It’s hard to imagine modern life without Wi-Fi. Over the past 20 years, this ubiquitous wireless technology has firmly entrenched itself in our homes, offices, and public spaces. But as our appetite for connectivity increases exponentially, you may be wondering, is existing Wi-Fi good enough to keep up? With the onslaught of bandwidth-intensive technologies like 4K streaming, virtual reality, autonomous technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT), we need a truly faster and more efficient wireless network more than ever .
This is the concept of Wi-Fi 6 – the next generation wireless standard that will shape the future of connectivity. In this article, we’ll look at what makes Wi-Fi 6 special, how it works, and the new experiences it will enable in the future.
What happened to Wi-Fi 5?
First things first: why is the industry ignoring Wi-Fi 5 and going straight to Wi-Fi 6? Well, the answer lies in a change in naming convention by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Previously, wireless standards had sequential version numbers, but in the future the last two numbers of the IEEE specification will be used.
This corresponds to the year of ratification of the standard. So what was once called 802.11ac is now retroactively known as Wi-Fi 5, while the latest and greatest 802.11ax goes by Wi-Fi 6.
What is Wi-Fi 6?
Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, is the latest evolution in wireless networking standards. After the widespread adoption of Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)Wi-Fi 6 builds on the foundations of its predecessor and introduces several key improvements that collectively redefine the wireless experience.
One of the main improvements of Wi-Fi 6 is its ability to handle significantly more connected devices simultaneously. As you know, in recent times of the rise of smart homes and the Internet of Things (IoT), where every gadget and device is clamoring for a piece of the bandwidth pie, this is a game changer. Thanks to advancements like Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Wi-Fi 6 effectively divides channels into smaller subchannels, allowing multiple devices to communicate simultaneously without causing network congestion. network.
Additionally, Wi-Fi 6 introduces a technology known as Basic Service Set (BSS) Coloring, which differentiates between different BSSs operating on the same channel. This avoids interference between neighboring networks and provides a more reliable and stable connection. These improvements collectively result in improved performance and reduced latency.
How Wi-Fi 6 achieves faster speeds?
Speed is one of the most tangible and anticipated benefits of Wi-Fi 6. It leverages technologies like MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple Input, Multiple Output) and Target Wake Time (TWT) to deliver faster, more consistent connections.
An upgrade from the Wi-Fi 5 standard, Wi-Fi 6 promises significantly faster network speeds. We’re talking up to 40% faster than even high-end consumer Wi-Fi 5 routers. These performance gains are essential for handling more devices and heavier traffic loads.
Wi-Fi 6 achieves this through smarter use of radio frequencies and more efficient data encoding. Key technologies fueling the increase in speed include:
- OFDMA: Allows multiple devices to share a channel simultaneously, increasing total throughput. Less waiting for your turn to transmit data!
- 1024 MAQ: Packs more data into the same radio waves for faster transfer rates. Don’t ask me to explain quadrature amplitude modulation…
- Target wake-up time: Schedules when devices can transmit so they don’t all try to access the network at the same time to save power.
Now you must be wondering: why do we need such blazing Wi-Fi speeds in the first place? Well, the average number of connected devices per household is expected to explode to 50 by 2023! We’re talking laptops, phones, TVs, smart home gadgets, digital assistants, and entertainment equipment all struggling for bandwidth.
Wi-Fi 6 has enough headroom to support a massive density of devices as well as future technologies we can’t even imagine yet. We could one day see speeds of 1 Gbps on wireless! Plus, increased capacity means all your devices will perform better – no more lag or buffering during video calls and game streams, even with many roommates online.
New experiences that Wi-Fi 6 will unlock
Of course, faster Wi-Fi speeds don’t mean much if we don’t have the apps to take advantage of them! Rest assured, next-generation wireless will catalyze all kinds of new experiences in entertainment, productivity, healthcare, transportation and much more. Imagine:
- AR/VR on the go: Ultra-fast data transfer is essential for resource-intensive augmented and virtual reality. Wi-Fi 6 finally makes complex AR/VR possible without cables!
- 8K streaming: What good are beautiful 7680p displays if buffering issues persist? Smoother 8K video streaming improves immersion.
- Autonomous vehicles: Self-driving cars generate terabytes of sensor data and require constant connectivity. Wi-Fi 6 delivers robust, high-bandwidth vehicle-to-infrastructure communication to make it happen!
Wi-Fi 6 compatible devices have already started hitting shelves, including smartphones like the iPhone 11 and Galaxy S10. On the router side, brands such as NETGEAR, Linksys and ASUS have released or will soon release 802.11ax models.
Also called Next-Gen AC or High-Efficiency Wireless, Wi-Fi 6 hardware is backward compatible with older standards. So you’ll still benefit from speed increases even if you don’t replace all devices at once.
Enhanced security measures
Wi-Fi 6 introduces WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 3), the newest and most robust security protocol for wireless networks. WPA3 brings significant improvements over its predecessor, WPA2, which provides enhanced protection against various security threats, including brute force attacks.
WPA3 introduces custom data encryption that ensures that even if the security of one device is compromised, others will not be affected. This is a crucial advancement, especially in environments where the security of sensitive information is important.
One of the most compelling aspects of Wi-Fi 6 is its ability to seamlessly integrate into the growing world of IoT. The Internet of Things, characterized by interconnected devices communicating and sharing data, has the potential to revolutionize the way we live and work.
The challenges of deploying Wi-Fi 6
Like any new technology update, Wi-Fi 6 is not without obstacles to its implementation. Here are some challenges facing consumer and commercial deployments:
- Cost issues: Currently, Wi-Fi 6 routers cost over $200 and the devices also come with a premium. Upgrades require a significant investment. However, costs will decline over time as economies of scale take hold.
- Feature confusion: Those unfamiliar may have difficulty distinguishing the benefits of older standards. Marketing teams must educate consumers to drive adoption.
- Support for fragmented devices: We are still at the beginning of the device refresh cycle. For best results, all products in an ecosystem (router, phone, laptop, etc.) should be updated.
- Network congestion: Even though Wi-Fi 6 increases bandwidth per device, some worry that excessive connections could still congest networks, especially in dense public places.
- Security: The higher the number of devices, the higher the risk of cyber attack. Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) introduced with Wi-Fi 6 aims to lock things down, but vulnerabilities still occasionally appear.
Conclusion
Sooner or later, Wi-Fi 6 will touch every aspect of daily life. We can combine the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 with emerging networking advancements in various horizons, such as visible light communication, mesh architectures and 6G cellular, which will be very promising. For the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 to fully integrate into everyday life, its widespread adoption is very important.
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