What is Wi-Fi 6?
Updated
by FibreStream
Wi-Fi 6 is a new wireless standard and 6th wireless protocol generation officially released in 2019 boasting faster wireless speeds and more reliable wireless service. It is also referred to as 802.11ax. Our current (and soon to be previous standard) is known as 802.11ac or Wi-Fi 5.
Wi-Fi 6 is meant to offer speeds about 30% faster than the current standard (802.11ac). Theoretically, it is capable of attaining up to 10Gbps in speed. This is done by combining the 2.4 Ghz and 5Ghz spectrum bands.
The Wi-Fi 6 standard allows routers to pack more data into each signal they broadcast, which will improve wireless communication with devices connected.
Wi-Fi 6 utilizes something called 1024-QAM (Quadrature amplitude modulation), which is a modulation scheme used to transmit data over radio frequencies. The previous wireless standard uses a lesser QAM (256-QAM), which means Wi-Fi 6 can carry more data than Wi-Fi 5.
Wi-Fi 6 also improves wireless stability, channel width (faster connection to your router) and reduced wireless interference with neighboring wireless devices. A Wi-Fi 6 router will be able to maintain more wireless connection than previously before, so you’ll be able to connect more devices to your network than ever.
Worried about power consumption on your devices? Wi-Fi 6 has improved on this too. A new technology has been introduced, Target Wake Time (TWT), which allows devices to negotiate when and how often they will wake to send or receive data. This will improve battery life for mobile devices.
Wi-Fi 6 is available now, but not all routers support it just yet. Adoption may take time, but keep an eye out for Wi-Fi 6 products; they’re starting to appear in stores.
