]

Hi there,  the network adapter is:

Realtek RTL8723DE 802.11b/g/n PCIe Adapter

Does that help?

[banhien]

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@danjab wrote:

....

Realtek RTL8723DE 802.11b/g/n PCIe Adapter

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@danjab

That explained all. Its wifi adapter ONLY supports 2.4GHz networks. You have to allow the router to broadcast DUAL bands (2.4GHz and 5.0GHz)  to allow your machine to see 2.4GHz SSID and you can connect.

Regards.

[danjab]

Is there any setting that I can change on my laptop to fix this?  Here's why: this is not a problem when I am home, I can connect to my router just fine.  It's a problem when I am in public places and I can't see all the networks that are there.  For example, I'm currently at a trade show, and the WiFi that we're supposed to use is invisible to me.  

[banhien]

@danjab 

At home, your router broadcast dual bands by default OR already set it to broadcast dual bands. You can replace its wifi adapter using (with one antenna)

        Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac 1 × 1 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 part # 17365-005

Regards.

[danjab · Accepted solution]

Looks like I'm shopping for a new laptop!  Thanks for the reply.