What Is WiFi 6? Meaning, Speed, Features, and Benefits

WiFi 6 is defined as the sixth version or generation of wireless local area networking technologies, as per the WiFi Alliance, that is compatible with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4. 1ax standards and enables the efficient performance of networked devices in dense conditions. This article explains how it works, how fast WiFi 6 really is, and the benefits you can expect. 

What Is WiFi 6? 

WiFi 6 is the 6th generation of wireless local area networking technology by the WiFi Alliance that aligns with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ax standards and enables the efficient performance of networked devices in dense conditions. 

WiFi, meaning Wireless Fidelity, was created in 1997 and trademarked by the WiFi Alliance. It is simply a wireless network that allows multiple devices to share a single connection to the internet and themselves. WiFi refers to a group of wireless networking protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 network standard. This networking standard has evolved over the years, giving rise to the latest, most improved version, WiFi 6. 

WiFi 6, also known as 802.11ax, is the most recent wireless networking version that enables many devices to be connected to a single router or internet source, controlling power more effectively. Using WiFi 6, a computer network can accommodate and transfer larger volumes of data.

WiFi 6 operates on the same carrier frequencies as WiFi 5, namely the 2.4GHz and 5GHz. However, compared to WiFi 5, it makes better use of the channels by allowing more data to be passed across them. It is a notable improvement over previous generations, though the differences may not seem visible to a regular user. Instead, it incorporates many gradual improvements that build up to become a substantial upgrade in network technology. This has made designers and IT specialists eager to implement this new standard.

WiFi 6 delivers about four times greater wireless performance in congested settings than WiFi 5, thanks to improvements in the directional antenna’s Multiple-in Multiple-out (MIMO) capability. This differs from WiFi 5 (802.11ac) and its predecessors – where specific devices sometimes fail to connect owing to frequency overcrowding – and is a significant improvement. This is advantageous for everyone, particularly as the Internet of Things grows more prevalent in enterprises. IoT significantly boosts the quanta of devices that need WiFi access, leading to increased electromagnetic disturbances, which one can avoid using WiFi 6. 

As was already said, WiFi 6 works with both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, which are the current standard frequencies. It can also work with 1GHz and 6GHz bands that companies will use in the future. This means that a company that wants to ensure that a wide range of devices can connect should consider investing in WiFi 6.

It improves efficiency by doubling the number of downstream connections and upping the number of upstream connections by a factor of eight. It can also deliver four streams to a given device at the same time.  

For the first time, WiFi 6 will offer Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) rather than Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). OFDM is a helpful method for decentralizing connectivity, but it has a significant drawback: it can cause severe problems with latency.

Using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) notably bolsters many features of WiFi delivery:

• It makes it more efficient by reducing latency and improving the quality of service in areas with a lot of people and a lot of demand. 
• Further, it can improve the customer experience by providing connected devices like smart TVs, smart speakers, and self-service checkouts with faster wireless internet. 
• Finally, it can help lower costs for devices and networks, making it possible for businesses of all sizes to scale their connected infrastructure.

Unlike 5G users, who require a virtual private network (VPN) because it is a cellular networking technology, WiFi 6 is part of a secure business local area network (LAN). As a result, employees will not have to tunnel their connection via a VPN to access apps, files, and data stored on their corporate intranet. WiFi 6 raises the number of transmit beamforming streams to eight so that users can improve the network’s range and speed. Also, it uses individual target wake time (TWT) to make WiFi-enabled devices’ batteries last longer and use less power. 

See More: How To Make Networks Ready for Cloud-First Era With SD-WAN

How Fast Is WiFi 6?

The speed of WiFi 6 is estimated to be 9.6 Gbps, a significant upgrade from 3.5 Gbps (WiFi 5). However, one should note that these speeds are “theoretical maximums,” and it is improbable that a device would ever attain them when using WiFi in real-world scenarios. For instance, the typical download speed in the United States is 72 megabits per second.

Notably, the 9.6 Gbps maximum threshold of WiFi 6 bandwidth may be partitioned among a whole network of devices rather than being limited to just one PC. WiFi 6 is about enhancing the network performance when multiple devices are connected, not just about boosting the speed of individual devices. 

WiFi 6 has features that help solve problems that happen when a large number of WiFi devices are connected to the same network: 

• It makes it easier for a router to communicate with more than one device.
• It lets routers send data to multiple devices at once.
• It lets WiFi devices set up times to check in with the router. 

Even though more and more devices are asking for data, these features help keep the connections strong and fast.

WiFi 6 routers — whether conventional routers or mesh routers — are purpose-built to update connected devices with the data they need in a highly seamless and efficient manner. The individual speed of these devices will be at the barest minimum, as fast as you can currently achieve with a high-quality network. More importantly, devices connected to the WiFi 6 network will remain at top speed no matter how busy the network gets!

The speed of WiFi 6 is due to the two technologies: MU-MIMO and OFDMA.

• Rather than broadcasting to a single device, MU-MIMO allows a router to engage with several devices simultaneously. With WiFi 5, MU-MIMO enables routers to connect with a maximum of four devices simultaneously. With WiFi 6, this number increases to a maximum of eight devices. 
• OFDMA, on the other hand, enables a single transmission to provide data to many different devices simultaneously. It is a significant upgrade on Frequency Division Multiplexing or OFDM.

See More: What Is a Mesh Network? Meaning, Types Working, and Applications in 2022

Top 6 Features Of WiFi 6

WiFi 6 has introduced several groundbreaking new capabilities that will fundamentally alter how users engage with the internet. Besides higher speeds and lower latency, it also expands the number of devices that may join a network at the same time. Here are the significant characteristics that make these advancements possible: 

1. Target Wait Time (TWT)

WiFi clients and access points (APs) may pre-negotiate and set the time of future connections using the TWT approach. This enables the radios of the devices to stay inactive. It allows an access point to designate a particular period during which individual devices may connect to the wireless network. This feature will prove crucial for IoT devices where maintaining constant connectivity is not very important. 

Target wait time improves network efficiency and battery life for IoT devices. TWT helps appliances conserve power and prevents channel congestion. Since TWT enables scheduling of a device’s wake time, rather than being determined by connection, the internet of things (IoT) and mobile devices could remain off for long periods, thereby conserving battery life.

2. Basic Service Set (BSS) Coloring

This technology for dense network deployments lets several access points and equipment utilize a single radio frequency channel with increased capacity and less interference. WiFi 6 enables each access point radio to assign a BSS color (from 1-63) to be included in the PHY header of all HE transmissions from devices in its BSS. It differentiates between the BSS of access points and their clients on the same radio frequency channel.

3. 1024-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation mode)

WiFi 6 incorporates a very high optional modulation scheme called 1024-QAM, with each symbol encoding more data bits in a dense constellation. This radio frequency (RF) modulation enhancement increases WiFi 6 throughput speeds by 25%. This is done by varying both the amplitude of the radio waves and the phase; the technology improves spectral efficiency by incorporating more data into each transmission. This is necessary for consistently serving high-density locations such as convention centers, stadiums, transportation hubs, and auditoriums.

4. Multiple-User, Multiple-In, Multiple-Out (MU-MIMO) and Transmit Beamforming

This refers to the process of forming radio signals into “beams” using several antennas. It permits more data to be sent concurrently, allowing access points to manage several devices simultaneously. Although this was partially included in earlier versions of WiFi, it is now standardized in WiFi 6. 

5. WiFi Protected Access 3 (WPA3)

WPA3 governs what happens when you connect to a passworded, closed WiFi network. WiFi 6 supports WPA3 and enhances user privacy in open networks. It simplifies configuring security for headless IoT devices and adds higher levels of protection to meet government, defense, and industrial requirements. It brings new capabilities to improve cybersecurity in personal networks, more secure encryption of passwords, and enhanced protection against brute-force attacks combined with safeguarding a company’s WiFi. 

6. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)

It increases overall network capacity and minimizes congestion and delay, enhancing the technology for time-sensitive industry 4.0 automation and VoIP use cases. It is a system that divides a WiFi spectrum into smaller subchannels to enable simultaneous broadcasts from different users. It also contributes to network efficiency.

See More: What Is Network Management? Definition, Key Components, and Best Practices

Top 6 Benefits Of WiFi 6

WiFi 6 offers several benefits that allow new solutions to challenges like worker safety and efficiency, increased machine-to-machine connectivity through the Internet of Things (IoT) equipment, and instant access to streaming content. WiFi 6 improves over its previous versions, supporting the growing need for rapid, dependable, and secure wireless connections. Its benefits include:

1. Improved security 

Wireless networks are beginning to take advantage of the new features of WPA3. It helps in providing secure wireless networking. This feature is not mandatory in previous WiFi networks, but accreditation from the WiFi Alliance mandates its usage in WiFi 6, resulting in an overall more secure setup. The user experience is the same, but with enhanced capabilities to thwart hackers, boost encryption, and, most crucially, for sites using the IoT devices. 

2. Increased battery life

WiFi 6 has features to effectively put specific devices’ WiFi settings to “sleep” when it’s not being used. This frees up bandwidth by sleeping connections, not in use and opening them up to other active devices. 

An environment that is more protected, interconnected, secure, and efficient must be developed across industries. One may accomplish this by leveraging the low power demands of WiFi 6 and boosting the use of tiny IoT sensors. Because these devices lack the battery capacity of larger personal devices, they rely on WiFi 6’s more efficient power requirements, which use fixed scheduled communications through Target Wake Time.TWT helps IoT and mobile devices maximize battery life by waking up infrequently to receive buffered data.

3. High speed even when congested 

Increased device density often leads to a speed reduction, which is not the case with WiFi 6. When a signal is sent, a new technique known as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) assists in dividing the load. That is, a single Access Point may communicate with several devices simultaneously. This is a significant benefit when one must connect several devices. This feature changes the long-established paradigm of “only one device can talk at a time,” which has defined the previous WiFi standards since their inception. 

WiFi 6 dynamically uses resource units to enable the AP to support multiple clients simultaneously using smaller channels within channels for lower-bandwidth applications. Performance is enhanced in areas with several connected devices, and consumers would have less competition for bandwidth. 

4. Increasing access point capacity in support of IoT and mobile devices 

The device number for access points and network access control is not restricted to a particular workstation in today’s typical office environment. They will most likely own a desktop, a smartphone, and maybe a smart accessory. With a growing workforce, the number of sensor nodes, scanning devices, and other equipment would continue to rise.

With a growing workforce, the number of sensor nodes, scanning devices, and other equipment would continue to rise.

This necessitates providing a degree of usability in which users do not experience jitter, lag, or total freezing during video and audio sessions. This is possible because of the increased access point capacity provided by the WiFi 6 standard. WiFi 6 now supports configurations up to 8×8:8 antennas, up from the previous maximum of 4×4:4 — permitting more concurrent communication, increasing speeds, and enabling several users to “speak” simultaneously. 

5. Beams focused on speed and dependability 

WiFi 6 may even direct its signal to the site of a wireless device to increase dependability and throughput. Beamforming focuses the signal in that pathway instead of distributing it uniformly across the area. This aids in improving the reliability and speed of the connection.

6. 8X8 spatial streams for concurrent usage

In terms of access points, wireless vendors are shipping both 8×8 and 4×4 products. This nomenclature refers to the number of spatial streams, which is an essential building block in the overall WiFi LAN performance. Because of size and power limitations, many smaller wireless devices will never support more than 2×2. But having a WiFi 6 router capable of 8×8 spatial streams means one can service more devices simultaneously and achieve more general efficiency. The increase in the maximum spatial stream of WiFi 6 is a factor defining overall cell performance.

Overall, WiFi 6 delivers more throughput and capacity than previous generations of WiFi. It can use 1024 quadrature amplitude modulation compared to the 256 maximum used by WiFi 5 accounts for most of the improved performance.  

See More: Wide Area Network (WAN) vs. Local Area Network (LAN): Key Differences and Similarities

Considerations When Deploying WIFI 6

Deploying WiFi 6 for better and safer internet experiences should not be a careless decision. In as much as there are numerous benefits, a proper deployment strategy means you get to benefit maximally from this technology. 

When considering WiFi 6, there are vital points to keep in mind. 

• WiFi 6’s primary advantage over other standards is that it provides maximum speed and accessibility in congested networks. Is congestion a significant problem for your home or work front? Are your employees and customers complaining of poor service? Then deploying WiFi 6 is an excellent decision. 
• In a rush to deploy new technology, it is easy to overlook that most devices might not have evolved as much. The good news is that WiFi 6 is backward compatible. There is a lower chance of enjoying the unique features of WiFi 6, but older devices will be as good as any. 

Other considerations include its suitability for IoT and better network security system. Further, WiFi 6, like any other technology, is not without its challenges. One such is the speed and performance it offers outside the internal network. When browsing external services like cloud file shares, speed and performance accessing these resources are still dictated by your internet service provider (ISP). 

Finally, there is a slight drawback in the functionality of unsupported devices on WiFi 6. WiFi 6 is backward compatible with previous wireless standards. Although devices that don’t support the WiFi 6 will still function, they won’t get those additional features and benefits such as the WiFi “sleeping” or improved battery life.

See More: What Is Network Hardware? Definition, Architecture, Challenges, and Best Practices

Takeaway

WiFi 6 is an advancement over previous forms of wireless LAN, and its adoption will grow over the next few years. According to Deloitte Global, more WiFi 6 devices will ship in 2022 than even 5th generation or 5G devices. It professionals can leverage the technology to power their network landscapes, primarily impacting smart appliances and equipment along with augmented and virtual reality.  

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