The latest generation of Wi-Fi has been around for a little bit recently, which is 6 & 6E. If you want to talk about technical terms, then the Wi-Fi 6 is called 802.11ax. The latest technology, Wi-Fi 6E, is not quite famous yet. It is why some of you might have never heard about it.
Wi-Fi 6 & 6E
They both have the same features and improvements over Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 & 6E have the same functionality. The main difference is the frequency spectrums. Wi-Fi 6 supports the same 2.4 and 5 GHz bands as previous Wi-Fi 5. On the other hand, Wi-Fi 6E supports an additional third 6 GHz band. Other companies are also opening up ports of the 6 GHz band only to use in Wi-Fi.
2.4 GHz vs. 5 GHz vs. 6GHz
5 GHz is significantly bigger than 2.4 GHz. 2.4 GHz only has three non-overlapping, 20 MHz wide channels. On the other hand, 5 GHz has 25 channels. Sixteen of them are called Dynamic Frequency Selection. Wi-Fi cannot access these channels in some regions because these channels are mostly used in Radars. As a result, 5 GHz is way better than 2.4 GHz except for range.
The 6 GHz full-spectrum is actually from 5.925 to 7.125 GHz. It is nearly 1200 MHz. It supports Fifty-nine 20 MHz channels.
Problems
However, in the United States, the FCC did regulate which part of the spectrum can be used outside with higher power Wi-Fi access points. They also regulate which one can be used in lower power indoor use. Indoor users can use any of the channels, and all of them are allowed. It also has some restriction rules for business owners.
If you are outside of Canada and the United States, then most of the countries are not adopting the 6 GHz spectrum yet. Some of these regions have adopted the unlicensed use of the 5925 MHz to 6425 MHz range.
Benefits
The biggest benefit is going to be in the spectrally noisy areas. In other words, areas that have a lot of Wi-Fi signals bouncing back & forth, such as offices, apartments, buildings, and other places. The new spectrum will allow more space for Wi-Fi channels. So, different access points do not have to be competing over it, and it will have less interference.
The basic benefit of 6E will be more space and more channels support. You will also get way bigger channels that will have a lot more bandwidth if you are not in a crowded area. With the availability of these channels, you will be able to balance across 40 different things. It will also have less interference for all people.
Other Features
Wi-Fi 6 & 6E are a lot faster than Wi-Fi 5. Users can have up to 3.5 GBPS per Wi-Fi stream, and you can get up to four times this speed, and it depends upon your device. In other words, one Wi-Fi router can have 14 GBPS.
Wi-Fi 6E has a better OFDMA. It allows the router to split one channel into many subunits. It broadcasts to several devices at once.
Wi-Fi Routers
Wi-Fi chip manufacturers will add in the capabilities to support the full 6E spectrum. They should add the capability to have the full channels and maybe enable it by a software upgrade later.
Wi-Fi 6E Devices
There are only a few Wi-Fi 6E devices. In terms of routers, Asus, Linksys, and Netgear have a few models. In terms of smartphones, the Galaxy S21 Ultra has Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. Some rumors also confirm that the upcoming iPhone device will also support Wi-Fi 6E connectivity.
In short, it is also going to take a little while, and you will also have to upgrade your router to be able to use Wi-Fi 6E.
Conclusion
There are several more technical improvements. These improvements are only designed to increase the efficiency of Wi-Fi 6 in high-density environments. It was the main goal.
Wi-Fi devices are becoming more important nowadays, and a lot more devices will need more space in terms of frequency.
Elisa Wilson is an avid technical blogger, a magazine contributor, a publisher of guides at www.mcafee.com/activate and a professional cyber security analyst. Through her writing, she aims to educate people about the dangers and threats lurking in the digital world .
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