In recent months, Wi-Fi 6 has been heard more and more often in discussions, presentations, etc.
But what is this new wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Network – WLAN or Wireless Fidelity Wi-Fi) that uses radio frequencies (RF) to transmit and receive data over the air?
What are its main differences with Wi-Fi 5?
Wi-Fi 6 is the latest version of Wi-Fi, based on the IEEE 802.11 ax standard and provides a number of advantages over older Wi-Fi technology. It is accompanied by a new naming convention designed to allow users to more easily understand the type of devices they are using.
The Wi-Fi generation name is linked to the IEEE standard they support.
The different generations of Wi-Fi technology identify the devices and software that support different types of Wi-Fi. This is intended to make it easier for the average Wi-Fi user to understand the capabilities of their devices and software and make more targeted choices regarding upgrades and equipment purchases.
So we should now look for devices that appear to support Wi-Fi 6 and not the 802.11 ax standard. We will also need to look for devices that have passed the Wi-Fi Alliance certification process and now bear the label “Wi-Fi 6 Certified”.
The Wi-Fi “Alliance” recommends that all hardware and software manufacturers adopt labeling conventions to standardize the information presented to consumers and provide common standards.
The Benefits of Wi-Fi 6
Wi-Fi 6 is not just a new name. It is a wireless local area network with many significant improvements that make it very useful for all wireless users worldwide.
But what are these advantages of using Wi-Fi 6?
Each generation of Wi-Fi provides increasingly higher data transfer speed and of course Wi-Fi 6 is no exception.
Theoretically, the speed of Wi-Fi 6 is 10Gbps. It achieves this speed increase by combining the 2.4 GHx and 5GHz spectrum bands and using MU-MIMO technology for both uplink and downlink data transfers.
More efficient data encoding leads to higher performance. More powerful chips used to encode and decode signals allow more data to be transferred over the same radio waves.
A single device can achieve up to 40% faster data transfer when using Wi-Fi 6 compared to Wi-Fi 5.
Even 2.4 GHz networks will experience increased speeds when using a Wi-Fi 6 router.
Another major benefit that Wi-Fi 6 offers is the increased battery life enjoyed by devices that access a Wi-Fi 6 network.
This improvement is particularly useful for the average user and can be a critical factor in enabling low-power devices that include the Internet of Things (IoT) to make use of Wi-Fi communication.
Battery life is extended through a well-known feature, Target Wake Time (TWT). TWT allows the Wi-Fi access point to communicate with your device to tell it exactly when to turn its Wi-Fi on and when to turn it off.
This helps save power as your device will spend more time in sleep mode than with previous Wi-Fi implementations.
One of the ways in which Wi-Fi performance can be negatively affected is when used in crowded areas where there is competition for the signal. Wi-Fi 6 uses a number of new technologies to increase the usefulness of Wi-Fi by minimizing the problems of network congestion.
One way this is achieved is with a technology known as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA). This allows a wireless channel to be divided into a number of sub-channels that can be used to carry data for a different device. This then allows a single access point to communicate with multiple devices at the same time.
Improvements in multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) capabilities now allow a router with multiple antennas to send and receive data transmissions from multiple devices at the same time. In Wi-Fi 5, it can only send, but not receive, multiple signals at the same time. This will naturally lead to better performance in situations where multiple users are trying to access the network.
Improvements in beamforming are also part of the Wi-Fi 6 standard. Beamforming focuses a stronger signal in the direction of connected devices, rather than broadcasting at the same level and in all directions. The router tries to optimize the signals it sends to a specific device.
So these are some of the ways in which WiFi 6 alleviates WiFi access problems in congested situations, such as sports venues or entertainment venues.
WiFi 6 promises to make connecting to wireless networks more efficient no matter where you are. So all that’s left to do is try it.