Have you ever experienced slow internet connectivity with Wi-Fi?
Your answer is mostly likely ‘Yes’. Hooking up to a Wi-Fi network that is slow can be frustrating. It could take forever to load the simplest web pages. And as more devices get connected to the network, it slows down to a halt.
Annoying, right?
Well, that may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new grade of Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi 6 is the answer to your cries of slow Wi-Fi connectivity. In this article, I will be telling you what Wi-Fi 6 is, and why you should care about it.
Let’s dive right in.
So…
What Is Wi-Fi 6?
Wi-Fi 6 is the latest version of Wi-Fi that is due to be released this year 2019. It is technically known as 802.11ax. It is the next-generation wireless connectivity that is way faster than the current Wi-Fi 5 or 802.11ac.
Wi-Fi is now given single numbers to make it easy for people tell them apart, just like 4G and 5G. And so, Wi-Fi 6 is the user-friendly name for IEEE 802.11ax.
Okay, you are probably asking, ‘So, why should I care?’
What Are The Benefits Of Wi-Fi 6?
Wi-Fi 6 is no good if it doesn’t offer more than the current Wi-Fi 5 – and it does! Let’s look at the most important advantages Wi-Fi 6 has over Wi-Fi 5, shall we?
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Higher Speeds
What’s more annoying than having no internet? Answer – slow internet!
Wi-Fi 5 has a decent transfer speed but it pales in comparison to Wi-Fi 6. With a router and a single device, Wi-Fi 6 is 40% faster than Wi-Fi 5. Wi-Fi 6 is also more effective because it can cram more data into the same slice of radio waves.
It does this by encoding data more efficiently. This results in a higher throughput. The higher throughput is made possible by more advanced chips that govern this process. It even improves the speed of 2.4GHz networks.
Why this is good for business?
You hate slow internet connections. Your customers do, too. Wi-Fi 6 will help improve your guest Wi-Fi speeds. Consequently, your customers will enjoy their browsing experience when they are connected to your Wi-Fi 6 network.
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Longer Battery Life
Wi-Fi 6 has a feature called ‘Target Wake Time’. It helps device stay connected to the network longer by conserving their battery life.
How does it do this?
Anytime you are connected to a Wi-Fi network, the access point ‘talks’ to your device. For older Wi-Fi standards, the Wi-Fi radio in your device stays awake throughout the connection time. This results in faster battery drain.
On the other hand, Wi-Fi 6 standard will tell your device to put the radio to sleep. And only wake it up when the next transmission is coming in. Therefore, your device saves more battery power and stays up longer.
Smaller Internet of Things’ devices will also stay connected longer.
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Handles More Devices Than Wi-Fi 5
Wi-Fi 5 and other older standards get slower as you connect more devices to them. This makes them really inefficient in places where there are a lot of devices trying to connect. If you have a lot of customers and offer free guest Wi-Fi, they will experience really poor browsing speeds.
For Wi-Fi 6, this is no problem. Wi-Fi 6 can handle way more devices than older Wi-Fi standards. This makes it great for locations such as hotels, restaurants, airports, and stadiums. Each user’s speed in a crowded spot will increase by four times with Wi-Fi 6 than any other standard, according to Intel.
That’s so cool, don’t you think?
Here’s how Wi-Fi 6 does it:
It divides the main wireless channel into numerous sub-channels. Each sub-channel is assigned to one device and carries data meant for that particular device. This is made possible through what is called Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA).
OFDMA is an RF modulation technique that allows Wi-Fi 6 to transmit more information to multiple devices simultaneously. This allows the access point to talk to more than one device at the same time. The current technique used is the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing or OFDM.
For this reason, no matter how many devices are connected to your Wi-Fi 6 network, your customers will enjoy their internet access. It also means you can collect customer information faster.
If you are currently running Wi-Fi 5 in your business, get ready to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 when it is released. It is set to be released in 2019 though no date has been set.
Want to know more about Wi-Fi 6? Contact us and we’d answer any questions you have.
POSTED ON November 6, 2019Share:
