WI-FI 6: WHAT IS ITAND WHY DO YOU NEED IT?
WE RUN THROUGH WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WI-FI 6, PLUS THE KEY POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND WHEN CHOOSING A NEW ROUTER
Wi-Fi 6 is the consumerfriendly name for the latest 802.11ax wireless tech. It’s up to twice as fast as the previous 802.11ac system (now rebranded as Wi-Fi 5) and it’s been designed to share bandwidth better when multiple devices want to communicate at the same time, which means a smoother experience overall.
To get the full benefit of these improvements, you’ll need not only a Wi-Fi 6 router but clients that support the new tech. That includes most laptops and phones produced in the past year, so it won’t be long before Wi-Fi 6 has a significant presence in most people’s homes.
Until then, older devices will still work with a Wi-Fi 6 router. They may even get a performance boost, as many Wi-Fi 6 routers use bandwidth-maximising techniques such as highly parallel MU-MIMO and ultrawide 160MHz channels. These features were originally introduced in the 802.11ac Wave 2 standard, but not every Wi-Fi 5 router fully supports them; with a newer model you may well find that even your older hardware gets a shot in the arm.
Will a new router work with my ISP?
None of the routers this month contain a modem, so you can’t plug them straight into the wall socket. Some ISP-provided routers can be switched to modem-only mode, so they take care of your internet connection while your third-party router manages your home network. If this is an option for you, it’s the ideal solution.
Otherwise, there are two easy possibilities. One is to connect your new router to the old one, and put it into access point mode (or bridge mode). This lets you use its wireless capabilities and Ethernet ports, but it disables most advanced features, including parental controls and USB functions.
Alternatively, you can simply turn off the wireless transmitter on your
ISP router, connect your new router to it via Ethernet and proceed as if the old router didn’t exist. As long as your clients are all connected to the same router, you shouldn’t hit any major difficulties. Yet issues may arise if you want to access home devices or services over the internet: for more on problems of this sort, and how to work around them, search for “double NAT”.
Why shouldn’t I just buy the fastest router?
If you’re going by the numbers on the box, you’ll always be disappointed. The advertised data rates are theoreticals that you’ll never get close to in real life. For example, the Netgear Nighthawk RAX80 claims it can transfer 4,800Mbits/sec, so 600MB/sec, but in our tests this month the fastest download speed we saw was 65.2MB/sec.
The quoted numbers also tell you nothing about how well the signal holds up over distance, which can make a huge difference to your online experience. The only way to get he measure of a router’s overall performance is with the he sort of extensive comparative testing we’ve carried out this month ( see opposite). Even then, it’s not always necessary to go for maximum speed: think realistically about your requirements or you could end up paying for more performance than you really need.
How much performance do I need?
If you just want snappy browsing, you should be fine with any of the routers here. Netflix recommends an internet connection speed of 25Mbits/sec (3.2MB/sec) for HDR 4K streaming or just 5Mbits/sec (0.6MB/sec) for Full HD, and pretty much every router on test can easily accommodate that. Even if two people are simultaneously watching different titles in different rooms, most of these routers should have no problem keeping up.
Faster connections come into their own when you’re moving data around within your home network. Backups complete briskly, and you can browse and access files on a network share or NAS drive almost as quickly as if they were stored on your local hard disk.
Are tri-band routers now obsolete?
Tri-band radios were popular in highend 802.11ac routers because it made it easier to share bandwidth: you had two 5GHz radios to accompany one 2.4GHz radio. But, in the Wi-Fi 6 age, they’re going to be much more niche due to the improved bandwidth-sharing capabilities of 802.11ax.
“Think realistically about your requirements or you could end up paying for more performance than you need”
Still, some networks will remain crowded with 802.11ac devices for the foreseeable future, which means they’ll continue to benefit from the headroom provided by a second radio. A tri-band arrangement also makes it possible to operate a separate, high-priority 5GHz network alongside the general-purpose one – something that will appeal to keen gamers and other specialist users. Unless you fit into one of those categories, however, we wouldn’t recommend you invest in a tri-band router today.
Are mesh systems still relevant with Wi-Fi 6?
Upgrading to a Wi-Fi 6 router might mean you no longer need a mesh system to get acceptable performance throughout your home – but if you need the very best coverage, a mesh is still an excellent choice. As we’ll see, there are several multi-node kits out there that promise to deliver the performance benefits of Wi-Fi 6 over a wider area than any standalone router could manage. Be warned, though: a two-node, tri-band package means you’re paying for four Wi-Fi 6-capable radios. With prices going up as high as £773, it’s worth thinking about whether you can justify the expense.
What about connections?
Even with the rise of Wi-Fi 6, Ethernet isn’t going anywhere. From IoT hubs to games consoles and network storage devices, there are plenty of roles for which it still makes sense.
For that reason, we still like to see three or four Ethernet ports on a wireless router. If you need to add more, you can get a Gigabit switch for under a tenner, but it’s an inelegant solution, involving extra cables and an additional power supply. And if you want to make use of any multigigabit Ethernet connectors or linkaggregation options, that will require a pricier dedicated multi-gig switch – otherwise you’re limited to a single ultrafast connection, which is a bit pointless when you think about it.
USB ports are always welcome too. It’s great to have the option of hooking up an external hard disk to your router for low-cost, fuss-free central storage – although we strongly recommend you invest in a USB RAID enclosure that supports mirroring, or at least implement some sort of backup plan.
Some routers also work with USB printers, or let you install a 4G modem that can take over if your main internet line goes down. The latter is a valuable feature in these days of working from home.
What other features should I look out for?
As our table overleaf shows, there are plenty of different features on offer. Some routers offer extensive parental controls that let you enforce usage limits and bedtimes, as well as block access to certain types of website.
VPN support varies considerably too. Some routers let you route all your household traffic over a thirdparty VPN to protect your privacy or spoof your location without having to install or configure client software – although it’s not necessarily all that convenient if you like to hop between servers or turn the VPN off and on for different apps.
A VPN server, meanwhile, allows to you connect to the router over the internet, and access your local network shares and devices just as if you were physically inside your home. It tends to go hand in hand with support for dynamic DNS, which gives you a free domain name that you can always use to reach your router, even if its public IP address changes.
Push-button WPS is another convenience worth looking out for as it greatly simplifies setup, but it can be a security risk as it makes it easy for anyone who can get a few seconds alone with your router to connect whatever they want to your network.
Finally, support for the new WPA3 wireless security standard is a plus point as it’s much harder to hack than WPA2 authentication. However, it will probably be a few years before all the clients in your home work with the new standard, so until then you’ll have to leave WPA2 support enabled. Don’t panic, though: breaking a WPA2 key is a complicated technical process, and it’s extremely unlikely anyone would expend the necessary effort on compromising your home network.
“Support for the new WPA3 wireless security standard is a plus point as it’s much harder to hack than WPA2 authentication”