Hot on the heels of theGoogle I/O keynoteyesterday, we got to install theAndroid 14 Beta 2 updateon compatible Pixel phones, alleviating several woes which remained unfixed even with theBeta 1.1 release. While I’m happy cellular connectivity is back to normal, there’s another networking feature stock Android sorely lacks — more configuration options for the Wi-Fi hotspot functionality. Thankfully, a hidden feature in the latest beta gives us hope changes are afoot.
Currently, several Android OEMs ship phones with custom OS skins that offer additional features, including the ability to define if the Wi-Fi hotspot uses the 2.4GHz band or the 5GHz one. Veteran Android feature researcherMishaal Rahman spotteda change in Android 14 Beta 2, suggesting Google is finally developing a setting where you can define your hotspot’s preferred frequency band.
The 2.4GHz band is an older standard compatible with a vast majority of devices while offering greater connection range at the cost of lower browsing speeds. On the other hand, the 5GHz band is a newer frequency supported by recent modems. The hotspot range is almost halved because of the higher frequency and associated attenuation, but devices in range can enjoy faster connection speeds.
Android 14 Beta 2 currently hides the new setting from view, and it has to be enabled manually on a rooted build. Once enabled, a newSpeed & compatibilityoption shows up under yourWi-Fi hotspotsettings. Interestingly, the preferences also show a 6GHz frequency band, but it is grayed out. We believe Pixel hardware with newer modems could eventually host 6GHz Wi-Fi hotspots, which trades even lower range and device compatibility for higher speeds.
We also wonder what will come of theExtend compatibilityoption currently available in theWi-Fi Hotspot settings. Although this toggle doesn’t explicitly mention the older and slower 2.4GHz band, the feature description mentions that enabling the options “helps other devices find this hotspot” and it “reduces hotspot connection speed,” which suggests it enables 2.4GHz. If we were to take a wild guess, theSpeed & compatibilityoptions could replace the basic toggle in the public release, but we will have to wait for the rollout to confirm that.
