Unstable 5 GHz Wi-Fi hotspot connection between Android phone and laptop

[KarenK]

I’m sharing my mobile internet from an Android phone to a laptop. The phone receives internet via 5G, and then I use WLAN to share it. When the phone's hotspot is set to 2.4 GHz (Wi-Fi 4, IEEE 802.11n), everything works fine — the laptop quickly finds the network, connects without any issues, and the connection is stable.
However, when I switch the hotspot to 5 GHz (Wi-Fi 5, IEEE 802.11ac), the laptop struggles. It often doesn’t see the network at all, or if it does, it takes a long time to appear and usually fails to connect. Sometimes restarting the wireless adapter on the laptop helps, but not always.
When the laptop does manage to connect to the 5 GHz hotspot, the connection generally works well, though it occasionally drops, and then the laptop has trouble reconnecting.
In short, my laptop has trouble connecting to the 5 GHz Wi-Fi hotspot from my phone.

BIOS Version: X1505VA.304
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home (x64) Build 26100.4351 (24H2)
Network Card: RealTek Semiconductor RTL8821CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC
Driver Version: 2024.10.143.0
Driver Date: 07-Oct-2024

[Falcon_ASUS]

@KarenK 
Could you please check if the same issue occurs when connecting the laptop to other 5GHz networks as well?
If so, it is recommended that you refer to the following FAQ, uninstall the wireless network card from Device Manager, and then reinstall the driver to verify the issue.
[Windows 11/10] Troubleshooting - Wireless Network (Wi-Fi) Issues
Sorry for any inconvenience it may be caused. 

[KarenK]

Right now, I don’t have another 5GHz network, so I’ll check and write later. Today, the laptop connected to the phone’s 5GHz network without any issues. So, this problem isn’t constant.

[eyebrowz]

Hi

Are the 2 freqency bands sharing same name, SSID, and password, so that the laptop does not notice the change in frequency.

2.4 is generally longer range, slower, but more tolerant than 5.0 higher speed shorter ranging.

If in doubt please ask.

[KarenK]

I tried different scenarios. In the first scenario, the internet was shared over Wi-Fi simultaneously on two frequency bands, with the same SSID and password. In this case, a device is usually expected to connect to the 5 GHz network, and only switch to 2.4 GHz if the 5 GHz signal quality is poor. That’s exactly how my phone behaves—it connects to the 5 GHz network. Meanwhile, my laptop connected to the 2.4 GHz network. I had to change the adapter settings from Auto to IEEE 802.11a/n/ac mode, and only then did the laptop switch to 5 GHz. In the second scenario, I enabled the two networks separately, not at the same time. In 5 GHz mode, the laptop struggled to connect to the network. I tested this with different 5 GHz networks as well.