Laptop not seeing EE Network

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Dell Latitude E7240  cant connect to Smart Hub 2

W10 22H2 build 19045.4561  (all up to date)

Had Full Fibre installed ... and while other devices (2.4 & 5 Ghz) connected OK to new Router

The Dell does not show EE network in the network list - i.e .no SSID

It does show 4 networks of my neighbours 

Connected by Ethernet to make wure W10 and Dell drivers up to date 

Did a repair of Intel WiFi drivers to be sure - no change

[XRaySpeX]

That's WiFi-5.

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"That's WiFi 5"    

Not sure what you mean

EE Router is WiFi and that is backwards compatible to WiFi 5

[XRaySpeX]

Yes! Your lappy is WiFi-5 compatible & the EE SH+ is WiFi-6 compatible which is backwards compatible to WiFi-5. That's all!

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OK .. in theory it should work - just doesn't

[XRaySpeX]

Just as an experiment does it with with Security Type:  None?

[Profile closed]

Not going to try that too much of a risk to my data

[JimM11]

@Profile closed If you do not wish to do it, you are local lan so do not see why not, only an experiment, you may wish to go to the device manager, properties for your wifi adapter and try to change a setting to see if you can connect.

[XRaySpeX]

OK, your choice but just browsing to here should be safe enough. It's only an experiment! Otherwise try Security Type:  WPA/WPA2.

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OK another test - and some conclusion

I power cycled Router - and set to WiFi5  and it appears in Laptop SSID list and I can connect

I then tried WiFi 6 Compatibility mode - SSID does not appear

I also tried WiFi6 again - SSID does not appear

The 80211 standards states that WifI 6 is fully backwards compatible with WiFi 5  ..... but it appears this router is not.

Ideally, I don't want to leave set to WiFi5 as there are significant benefits to using WiFi 6

Is there an EE Tech Support email I can log this as a bug ?

[JimM11]

@Profile closed There are potentially 1000's of wi-fi products out in the open market, that is why the router has a few modes of operation, if you do not want to drop down to wi-fi 5 which is what your dell has then what for FW updates to router to see if the dell starts to work. Other choice would be a cheap tp-link booster that probably works fine with the dell. 100% compatible who knows. There is NO EMAIL to EE, if a guide picks it up they may respond. Your laptop is circa 12 years old, wi-fi 6 is 2 years old.