What is Wifi 6?
WE all know what Wifi is, but not a lot of us know there are different versions of the 802.11 Wifi standard. The versions have been labelled by letters like 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n and 802.11ac.
The Wifi Alliance, the group that sets the Wifi standards, has decided to change the naming scheme, and the newest version of Wifi is known simply as Wifi 6, meaning it’s the sixth generation of the Wifi standard.
Those names were pretty clunky before, so I like the new ones.
Going forward, 802.11n is Wifi 4, 802.11ac is Wifi 5 and what was called 802.11ax is simply known as Wifi 6.
Each generation of Wifi has been an improvement over the previous generation – usually by making the download speeds faster.
Wifi 5 had a theoretical top speed of 3.5Gbps (gigabits per second), but real world speeds are always slower depending on the environment and obstacles.
Wifi 6 has a top speed of 9.6Gbps, but more importantly, it introduces some new technologies to make all the devices on your home’s network operate faster, especially if you have a lot of Wifi devices.
Wifi 6 is better at talking to more devices at once. It will help everything on your network work better and faster.
Your device communication will also be more secure with the introduction of a new Wifi security protocol called WPA3.
To take advantage of Wifi 6, the first thing you’ll need is a new router. Most of the advantages of Wifi 6 happen on the router side.
Right now there are not very many Wifi 6 routers for sale. Tp-link and Netgear have a few. Others will certainly follow.
The Wifi Alliance also has an information page on its site, Wifi. org, that describes Wifi 6 in more detail, if you’re interested. — The Dallas Morning News/tribune News Service