What Is Wi-Fi 6—and Is It Really That Fast?

Have you heard of Wi-Fi 6? It’s the next generation of Wi-Fi, which has faster speeds than ever. While the current Wi-Fi 5 runs on 3.5 Gbps (gigabits per second), Wi-Fi 6’s speeds reach 9.6 Gbps. But the new Wi-Fi offers much more than a speed boost. The way it’s programmed makes it possible to run more devices at once without slowing or crashing your network.

But how? We dive into the ins and outs of Wi-Fi 6 so you can understand all that’s to come in home networking. If your Charlotte, NC house currently includes multiple smart devices, the internet upgrade will be especially beneficial to you.

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Is It Really Faster?

Although Wi-Fi 6’s maximum speed is 9.6 Gbps, it’s unlikely you’d ever reach or need that speed in the real world. The standard download speed in the US is 72 Mbps—less than 1 percent of Wi-Fi 6’s maximum speeds! But that 9.6 Gbps is valuable because it can be split across a whole network of smart devices. Your router can only communicate with so many gadgets at once, often causing the system to overload. The more in-demand your network is, the more it is going to slow down.

Wi-Fi 6 resists this problem by telling the router to send data to multiple devices in the same broadcast and lets Wi-Fi devices schedule check-ins with the router. Each device will then be more likely to maintain top speeds, even in a busy environment. If your home will often have one person streaming Hulu in the living room, another using multi-room wireless speakers, another video-chatting, and all smart gadgets turned on—every device will be checking in at once, preventing them from crashing or slowing.

How Can I Get Wi-Fi 6?

Unfortunately, to start using Wi-Fi 6, you’ll need all-new devices. But let’s be clear—this is not something you should run out to the store and buy a laptop for right this second. As new devices start coming out with Wi-Fi 6 by default, you’ll begin to accrue the new benefits as time passes. However, you will need a new router to support Wi-Fi 6. You won’t see any benefit connecting new devices to an old router. Wi-Fi 5 gadgets, on the other hand, will still perform better on Wi-Fi 6.

How Does it Work?

Wi-Fi 6 runs on a program called MU-MIMO, which stands for ‘multiple-user, multiple-input, multiple-output.’ MU-MIMO is already in modern routers, but Wi-Fi 6 updates it. Currently, it permits routers to communicate with four devices at a time. Wi-Fi 6 will allow new routers to communicate with up to eight. It also uses OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access), which helps one transmission to deliver data to multiple devices at once.

What Are Other Benefits?

Speeds and reliability aside, Wi-Fi 6 will improve your devices’ battery lives by enabling devices to plan out communications with a router. This reduces the amount of time they need to keep their antennas powered to transmit and search for signals. This feature is mostly advantageous for small sensors around the house or smart home devices that rest unused all day. Wi-Fi 6 also offers tighter security, with a new protocol called WPA3 that makes it harder for hackers to guess and crack passwords.

If you live in or near Charlotte, NC, and are interested in an improved home network or smart home technology, look to The Integrated Home! Give us a call at (704) 412-4040 or submit an online form here.