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This is a weird issue. I have an Android Phone (Lenovo) and since I received an Android update last year, my phone's hotspot is non-detectable in Linux alone. It is perfectly visible in Windows 10(Dual boot on the same machine) as well as in other phones. Note that this issue is specific to that particular android device. The laptop easily detects other Wifi hotspots including phone hotspots. Coming to the distro, I have tried Manjaro (didn't detect here too) before switching to Ubuntu 19.10. Ubuntu actually detected the hotspot during first boot but since then, it hasn't worked. I am currently using Ubuntu 20.04 and the issue persists. Here are my adapter details.

   description: Wireless interface
   product: BCM43142 802.11b/g/n
   vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
   logical name: wlp6s0
   version: 01
   width: 64 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=6.30.223.271 (r587334) latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
   resources: irq:18 memory:ab200000-ab207fff

Is there any fix possible?

EDIT: The issue seems that Channel 13 of WiFi is undetectable in Linux for this broadcom driver. Please let me know if there's a possible workaround.

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    Does this answer your question? Broadcom BCM43142 WiFi drivers with AP mode to create hotspot for android devices
    – Pilot6
    Apr 28, 2020 at 9:12
  • Do you know what channel the phones hotspot is using?
    – Jeremy31
    Apr 28, 2020 at 10:23
  • @Pilot6 no. My issue is not creating a hotspot in Ubuntu. But rather accessing my phone's hotspot which is not currently possible.
    – Colorizer
    Apr 28, 2020 at 11:40
  • @Jeremy31 you are not asking about Wifi band right? In that case, I don't know. Is there a way to find out?
    – Colorizer
    Apr 28, 2020 at 11:42
  • If its the band then it's 2.4GHz, same as laptop's.
    – Colorizer
    Apr 28, 2020 at 12:01

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I had the same problem with my Android phone & Ubutu .

Go to settings -> Portable hotspot -> Select AP band

Make it 2.4GHz same as laptop's.

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  • Yes, this is my issue as well. Use sudo iwconfig wlan0 freq 2.412G to change the frequency, then iwlist wlan0 s to do a scan (or use the network icon). I didn't notice that the hotspot is now visible after I changed freq, but it works after it can be seen.
    – Yan King Yin
    Dec 25, 2023 at 18:02
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My ubuntu dual boot has been ridden with this issue ever since I installed it on my laptop months ago. The wifi from my phone hotspot just won't show up and I would try antics like changing the AP band or password, booting to windows, then back to linux.

Then today I found a fix that always just works. What I did was to Go to wifi settings -> Connect to hidden networks -> select the connection from the prompt provided, there you may find most of the networks you've previously connected to, including the ones not showing up as of the time of the problem. If you have never connected to the connection, you can simply enter its name, security type and password.

Hopefully this works for you as well.

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