The latest Wi-Fi 6E speed is also the fastest What you need to know

Wi-Fi has become an indispensable technology in people’s lives, especially during the epidemic when fast and stable Wi-Fi networks make the family’s work and study experience easier. As technology standards continue to change, today Wi-Fi6E is one of the most advanced wireless network technologies and the fastest Wi-Fi network.

Wi-Fi has been around for nearly two decades and every few years, it is upgraded to make the technology even more powerful. Wi-Fi6E is the latest and fastest Wi-Fi technology, which builds on Wi-Fi6.

Wi-Fi6E is an enhanced version of Wi-Fi6, where E is for Extend.

The biggest difference between Wi-Fi6E and Wi-Fi6 is in the frequency bands: Wi-Fi6 is in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, while Wi-Fi6E adds a new 6GHz band in addition to these two bands, which will provide room for increased online traffic and generate approximately $183 billion in revenue in the United States over five years.

Full use of the Wi-Fi6E wireless connectivity technology requires matching compatible routers and devices.

Here are four questions you need to know about Wi-Fi6E.

  1. What is Wi-Fi6E?

With the popularity of smart homes, the number of connected wireless devices in the home is increasing dramatically, leading to overcrowding in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Simply put, although Wi-Fi6 has been popular for a short time, the frequency bands used are still 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

Wi-Fi6E extends the existing Wi-Fi6 standard by adding a 6GHz wireless band. The new band provides an additional 1,200MHz of bandwidth on top of the 500MHz provided by 5GHz.

The 6GHz band supports up to 14 80MHz channels, or 7 160MHz channels. It supports almost twice as many high-bandwidth (80GHz, 160MHz) channels as 5GHz; thus providing more bandwidth for 4K and 8K streaming, virtual reality gaming, and HD video conferencing.

This means more devices can connect to the available Wi-Fi channels.

The Wi-FI6E is also more secure than its predecessor due to the mandatory inclusion of the next-generation Wi-Fi security protocol WPA3 (Wi-Fi Protected Access3), making it more difficult for hackers to break into the network.

  1. Advantages of Wi-FI6E

Based on the bandwidth and security advantages offered by Wi-Fi6E, the 6GHz band in Wi-Fi6E will help users access the Internet easily and quickly in crowded places such as sports venues, business locations and apartment buildings.

Essentially, you won’t be competing for bandwidth with people nearby, including those you live with.

The Wi-Fi Alliance believes that Wi-Fi6E is expected to support applications such as HD video and VR that require faster, larger bandwidth capacity and lower latency networks through additional spectrum capacity.

  1. Disadvantages of Wi-Fi6E

But Wi-Fi6E is not without its drawbacks. Perhaps the biggest hurdle is that it will require users to have upgraded, and potentially more expensive, routers. In order to take full advantage of it, users will need to have devices that can access its 6GHz band, of which there are not yet many.

In addition, because the Wi-Fi 6E spectrum has a shorter wavelength than the previous Wi-Fi standard, its coverage will not extend very far. In terms of physical characteristics, the lower the frequency the stronger the signal penetration, while the higher the frequency the easier the signal is to reflect and the weaker the penetration. Similarly, Wi-Fi6E has a good signal in the same space, but once separated by a wall or two, the effect can be greatly reduced.

So you may need to use Wi-Fi extenders or repeaters in your home or other buildings.

  1. How to get Wi-Fi6E

Wi-Fi6E is now available and users can find routers from brands such as Netgear, Asus, Cisco and TP-Link that support this new technology.

Wi-Fi6E routers support all devices compatible with Wi-Fi6, including phones like the Samsung Galaxy S10 (and later Galaxy models); iPhone 11, 12 and SE models; and certain laptops, with the exception of MacBooks.

In addition, all Wi-Fi6E routers are also backward compatible with previous Wi-Fi standards. This means that Wi-Fi6E routers still support older devices that are not necessarily able to take advantage of the added 6GHz high-speed band.

However, the added 6GHz band also increases the router’s operating power, which explains why routers that support Wi-Fi6E functionality consume more power than Wi-Fi6 routers.

To sum up, it will still take some time to roll out Wi-Fi6E as a common standard. Therefore, there is no need to worry that your current router will be obsolete tomorrow.