AX210 - Driver 22.180.x.x problem - Mobile hotspot mode

[h-sk]

We have a laptop with Intel AX210, running Windows 11 Pro (22H2 build, 22621.819).

We run the laptop in Windows mobile hotspot mode to solve a wireless dead spot problem at the office, and we also sometimes use it in a pinch for hotel rooms etc.

Things work perfectly normally with Driver version 22.150.x.x

After upgrading to version 22.160.x.x, 22.170.x.x or 22.180.x.x however, some of our iPhones dropped connection after an hour of inactivity. The iPhones indicator shows there is a wifi connection, but there is zero wifi traffic.

Workaround: Roll back to 22.150 fixes this issue.

Note previous reports of the identical problem:
AX210 - Driver 22.160.x.x problem - Mobile hotspot mode - Intel Communities

AX210 - Driver 22.170.x.x problem - Mobile hotspot mode - Intel Communities

Note also Intel's driver release notes have mentioned similar issues:

22.160: When using a PC with an Intel® Wi-Fi 6 wireless adapter in hotspot mode, some Android devices might experience degraded downlink throughput performance

22.180: When using a PC with Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 in hotspot mode, some mobile phones might experience degraded download throughput performance.

Please forward this bug report to the driver development team. Thank you.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello h-sk,  

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities. I am sorry to know that you are having issues with your Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 (Gig+).

I will send you an e-mail to the e-mail address associated with your community profile. Please reply to the email in order to provide us with the reports to avoid exposing sensitive information in the communities.    

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[h-sk]

Hello Deivid A.,

Thank you for sending your inquiry form.

Unfortunately, I have no further information to add other that what I have posted.

To summarize, the problem has persisted through Windows 11 Pro 21H2 through 21H2.

Each time, Intel drivers above 22.150 (22.160, 22.170, 22.180) caused iPhones to be stuck after some time (zero traffic) despite an active wireless connection to the laptop with AX210 (in mobile hotspot mode - WPA2-Personal - network band: any available). Each time, a roll back to 22.150 made it work normally again.

I hope with this information your engineers can reproduce the bug and work out the issue.

[h-sk]

Correction:

To summarize, the problem has persisted in Windows 11 Pro 21H2 through 22H2 (current).

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello h-sk,  

Thanks for the response. In order to send the problem to the engineering team, I will need an updated version of the report and the checklist as well.

Please reply to the email sent with the information requested in order to continue.

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[h-sk]

Unfortunately, it is against company policy to provide you with the information that you seek. The level of information Intel requires is ridiculous.

It is also unfortunate that a driver issue (consistently surfaced 22.160 - 22.180) cannot be fed back to the engineering team without first getting that information. Something changed in the driver and a roll back fixes it. The release notes record similar issues.

If this goes on 22.180, 22.190 .... without a fix I would just give feedback about the bug. If this is not the place for Intel to receive feedback (without requiring an IT audit as it were) I will go on unofficial social media.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello h-sk,  

I am sorry for the inconvenience. I will report this issue to the team in charge and I will get back to you as soon as I have any information for you.

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[h-sk]

Thank you.

If some guy at the lab borrows an iPhone or two to test it out, they might be able to track down the bug in lab.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello h-sk,  

I would like to let you know that we haven't received any other customer complaints on this topic and since this issue happens regardless of the driver installed, I recommend you check this behavior with the manufacturer of the computer for further assistance on this matter.

Please keep in mind that this thread will no longer be monitored by Intel.  

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[h-sk]

I leave it here for posterity:

1. This issue happens regardless of the driver installed.
     Fact check:  Everything works up to 22.150 but beyond that the bug happens.

2. We haven't received any other customer complaints on this topic.
     Fact check:
             Intel's driver release notes brought up similar issues with hotspots and cell phones:

                        22.160: When using a PC with an Intel® Wi-Fi 6 wireless adapter in hotspot mode,
                        some Android devices might experience degraded downlink throughput performance
                        from ReleaseNotes_WiFi_22.160.0_IT.pdf (intel.com)

                        22.180: When using a PC with Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 in hotspot mode,
                        some mobile phones might experience degraded download throughput performance.
                        from ReleaseNotes_WiFi_22.180.0_IT.pdf (intel.com)

3. Please keep in mind that this thread will no longer be monitored by Intel.
     My honest reaction:
     An elementary thing to do would be for Intel lab to borrow an iPhone 12 or SE2
     and test their AX210 on Windows 11 hotspot mode. Just try it out yourself.