The age of Wi-Fi 6 is right here. Soon, Wi-Fi 6E goes to make it even higher

Speed is essential with Wi-Fi, and the class has definitely been shifting quick as of late. First got here Wi-Fi 6, a brand-new, faster version of Wi-Fi that began hitting the market in 2019. Now, after a unanimous vote in April, the Federal Communications Commission is opening up a whole new band of spectrum to accommodate next-gen units designed to faucet into it. 

The Wi-Fi Alliance, an {industry} group that manages Wi-Fi nomenclature, branded this new spectrum and the units that may benefit from it beneath a brand new identify: Wi-Fi 6E. The first such units are anticipated to start hitting shops by the top of this 12 months. One industry-funded report claims that, together with offering sooner speeds and new room for rising web visitors, the transfer will generate more than $180 billion in US revenue over the subsequent 5 years.

In different phrases, it has been a really busy couple of years for Wi-Fi — and the arrival of Wi-Fi 6E could be essentially the most vital improvement but. Here’s some context that will help you wrap your head round it. 

Let’s discuss 6GHz

Last 12 months, I wrote a post about Wi-Fi 6 that explains the brand new capabilities it brings to next-gen routers. In a nutshell, it is a sooner, extra environment friendly model of Wi-Fi that permits wi-fi entry factors like routers to higher handle networks crowded with a number of customers and consumer units. My convoluted metaphor for all of that was to think about your router as a bartender, and the units in your community because the individuals attempting to order drinks. A Wi-Fi 6 router is sort of a four-armed bartender able to effectively serving drinks to a number of patrons without delay.

Enter Wi-Fi 6E. It is not a brand new model of Wi-Fi like Wi-Fi 6, however slightly a time period that identifies Wi-Fi 6 units which might be geared up with the chips and radios wanted to function in that new mass of spectrum the FCC simply opened up. If a Wi-Fi 6 router is a greater bartender, then a Wi-Fi 6E router is a greater bartender with a brand-new bar, one with an unique consumer listing and many room to work.

That new spectrum sits within the 6GHz band, a band that wasn’t beforehand allotted for unlicensed Wi-Fi use like the two.four and 5GHz bands already have been. So what’s so nice about 6GHz?

All about bandwidth

Time for one more metaphor!

Let’s say that you’ve a gallon of milk sitting in your kitchen counter representing your complete spectrum of radio frequencies. You take a needle, jab it into the facet of the carton, after which pull it out. A really skinny stream of milk begins to jet out a number of ft. Then, you’re taking one thing a bit thicker, like a nail, and poke one other gap into the facet of the container. More milk shoots out this time as a result of the outlet is wider — but it surely would not go as far.

You can consider these two holes as the two.four and 5GHz bands. With a frequency vary of simply 70MHz, the two.4GHz band is the narrower of the 2. Like the needle-poked gap capturing milk throughout your kitchen, it could ship knowledge at an affordable distance, however with such a small opening, there is a restrict to how a lot it could ship. With 500MHz of bandwidth, the 5GHz band represents a much bigger gap within the milk carton. It can go extra knowledge without delay — however it could’t ship it fairly as far.

That brings us to Wi-Fi 6E’s 6GHz band and its 1,200MHz of extra bandwidth. It’s such as you’ve punched a gap within the milk carton the dimensions of 1 / 4. Tons of milk comes gushing out, but it surely gushes downward and would not journey very far in any respect.

The takeaway is that the 6GHz band shall be finest suited to close-range connections, ideally between units which might be in the identical room as each other. In conditions like that, the 2 units ought to have the ability to go large quantities of information backwards and forwards with the total effectivity of Wi-Fi 6. We’ll sit up for testing connections like these (and their vary limitations) later this 12 months, when Wi-Fi 6E-compatible units begin to arrive.

Extreme Networks’ Perry Correll, who sits on each the IEEE 11ax and Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi 6 activity teams, means that the brief vary of the 6GHz band and its larger variety of channels is definitely “a tremendous advantage” in dense, difficult environments like transportation hubs, condominium items, sports activities arenas and enterprise complexes.

“If you’re sitting in a packed stadium with 70,000 other people, the arrival of Wi-Fi 6E means you’re not going to be competing for bandwidth in the same way you used to,” Correll says. “It will be significantly easier to stream the event to friends, order concessions via app, or even to find out which bathroom has the shortest lines.”

Wi-Fi’s VIP part

“AR/VR and gaming is another great use case for the 6GHz band,” Correll says. “Many do not realize the high-end VR sets that require the most bandwidth are actually tethered with cables. With Wi-Fi 6E, you not only get more bandwidth but cleaner bandwidth — meaning it is able to wirelessly provide the higher data rates required along with true mobility.”  

Wi-Fi 6 is admittedly the important thing to that cleaner bandwidth, as a result of there will not be any earlier-gen Wi-Fi units which might be able to tapping into the 6GHz band. That implies that Wi-Fi 6E networks will not have any older-generation units appearing as weak hyperlinks within the chain.

Let’s return to that analogy I sketched out earlier. Like I stated, if Wi-Fi 6 makes your router into a greater bartender that may serve a number of drinks without delay, then Wi-Fi 6E is the bar itself — and it is an unique, members-only type of joint. The solely patrons ordering cocktails are Wi-Fi 6E patrons which might be able to being there, and all of them assist Wi-Fi 6. 

In different phrases, no person’s casting any bizarre, confused appears on the four-armed bartender as he fingers out drinks, as a result of they’ve all bought 4 arms, too. It is not as crowded or as noisy as different bars, and everybody’s geared up to take full benefit of the bartender’s capabilities. It’s the quickest, best nightlife on the town.

So, I’ll want (one other) new router?

There’s the rub. Like that metaphorical bar’s exclusivity may recommend, you will should be a member with a view to enter. Specifically, you will want Wi-Fi 6E units geared up with new chipsets constructed to ship alerts within the 6GHz band.

Translation? Yes, you will want a brand new router — and new consumer units like telephones and laptops — with a view to take pleasure in the advantages of Wi-Fi 6E.

“We’re expecting the first set of devices to come to market in the second half of this year,” stated Vijay Nagarajan, vp of promoting for Broadcom’s wi-fi communications and connectivity division. “You’ll see a whole slew of devices, both on the infrastructure side and on the client side, and much more in a much more accelerated manner in 2021.”

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That’s most likely irritating for anybody who jumped in early and purchased a brand new Wi-Fi 6 router within the final 12 months, however do not be too arduous on your self. It’s nonetheless very early for Wi-Fi 6E, and the rollout will take a while. Wi-Fi 6 solely not too long ago penetrated the mainstream with public deployments and assist from high-profile units just like the iPhone SE and the Samsung Galaxy S10. Devices like those who assist Wi-Fi 6E won’t turn into broadly accessible till 2021.

In different phrases, that Wi-Fi 6 router that you simply purchased on Black Friday will proceed to be a top-of-the line entry level for one more 12 months or so, and it’ll proceed to be an excellent router after that, because of all the things that Wi-Fi 6 brings to the desk. In reality, ready to improve till Wi-Fi 6E is extra broadly carried out and polished could be the perfect method. At that time, we’ll have a greater sense of the kind of customers who stand to profit essentially the most from the improve, and so they’ll have a better time doing so, too.

More excellent news: Your older-gen Wi-Fi devices will nonetheless work with routers that assist Wi-Fi 6E, as a result of Wi-Fi 6 is absolutely backward-compatible with earlier variations of Wi-Fi. They simply will not have the ability to function in that unique 6GHz band.