WiFi 6: The Next Generation of WiFi  

The internet has been one of our most transformative and fastest-growing technologies around the globe. With rapid growth, the number of connected devices are quickly increasing year on year. In South Africa, the average household has 7 connected devices and that number is increasing annually. 

In addition to mobile devices, people have smart refrigerators, smart security systems, video monitoring systems, game consoles and smart TVs that connect to one wireless network.

Having a ton of devices connected to one network can cause challenges with speed, latency, and bandwidth. To keep up with the growing demand for WiFi access, we bring you the latest in WiFi technology:  WiFi 6. 

What is WiFi 6?

WiFi 6, also known as IEEE 802.11ax, is the new standard for WiFi. It’s an upgrade from the current IEEE 802.11ac, or WiFi 5, standard. WiFi 6 is designed to deliver super fast speeds, support more devices at the same time, reduce latency, and increase bandwidth.

How Did WiFi 6 Get its Name?

The concept of  WiFi is hard to understand and even harder to keep up with. Luckily, the WiFi Alliance knew that. They decided to rework the WiFi standards to help people that are not tech-savvy understand which WiFi standard is better. 

Instead of keeping products classified by the number sequence 802.11 followed by letters, they decided to take a simpler approach. Each WiFi standard will now be identified by a number that represents the WiFi’s generation.

• WiFi 6 represents devices supporting 802.11ax technology 
• WiFi 5 represents devices supporting 802.11ac technology 
• WiFi 4 represents devices supporting 802.11n technology
• WiFi 3 represents devices supporting 802.11g technology 
• WiFi 1 represents devices supporting 802.11b technology 
• WiFi 2 represents devices supporting 802.11a technology

How Fast is WiFi 6?

Internet speeds are based upon tests carried out in optimal conditions - potential interference is not factored in. WiFi 6 has a potential speed of 9.6 Gbps (Gigabits per second), which equals 9600 Mbps (Megabits per second). The 9.6 Gbps can be split up across multiple devices.

In general, each stream has a speed of 1.2 Gbps (1200 Mbps). Two streams will have a speed of 2.5 Gbps, four streams will have a speed of 4.8 Gbps, and eight streams will have a speed of 9.6 Gbps.

In the real world, speeds will differ based on the circumstances. Obstructions such as building material, walls, doors, floors, and furniture can interfere with the signal strength, resulting in slower speeds.

In addition, keep in mind that the speed from your internet service provider is like a speed limit for your local area network (LAN). If your internet connection speeds are 600 Mbps, you won't be able to surpass the provided data rates. To take full advantage of WiFi 6 routers, you will need a wifi package that matches their speed potential. Unfortunately, those packages don’t exist in SA, yet.

What Makes WiFi 6 Better than Older Generations?

Everybody loves speedy internet. But, WiFi 6 is not just about providing users with the fastest WiFi speeds on the planet. It’s also about providing users a network capable of effectively and efficiently managing multiple connected devices for a better experience, especially for those bandwidth-intensive use cases. 

WiFi 6 includes some amazing features that will improve your WiFi experience:

Better Multitasking 

WiFi 6 will be able to communicate with a larger number of devices simultaneously using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) technology. How?

Routers have multiple channels that devices use to connect to the internet – it helps to reduce interference. With previous standards, if you had multiple devices transmitting information through one channel, it simulated people waiting in line at a grocery store with only one check-out line. The cashier (the channel) will help the first person (first device) in line. The cashier will scan the items (information chunks) and won’t help out the next person until they finish scanning all of the items from the previous person. With OFDMA, the channel is divided into multiple sub-channels, so that information can be transferred to multiple devices simultaneously. Now, you have an octopus as the cashier instead of one person. The octopus represents the channel the devices are connected to, and each arm represents the sub-channels. Now the cashier can scan the items of eight different people simultaneously.

The sub-channels will be divided bases on the needs of each device. For example, if you're a gamer, your game console will need to send and receive chunks of information quickly to prevent lagging. Based on the needs of your console, the router can prioritize it over another device whose workload isn’t as latency dependent.

As a result, OFDMA will improve WiFi speeds and reduce latency. This is extremely helpful, especially to those who have a large number of connected devices in the same household.

More Connected Devices

WiFi 6 offers an improved version of Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) technology. This feature goes hand in hand with OFDMA. The previous WiFi standard was only able to communicate with 4 devices simultaneously. The upgraded version features downlink (communication from wireless devices to the router) and uplink (communication from the router to wireless devices) MU-MIMO, which gives the router the ability to communicate with 8 devices simultaneously. The benefit of MU-MIMO is that it improves congestion and interference issues.

Transmit More Information

When devices communicate with each other, they are talking to each other through sound frequencies. The sound frequency waves are made up of specific bits of binary code – a series of 0s and 1s – to transfer information.

For example, let’s say you are searching for apples on your Android phone. Your phone will convert the request into tons of 0s and 1s, and send the information to your wireless router via sound waves. The router decodes the number sequence to understand that you are looking for apples. Once the router gathers the information you're looking for, it will convert the results back into 0s and 1s. The code will be sent back to your Android phone via sound waves, your phone will decode the information and display apples on your screen. This process is called Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM); the better your router is, the more binary code it can send with each transmission.

WiFi 5 routers use 256-QAM technology, meaning that the wireless devices sending and receiving bits could only read 8 digits of binary code at once. WiFi 6 will have an improved version of QAM. It will feature 1024-QAM, meaning that the wireless devices sending and receiving bits can read 10 digits of binary code at once. 1024-QAM will provide users with better throughput and increase speeds by 25%.

Less Interference

The sound frequencies that devices use to communicate with each other are measured in gigahertz. Wireless devices use the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequency bands to communicate with one another. Each frequency band has multiple channels that can be used to access the internet. The purpose of the channels is to decrease interference.

Apartment complexes are a great example of WiFi channel interference. Almost every apartment renter is going to have a router. If you have two neighbours and everybody is using channel 6 on the 2.5 GHz band, the routers will have to share the channel. In addition, since apartments are close to each other, it is very possible that your neighbors WiFi signal can reach your apartment, causing the wireless signals to overlap. A combination of overlapping signals and sharing the WiFi channel can result in slower data speeds or a spotty WiFi connection.

To reduce the interference caused by other devices, WiFi 6 incorporated a feature called BSS coloring. With this technology, your router has the ability to assign colors to different routers (access points) and your connected devices. If your assigned color is blue and your neighbors assigned colors are green and purple, your devices will ignore any overlapping signal coming from those specific colors; they will only focus on the “blue” signal.

Improve Battery Life

Target Wake Time (TWT) is another great attribute that helps improve network efficiency and battery life for all IoT (internet of things) devices. WiFi 6 routers will set a schedule for the IoT device to wake up and request information. With previous routers, devices like smartphones and tablets had to keep their antennas on most of the time. They were constantly checking in with the router to see if there was any information that needed to be transmitted. As a result, since the devices were always working in the background, they would lose battery without you having used them.

With this new technology, the router will only wake up devices at their scheduled time. TWT will reduce the number of devices requesting information from the router at any given time and improve your battery life.

Better Focused Signal

Some of the older WiFi standards broadcast signal in all directions; they were more susceptible to speed slow-downs and interference. WiFi 6 routers can focus their signal and send it to a specific direction using beamforming. With this technology, information can be transferred faster, with fewer errors, and reduced interference.

Better Security

The WiFi Alliance has introduced a new security standard, WPA3. This new security standard provides more protection for devices connected to private or public WiFi networks. It will make it harder for hackers to access your information. If hackers were to tap into your network, they will be limited to what data they can see. For those who tend to use public WiFi networks, WPA3 will provide individualized data encryption that will improve your privacy.

What’s the Difference Between WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E?

WiFi 6E (WiFi 6 Expanded) is NOT a new version of WiFi 6. It will require the new WiFi devices to have specific chips that will allow them to use the 6 GHz frequency. Currently, all WiFi devices are only capable of tapping into the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz frequency bands. WiFi 6E, however, will be able to tap into the 6 GHz frequency, making WiFi 6E devices the only ones capable of using all three bands. The 6 GHz band will offer non-overlapping channels, which will cause less congestion. 

WiFi 6E will be available late 2020 or in early 2021; and once available, it will be the best WiFi technology in the market.

Devices using WiFi 5 or older standards will not be able to use the 6 GHz frequency.

Is WiFi 6 Backwards Compatible with Previous WiFi Generations?

Short answer: Yes.

Since WiFi 6 uses both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, it’s backward compatible with all the previous WiFi generations. However, the wireless speed of the devices will depend on the WiFi standard that the devices are operating under.

For example, if you have a WiFi 6 router, you will be able to connect your WiFi 5 phone to it. But, your phone will not be able to tap into the high speeds offered by the WiFi 6 router. The phone will only be able to tap into the speeds offered by the WiFi 5 standard. The same thing will happen if you have a WiFi 6 smartphone connected to a WiFi 5 router; your phone will only be able to tap into the speeds offered by the WiFi 5 router. 

Will WiFi 6 Routers Have Better Range?

WiFi 6 routers will have about the same range as WiFi 5 routers. The range routers can cover is based on the distance the radio frequency waves can travel; both use the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz frequency bands. WiFi 6E will bring the 6 GHz band into the mix, but the range will be shorter than the other bands.

The best way to improve your WiFi range and eliminate dead spots is by getting a mesh WiFi 6 network system or a WiFi 6 mesh range extender. 

Mesh networking is a seamless system composed of multiple wireless nodes that work together to provide you with whole-home coverage. One node will be directly connected to the router using an ethernet cable, and the other nodes will be spread around your home. Mesh networks are designed to extend the WiFi coverage within a larger home.

WiFi 6 mesh range extenders will work similarly to mesh systems. The main difference is that the WiFi range extender is composed of just one extender (not multiple nodes) that wirelessly connects to the router. Mesh range extenders are not to be confused with traditional range extenders. One key feature WiFi 6 extenders offer, that traditional range extenders don't, is smart roaming. Smart roaming allows you to have a seamless internet connection throughout your home. With mesh range extenders you will have one WiFi name (SSID), opposed to traditional range extenders, which required different network names for your router and extender. Keep in mind that mesh range extenders will only work with compatible routers. They are designed to work best in small to medium homes.

Due to faster speeds and better bandwidth, WiFi 6 mesh systems and range extenders will be able to provide you with the best coverage throughout your home and eliminate dead zones. All wireless devices are susceptible to signal loss the further the signal travels. With the WiFi 6 features and speeds, the signal will have an easier time traveling between nodes, meaning that even the furthest node will broadcast a great signal. The same concept applies to mesh range extenders; the WiFi signal will have an easier time traveling between the router and the extender. Keep in mind that location is key for optimal signal. Luckily, mesh devices come with an app that walks you through an easy setup process with easy to follow instructions.

If you prefer to use a wired connection, or you have wired devices, there are some mesh devices that have gigabit ethernet ports you can use for a wired ethernet backhaul. Ethernet backhaul is a fancy way of saying that the backbone of the network is composed of a wired connection rather than a wireless connection; you will just need to plug in the ethernet cables into the ethernet ports. When using cables, you are able to bypass any obstacles that can interfere with the signal.

To get the best use out of a WiFi 6 mesh systems and wireless range extenders, you will need a WiFi 6 router. Without the WiFi 6 router, the mesh devices will ONLY be able to tap into the speeds offered by the router the devices are connected to.

If you don’t have any WiFi 6 devices connected to the WiFi 6 mesh devices, you are still likely to experience a better wireless coverage range than with WiFi 5.

How and When Can I Get WiFi 6?

WiFi devices are starting to make an appearance in the market. Many router, mesh system, and mesh extender companies like Asus, Linksys, Cisco, Orbi, Tp-Link, and Google are starting to implement WiFi 6 technology into their devices. In addition, smartphone manufacturers are also implementing WiFi 6 technology into their newer phones (Samsung Galaxy S10, Samsung Galaxy Note 10, and the iPhone 11).

WiFi 6 won’t be available through a simple update, you will have to purchase devices that have the technology built into the hardware. The new devices that have gone through the WiFi Alliance Certification Program will have a WiFi 6 CERTIFIED logo on them. You can purchase  WiFi 6 CERTIFIED devices directly from the manufacturer, Best Buy, Amazon, or Microsoft.

You don’t need to rush to the store to buy a new router and replace all of your wireless devices. WiFi 6 still has a long way to go.

Remember that in order to reap the benefits of the new technology, your router and wireless devices will have to support WiFi 6. It might take some time for the technology to be widely integrated in game consoles, smart TVs, laptops, smart refrigerators, doorbells, and all smart home devices. 

Our Top Recommended Wi-Fi Solutions

Top performer to extend range - AC1200 OneMesh™ Range Extender

This smart roaming range extender supports uninterrupted streaming at your home. No More connecting and disconnecting to different Wi-Fi networks! The AC1200 OneMesh™ Range Extender Wi-Fi Range extender boosts the existing Wi-Fi in your home by receiving the wireless signals from your router and repeating them, extending your coverage by up to twice the range.

Just place the range extender about halfway between your router and the Wi-Fi dead zone. The extender will capture and repeat the Wi-Fi signal from your router to the surrounding area to expand your Wi-fi coverage. Your devices can connect to the network either through your router or extender as you move around your house. Sudden signal drops, buffering and Wi-Fi dead zones becomes a thing of the past.

Our Choice for Entire Home Coverage - Tenda Home Wi-Fi Mesh System | Nova MW6

 

 

Enjoy full home coverage with a seamless wi-fi experience. Tenda Nova is powered with true Mesh technology, with a set of three nodes that covers homes up to 500m². Customise and manage your own network by setting up user access and parental controls. This system automatically optimises  to keep you online with Beamforming technology that focuses and transmits power onto wireless devices for better signal strength.

Switch to a fast, consistent Wi-Fi experience everywhere in your Home with Tenda Nova.

 

Best performer in Outdoor or Large area WiFi Coverage - UniFi® Outdoor Access Point Mesh Pro

 

 

The Unifi® Outdoor Mesh unit allows unlimited scalability with symmetrical long-range communications of up to 183 meters with exceptional 360° coverage. UniF®i is the revolutionary Wi-Fi system that combines enterprise performance, scalability, and a central management controller. The UniFi AC Mesh APs have a refined industrial design and can be easily installed using mounting hardware included. Easily accessible through any standard web browser, the UniFi® Controller software is a powerful software engine ideal for high-density client deployments requiring low latency and high uptime performance.

Contact Us

Bolton Technical is a leading provider of signal booster solutions for homes, vehicles, and commercial buildings. They specialize in consumer-friendly kits as well as customized RF systems for cellular, public safety two-way radio, DAS, and WiFi.

We’re here to assist with any issues you might be experiencing with poor cell service. Contact us today, or call us at  011 749 3085.