Only one year after the release of Wifi 6Wi-Fi 6E has arrived even more powerful to change the way you think and use wireless data. The latest wireless standard adds a new 6GHz transmission band while also unlocking a large number of high-performance data channels.
With a maximum theoretical speed of 3.6Gbps according to Qualcomm, Wi-Fi 6E can dramatically boost data delivery to new levels. Unfortunately, the latest wireless standard suffers from limited range.
What is Wi-Fi 6E?
Based on the 802.11ax specification from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Wi-Fi 6E 1.2 GHz opens the high-frequency spectrum from 5.925 to 7.125 GHz to transmit huge blocks of data. This makes it the biggest Wi-Fi addition since the original 802.11b device came out more than 20 years ago.
“This is a huge leap forward for Wi-Fi,” says Kevin Robinson, senior vice president of marketing for the Wi-Fi Alliance. “It pushes performance to the max and can help enable new uses.”
In addition to comprehensive online gaming and watching 8K videos more easily, Wi-Fi 6E can help prevent video conferencing from staring at frozen faces and open new horizons in telemedicine as well as augmented and virtual reality. (Meanwhile, Wi-Fi 7 devices won’t be available until late 2023 at the earliest.)
Wi-Fi 6 vs. Wi-Fi 6E
A look inside the Wi-Fi 6E’s specifications shows that there are several major performance updates. In addition to a low-latency design that will make gamers drool, Wi-Fi 6E can withstand interference better and adds more than 100 new data channels compared to Wi-Fi 6. In fact, seven 160MHz ultra-wide channels provide – Above 160MHz single-use Wi-Fi 6 channel.
While it matches Wi-Fi 6 with a total bandwidth of 9.6Gbps, WiFi-6e can help users frustrated with low throughput by spreading data over a wider spectrum using the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands now. Think of Wi-Fi 6E as a string of data: near the router, 6GHz peak performance will dominate, then it will automatically switch to 5GHz as you walk down the hallway and finally rely on 2.4GHz for long-range connections.
“Wi-Fi 6E will be very useful in areas where high-speed data is most important,” adds Robinson of the Wi-Fi Alliance. “It will provide additional performance.”
When will Wi-Fi 6E be readily available?
The wait for Wi-Fi 6E equipment will likely be much shorter than previous wireless data specifications. This is because some of it is already there. The first Wi-Fi 6E routers have already started to sell and we will start to see more Wi-Fi 6E routers and networking systems throughout 2022.
Then, Wi-Fi 7 is on the way. Details are still being worked out, but it will be based on 802.11be Extremely High Throughput Technology (EHT). This next-generation specification promises to reduce latency, while increasing available bandwidth and making sure everyone in the home has access to all the data they want.
But these changes are all in the development stages, and we don’t expect to see Wi-Fi 7 reach consumer products until 2024, making Wi-Fi 6E the biggest standard change to watch for in the coming years.
Wi-Fi 6E routers
On the router side of the 6e equation, there are chipsets available from Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm and others that will be used to create a new generation of routers. A quick look at our list of CES 2021 Guidelines It shows several Wi-Fi 6E routers on the horizon.
The first three products are the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000, the Linksys AXE8400 Network System, and the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500.
All are premium tri-band devices that will retail for between $450 for a conventional router and $1,200 for a three-piece mesh networking kit.
Wi-Fi 6E devices
on the receiving end, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra The phone has built-in Wi-Fi 6E. Others are expected to enter on their own throughout the year.
The good news is that the Wi-Fi Alliance has begun certifying new Wi-Fi 6E equipment that will not only work with existing systems but with a new generation of wireless equipment. By summer, look for hundreds of Wi-Fi 6E products, from routers, laptops, and tablets to phones and augmented reality headsets.
