{"id":14378,"date":"2024-08-02T14:20:20","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T21:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/?p=14378"},"modified":"2024-08-02T15:26:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T22:26:57","slug":"what-is-wifi-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/what-is-wifi-6","title":{"rendered":"What Is WiFi 6, and Is It Really Worth It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Has your WiFi been slowing you down? It might be time to upgrade to a new WiFi 6 router. But what is WiFi 6, and how fast is it? Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the next generation of WiFi, how fast it really is, and if it\u2019s really worth upgrading. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is WiFi 6?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

WiFi 6 was launched in 2019 to improve the speed and reliability of networks. This new WiFi standard (also known as 802.11ax) is especially helpful in smart homes, offices, and public places where lots of devices are connected to the same network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Fast Is WiFi 6?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Theoretically, a WiFi 6 router can currently deliver speeds of up to 9.6Gbps (gigabits per second). This makes it faster than WiFi 5, which theoretically gets up to 7Gbps. However, in the real world, a WiFi 6 router only delivers speeds up to 2.4Gbps to your devices, while a WiFi 5 router only gets up to 1.7Gbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More<\/strong>: How to test your WiFi speed<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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(Image Source: Intel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So, a WiFi 6 router should only speed your network up by about 40% in ideal situations. However, there are other benefits that come with the next-generation standard.<\/p>\n\n\n

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OFDMA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One reason WiFi 6 is faster than previous standards is due to a new technology called OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access). This allows a WiFi 6 router to send several signals to different devices all at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To simplify things, imagine a WiFi signal as a delivery truck that is delivering packages to your devices. A WiFi 5 router would need to use separate trucks to deliver packages to each device. With OFDMA, a Wi-Fi 6 signal would be able to add multiple packages to the same truck and deliver them to different devices in one trip.<\/p>\n\n\n

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(Image Source: ASUS<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This means OFDMA can significantly lower latency because high-priority traffic won\u2019t have to wait in line behind lower-priority traffic. So, you won\u2019t experience any buffering while streaming a movie if someone else starts using the internet in another room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MU-MIMO<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another key difference between WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 is that the new standard has a technology called MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output). This allows WiFi 6 routers to connect to multiple devices at once, instead of connecting to one device, and then another, and then another.<\/p>\n\n\n

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(Image Source: Linksys)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While this technology already exists in some high-end routers, it has been upgraded with Wi-Fi 6. A Wi-Fi 6 router can connect to eight devices at once, while a Wi-Fi 5 router can only connect to four devices at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n