Learn all about Wi-Fi 6: the next step in wireless technology

Although we believe that technology Wi-Fi is something very recent, know that it exists since the definition of its pattern (IEEE 802.11) in 1989. Since then, it has gained improvements and modifications that adapted the technology to support higher data transmission speeds and other essential features to ensure a quality wireless connection.

Now, Wi-Fi as we know it is about to get much faster! However, the next generation of Wi-Fi, known as WiFi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax), is not only faster, but full of nuances and several benefits that we will realize over the next few years.

Scheduled to launch in 2020, there's a good chance your next laptop or smartphone will be compatible with the new Wi-Fi 6. In this article we will get to know all the details of this technology that promises to improve the way we connect digitally.

What is WiFi 6?

A Wi-Fi 6 this is the next generation of Wi-Fi. It still has basically the same functionality — connecting you to the Internet — but with the advantage of having several additional technologies to make this process more efficient, increasing connection speed in the process.

A Wi-Fi 6 can support connection speeds of up to incredible 9.6 Gbps! To give you an idea, the current generation of Wi-Fi 5 only allows speeds up to 3.5 Gbps. However, it is important to remember that both these limits are only theoretical, as your connection would hardly be able to reach these speed levels.

However, the fact that this protocol has a much higher theoretical speed limit than its predecessor is still very important. Also, that 9.6 Gbps doesn't have to go to just one machine. This connection speed can be split across an entire network of devices, which means more speed potential for each device.

The purpose of Wi-Fi 6

Rather than increasing the connection speed of each device, the real purpose of Wi-Fi 6 is to improve the condition of the network when many devices are connected at the same time.

This is an advantage that comes at a very opportune moment. When Wi-Fi 5 was launched in the United States, for example, each household had an average of five Wi-Fi devices. Currently, estimates point out that this number has risen to nine devices on average, with a forecast to reach fifty in the next few years!

The problem is that this amount of devices ends up costing a lot in network performance. Your router is only able to communicate with a limited number of devices at once, so the more devices that are requesting Wi-Fi, the more the network capacity will be limited.

Wi-Fi 6 introduces some new technologies that help solve the problems that come with putting dozens of Wi-Fi devices on a single network. It allows routers to communicate with more devices simultaneously, send data to multiple devices on the same broadcast signal (to many at the same time), and even allows Wi-Fi devices to schedule when they will communicate with the router. Together, these features should keep connections stable even as more devices join the network and request data.

The speed of WiFi 6

Unfortunately, it is not possible to accurately determine how fast Wi-Fi 6 will be. At first, connections will not be significantly faster. For example, a laptop connected to a router—both of which support the 80.11ax standard—may provide only a slightly faster connection when compared to the same scenario on a Wi-Fi 5 network.

However, this story changes context when we start adding more devices to the network. While current routers can start to get overwhelmed with requests from various devices, Wi-Fi 6 routers are designed to more effectively keep all these devices up to date with the data they need.

The connection speed of each device will not necessarily be faster than what is measured on a current network, but with the new protocol there is a greater chance that they will maintain stable speeds in highly contested environments. 

Imagine how useful the Wi-Fi 6 infrastructure will be in a house where a person is watching Netflix, and there are many other smart gadgets like electronic locks, temperature sensors and light switches that are using the same network. The maximum connection speeds of these devices will not be increased, but they will remain stable.

What makes Wi-Fi 6 faster?

There are two important technologies that are responsible for the high speeds of Wi-Fi 6 connections: MU-MIMO e OFDMA. The first one, which means “multiuser, multiple input, multiple output” ("multiple users, multiple inputs, multiple outputs", in English) is already used in today's routers, but Wi-Fi 6 goes further.

This technology allows the router to communicate with multiple devices at the same time, instead of transmitting data to just one device, and then to another, and so on. Currently, MU-MIMO allows routers to communicate with up to four devices at the same time. The difference is that Wi-Fi 6 will allow that number to rise to eight devices simultaneously.

The other new technology, the OFDMA, Means “orthogonal frequency division multiple access” (“Orthogonal Frequency Division for Multiple Access”) and allows one transmission to deliver data to multiple devices at once. It will be used in practice to get the most out of each data transmission on Wi-Fi 6, sending all possible data to all devices in just one transmission.

The new Wi-Fi 6 compatible devices

As each generation of Wi-Fi requires new hardware (not just software updates), you will need to acquire new devices — smartphones, laptops, routers — so you can enjoy the benefits of Wi-Fi 6.

In this article we will specifically focus on the new routers that will soon be available on the market. Among the many technology companies that are investing heavily in the new Wi-Fi 6 technology, we have the D-Link and TP-Link.

D-Link DIR-X6060

The WiFi Router 6 DIR-X6060 da D-Link takes full advantage of the Wi-Fi 6 infrastructure and provides 4x faster connection speeds to your network by utilizing 4x4 MU-MIMO technology, plus it's tailor-made for smart homes. The router is capable of reaching an impressive 6 Gbps! With 8 super powerful antennas, it even supports voice controls for the Google Assistant a Alexa.

O D-Link DIR-X6060 can be purchased from R$3.999,00 in the submarine.

TP Link Archer AX10

Equipped with Wi-Fi 6 technology, the Archer AX10 da TP-Link provides faster connection speeds and less network congestion. The router can reach speeds of up to 1.5 Gbps (1201 Mbps using 5 GHz and 300 Mbps using 2.4 GHz). With this router, you can connect multiple devices to your network and take full advantage of this device, which has a three-core processor and provides a much more reliable network coverage.

You can get the Archer AX10 from R$989,00 na Showmetech store

TP Link Archer AX6000

Already Archer AX6000 is a Wi-Fi 6 router from TP-Link much more powerful, with a Quad-Core Broadcom 1,8 GHz processor, plus three 1 GB RAM coprocessors. O Archer AX6000 it is also a dual-band router and works on both 2,4GHz and 5GHz frequencies.

The router can reach 1 Gbps on the first band and go up to an incredible 5 Gbps on the second. Another great novelty of this model is the BSS Color technology, which reduces interference from other routers in an open environment, thus ensuring a very stable connection.

TP Link Archer AX11000

Finally, the last model of the TP-Link It is aimed at gamers. O Archer AX11000 can reach the incredible 11 Gbps speed mark! High performance is guaranteed by OFDMA technology, a feature that increases average throughput. In addition, it has a feature called Game Accelerator, which optimizes the flow of games.

O Archer AX11000 it has the same processor and memory components as the AX6000, but the difference is that it has even more 512 MB of flash storage and uses the 5 GHz band exclusively for gaming. The best of everything? The model has a game center, capable of optimizing bandwidth allocation and creating a VPN tunnel to keep your network anonymous and secure.

Wi-Fi 6 is just getting started

It's still early days, but devices compatible with the Wi-Fi 6 are slowly appearing on the market. For example, routers D-Link and TP-Link mentioned in this article can already be purchased, but it is necessary to keep in mind that they are high-cost and top-of-the-line devices. 

Wi-Fi 6 is also coming to the smartphone world. One of the latest processors from Qualcomm, Snapdragon 855, includes support for Wi-Fi 6 and intends to be present in the next line of high-end smartphone models. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S10 is one of the first phones with the new processor, being compatible with the next generation of Wi-Fi.

It is anticipated that, very soon, the Wi-Fi 6 will become the world standard in wireless communication. Launched in the second half of 2019 by Wi-Fi Alliance announcement, the Wi-Fi 6 certification program ensures compatibility between all Wi-Fi devices. The devices will not need to pass this certification, but that already means that Wi-Fi 6 is here to stay.

Sources: Qualcomm; TP-Link