What’s Wi-Fi 6?
You have Wi-Fi 5 right now. How do I know? Because you’re reading this blog post. Wi-Fi 6 isn’t out as of this writing and Wi-Fi 4 is so old that if you still used it you wouldn’t be reading a tech blog.
They changed the nomenclature.
They changed 802.11ac to Wi-Fi 5. Who’s they you ask? They is the Wi-Fi Alliance. They want to make buying Wi-Fi routers easier.
As you guessed, the higher Wi-Fi numbers; 4,5,6… the better. It corresponds to newer technology and ostensibly, faster performance. Not long ago the IEEE used the engineering documents to document the changes in local and wide area networks. Every time the protocol would change for the better they would change the lettering. You may know them as 802.11 a, b, n, & ac and if you pay close attention to tech, maybe even “ad, ax, & be”. Well, those naming conventions are now pase and Wi-Fi 4 through Wi-Fi 6 are de jour.
So if you know a bit about Wi-Fi routers you’ll know getting an 802.11ac protocol router is the default choice today and carries a Wi-Fi 5 rating. Some uninformed folks will continue to buy older 802.11n systems, which now have been renamed “Wi-Fi 4”. For your edification, 802.11 a, b and g devices are so old that they aren’t even included in the Wi-Fi Alliance’s numerical ratings.
Wi-Fi 5 won’t stay #1 for much longer. 802.11ax routers are starting to appear and they will be dubbed Wi-Fi 6. If you want the best, Wi-Fi 6 is the best you can get. Haas Entertainment will start testing Wi-Fi 6 routers for use in residential & commercial systems this month. (July 2019).
Higher Numbers, Better Performance
802.11ac is now called Wi-Fi 5. Afterwards the naming convention changes to “Wi-Fi 6“.
When you realize that so many devices nowadays all share the Wi-Fi space in your house you will understand why the renaming needed to take place. The improvements to the underlying protocol will not only boost performance but it will better accommodate the fast growing number of connected devices, from Sonos streaming music players to Microsoft Project Scarlet and every tablet, phone, laptop, thermostat and surveillance camera in-between. Wi-Fi 6 routers are backwards compatible with Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 4 devices but they obviously works best with Wi-Fi 6 equipment.
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