Using bluetooth PAN to restore internet to a MacBook Pro with dead WiFi Hardware.
Is it possible to share a wifi connection via bluetooth from an older macbook (OS X El Capitan 10.11.6) with a functional wifi hardware to a newer MacBook (mac OS Catalina 10.15.2) whose wifi hardware has just failed? I've tried to set this up but it's not working and I suspect the models of MacBook are too distant from each other for this to work.
I have walked through the steps to share the connection on the El Capitan macbook, and I can pair with it on the Catalina macbook, but when I go to Bluetooth PAN under "Network", the "Device:" pulldown menu is greyed out and says "No PAN Devices Found".
Backstory:
My newer MBP (13-inch, late 2016, two thunderbolt 3 ports, running macOS Catalina, macOS 10.15.2) crashed yesterday and wouldn't connect to wifi after the crash. Apple diagnostics unfortunately confirms that the wifi hardware has crapped out for no apparent reason, saying, " There may be an issue with the WiFi hardware. Reference Code: CNW001".
Because of covid restrictions, apple stores are closed and it looks like the remaining certified places that would fix this will keep my macbook out of commission for weeks, so I'm hoping I can use my older macbook to share internet with the newer one via bluetooth. So, internet connects to Old MBP via WiFi and old MBP connects to new MBP via bluetooth.
MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.15