A holiday question :
On some holiday sites, It’s common to provide an unique WiFi access per family.
In Windows, I used to use my only WiFi adapter as HotSpot router on my Laptop for sharing this unique access (generally password protected) to all the other units.
But It seems it’s not possible by default in Linux. So my question : is it possible to use the WiFi adapter as a WiFi Hotspot in KDE Neon ?
Yes, in systemsettings/network create a new connection with the type Wi-fi (shared).
Or you can use networkmanager cli:
As I see, I have only 2 choices :
- Connect to a WiFi network (as usual). Or,
- Create a hotspot (if disconnected from WiFi Networks). But in that 2nd case, no way to connect to any existing WiFi Network.
Looks like it can create a hotspot only from Ethernet to WiFi only and not from WiFi to WiFi.
On some Ubuntu sites (not found for KDE Neon), they say Hotspots can be only from Ethernet to WiFi. is that True for KDE Neon ?
If we can create WiFi to WiFi Hotspot in KDE Neon, I was not able to proceed.
That’s physically not possible to connect and act as an hotspot with the same device. Wifi devices can handled only a mode at once.
If using multiple devices your best option would be to use a ZTE 4g adapter that supports up to 10 devices. Bought a single use ZTE off Amazon as when copper gets turned off in UK I will be using one of these. They come with a Smarty Data Sim. (Unlimited data is currently £20 a month which is cheaper than my current ISP. My ISP has been trying to entice me onto their lowest fibre plan which costs the same as my current package of Internet and landline phone combined. The latter will also be scrapped by me at end of 2025 as it costs £1 a month more, plus would also mean having to fork out for new handsets as DECT phones are not compatible.
Why “physically not possible” since Windows is able to create and use the unique laptop WiFi card to make an hotspot? Better to say Linux can’t do it till now natively.
Windows allows one to login to the networks, enter the required login/password then share the opened internet connection to other devices without entering any new identification.
And well, I know these “4G routers” or to use the phone as a router (I had a Huawei 4G router) and already had to use them but both have drawbacks when talking “unique login allowed”.
On this point, Windows win.
It seems, I was wrong, it is possible in Linux at least with some cards/chipset but not most:
Yes, I think it’s something related to the WiFi card driver. But I don’t use Atheros WiFi cards on my Laptops and it works under Windows. I think It’s more related to the band (2.5Ghz or 5Ghz) because when I’m connected I can’t use the same band for hotspot sharing.
BTW, the method described in the post you gave is interesting but a bit tricky and need some work to be more “user friendly”.
Indeed it is not, it is a niche use-case with limited hardware support…
Feature and support happen mostly depending on popularity to some extent.
Oh. In this case, all the features are a niche up to the OS itself.