Just about any home with connected gadgets and/or computers have a router to go with it, bringing the internet to everything and allowing everything to interact. Routers have been around for a long time, evolving with every leap in technology, just as everything else. So what’s the next big leap to get excited about? It’s already here, and you can upgrade right now.
The current standard in Wi-Fi technology is now 802.11ax, which is also known as Wi-Fi 6. With bandwidth-demanding electronics and applications like 4K/8K streaming, gaming, VR and more, the demand for speed and throughput has never been so great. Wi-Fi 6 has the capability of feeding that demand better than any wireless LAN protocol ever developed.
So what kind of enhancements can be found with Wi-Fi 6? Well, just about everything is covered with a huge improvement. You can find maximum speeds of up to 4x greater than 802.11ac, the previous generation of Wi-Fi protocol, which is a huge win when it comes to Gb/s (gigabits per second). So this makes it easier to deliver 4K/8K streaming and gaming, advanced VR/AR/MR solutions and more, without any buffering issues.
You also have significantly reduced latencies, which is important when Wi-Fi 6 can also support a much higher number of connected devices. Making this is a great option for busy network environments both home and business. The lower the latency, the faster the response is for every request. This reduces the wait times of accessing devices or streaming data.
Supported devices connected to Wi-Fi 6 routers, can also enjoy better battery life and connected range. Their antennas require less power to communicate and remain connected to the network, and the range (distance) is drastically improved, especially when 802.11ac was already a solid technology when it comes to this.
With Wi-Fi 6, you get enhancements all around, allowing you to build a smart home out as densely as you want, while the gamers in your family can get the most out of the latest games, and you sit in the back room Skyping your parents in 4K. This means it won’t be long before having a wired cable (ethernet) running all over, feels like a thing of the past. Why run cables when wireless has become just as fast, if not faster? Well, I’m sure we won’t let go of the cables just yet–but we are getting close when it comes to technologies like this and 5G (when it comes to outside of the home).
So where does “Wi-Fi 6” come from? They started following the new trend of rebranding and labeling technologies so that everything is more user-friendly to consumers. Instead of calling it 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ad, 802.11ax, etc–they (IEEE, the association behind naming the wireless LAN protocols) have now moved to a simpler method. Now, 802.11ax (the latest), is known as Wi-Fi 6. The previous protocol, 802.11ac is now Wi-Fi 5, and so forth.
There are of course many other protocols in between which were specialized or went the way of Beta vs VHS (like 802.11ad), which don’t look like they get a home within the new naming structure. However, since the most popular and widely accepted protocols seem to have made rank, it will be much easier for consumers to find something that is not only heavily compatible with everything else, but they can rest assured that as long as the number after “Wi-Fi” is higher than something else, they are buying into something more powerful. It also makes for great marketing.
As mentioned, you can already buy into Wi-Fi 6 routers, coming from all of your favorite companies like Netgear. You can even upgrade the cards inside your laptops (if you are experienced with this). You can find all of this and more via the following link/button.
