Have you ever glanced at your computer manual or were shopping for a new wireless router and got all confused by the terms like 802.11ac, 802.11b, 802.11n, etc.?
Well, then Wi-Fi Alliance, the global body that sets the standard for new Wi-Fi technology, has heard your pleas. It has come up with a new naming terminology for its new Wi-Fi standard.
Yes, the new term is not another variation of 802.11. It is Wi-Fi 6. This is as easy as it gets. Although, the technical term for Wi-Fi 6 is 802.11ax.
Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Edger Figueroa agrees, “ For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi users have had to sort through technical naming conventions to determine if their devices support the latest Wi-Fi.”
Wifi Standards
| Easy Naming | Technical Naming | Standardized Year |
|---|---|---|
| Wi-Fi 6 | 802.11ax | Draft 2.0 in 2018. Final draft in 2019 |
| Wi-Fi 5 | 802.11ac | 2014 |
| Wi-Fi 4 | 802.11n | 2009 |
| Wi-Fi 3 | 802.11g | 2003 |
| Wi-Fi 2 | 802.11a | 1999 |
| Wi-Fi 1 | 802.11b | 1999 |
From Wi-Fi Alliance, “Wi-Fi 6 will deliver an improved experience to address device and application needs in a range of consumer and enterprise environments. The generational terminology is expected to be widely adopted by the Wi-Fi ecosystem.”
What’s new with Wi-Fi 6?
According to this whitepaper on Wi-Fi 6, there are three technologies that increases the speed and reliability of Wi-Fi 6.
- Wi-Fi 6 uses denser modulation using 10-bit Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). This technology boosts the speed with 35 % more than what is currently possible with Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac).
- It incorporates Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) to reduce overhead and latency.
- It also boosts signal strength with Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI).
Benefits of Wi-Fi 6
- Wi-Fi 6 will use both 2.4 GHz an 5.0 GHz. So, it will be backward compatible with older Wi-Fi enabled client devices.
- With the increased in speed and the technology like OFDMA that support eight spatial streams, it’ll deliver 4.8 Gbps of throughput.
- Forget about your HDMI cables. You’ll be able to stream 4K video from your Wi-Fi 6 router to your 4K TV wirelessly. Plus, other bandwidth-hungry applications, including online gaming via Wi-Fi.
Are you excited for Wi-Fi 6?
Well, you’ll have to wait to get your hands on Wi-Fi 6 products.
New computers or network products like wireless routers using Wi-Fi 6 is expected to be available towards the end of next year.
We’ll certainly have more information on Wi-Fi 6 enabled products on our website.
