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Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax, promises to improve Wi-Fi, with faster speeds, better connections and more. Sounds good, does not it? So it's no surprise that we're starting to see bright new Wi-Fi 6 routers on shelves in time for back to school, Labor Day and holiday shopping. And we should expect to see the new routers heavily promoted in the coming months. But should you buy one?
An average 6-way Wi-Fi router costs between $ 100 and $ 150 more than a comparable Wi-Fi 5 router (802.11ac). You may be willing to pay this premium in the hope of overcoming the common frustrations of Wi-Fi, such as a weak connection due to the location (you are far from the router); a slow connection due to website traffic or the device; and total dead zones (now you are really too far from the router). But if Wi-Fi 6 can help solve some of these problems in public places such as airports, sports arenas and public transit stations, it will not bring immediate significant benefits to home users. Here's why:
Not all devices will work with Wi-Fi 6
No gadget or device trying to connect to a Wi-Fi router 6 will get any of the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 unless you have an 11ax chip. This means that your streaming devices, phones, tablets, wireless headsets, laptops, printers, voice assistants, and other smart home technologies, from smart lamps to smart thermostats, will need to have an 11MB chip. Wi-Fi 6. At present, there is only a handful of 11ax devices on the market, with the bulk of 11ax product shipments expected in a few years.
Wi-Fi 6 is extremely fast, but only if you have more than 50 connected devices
Wi-Fi 6 promises to reach speeds of up to 10,000 Mbps. It may sound very fast, but let's dissect it a bit. 10,000 Mbps is not the speed at which you reach your phone or laptop. This is the total amount of data that can be passed through the router on all devices connected to this router. To play a 4K high definition video, you only need 20 Mbps. So, even if you have four TVs simultaneously streaming 4K sports streaming at home, you only need 80 Mbps, far from the 10,000. Wi-Fi 6 promises to offer speeds up to 25% faster than those of Wi-Fi 5, which could represent up to 1 Gbps on a single mobile phone. For home users to see, they must be close enough to their router, at a distance of about 15 feet, without walls or furniture between them.
However, speed is not only influenced by distance; The number of devices connected to the home network could also have an impact. You may think that the fewer devices there are, the better, because it results in less Wi-Fi traffic. This is true in general. Wi-Fi 6 begins to be useful via Wi-Fi 5 when a home user has more than 50 connected devices. That's more than double the number of devices that the average Google Wifi user has (18) and 10 times more than the average household (5). Speed is definitely king when it comes to Wi-Fi, but with the current Wi-Fi 5, you have enough leeway for the future without having to invest an additional $ 100 to $ 150 in Wi-Fi. Fi 6.
The widespread adoption will take 3 years or more
Wi-Fi 6 is a new technology that is very expensive for companies making devices such as phones or other home devices. The additional costs and some obvious benefits for home users will likely slow down the industry to adopt Wi-Fi 6 chips. Not surprisingly, IDC's research indicates that adoption of Wi-Fi 6 by the general public will not take place until 2023.
As a person working in the Wi-Fi industry, I am excited about Wi-Fi 6 and its features. Yes, Wi-Fi 6 has the potential to improve speeds and more. But it's still early in the adoption phase and it's too early for consumers to see immediate improvements. Home Wi-Fi users and small businesses would benefit from waiting until the costs of Wi-Fi 6 decrease and more devices adopt compatible and necessary 11ax chips. At this point, we will see that some of the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 offer significant user benefits, at a reasonable price, for accessible adoption. In the meantime, you can get the most out of Wi-Fi 5 by wisely choosing the location of your router, using a mesh system and following Wi-Fi hygiene rules, as if you were using a router that automatically updates the latest software. .
Sanjay Noronha is the Product Manager for Google Wifi Connectivity at Google Nest. He has decades of experience in managing products and marketing high-performance products that combine hardware, software and UX to make users more productive.
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