Meet the 6th Generation of WiFi
Wi-Fi 6 is designed to improve speed, increase efficiency and reduce congestion in heavy bandwidth usage scenarios
What is Wi-Fi 6? (as known as AX WiFi)
Wi-Fi 6 is the next generation standard in WiFi technology. Wi-Fi 6 also known as “AX WiFi" or "802.11ax WiFi” builds and improves on the current 802.11ac WiFi standard. Wi-Fi 6 was originally built in response to the growing number of devices in the world. If you own a VR device, multiple smart home devices, or simply have a large number of devices in your household, then a Wi-Fi 6 router might just be the best WiFi router for you. In this guide, we’ll go over Wi-Fi 6 routers and break down how they’re faster, increase efficiency, and are better at transferring data than previous generations.
Explosively Fast WiFi up to 9.6 Gbps
Ultra-Smooth Streaming
Wi-Fi 6 uses both 1024-QAM to provide a signal packed with more data (giving you more efficiency) and a 160 MHz Channel to provide a wider channel to make your WiFi faster. Experience stutter-free VR or enjoy stunningly vivid 4K and even 8K streaming.
4x More Capacity for More Devices
Ideal for Crowded Networks
Wi-Fi 6 uses 8x8 uplink/downlink, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, and BSS Color to provide up to 4x larger capacity and to handle more devices. Come home to a virtually flawless smart home experience or throw house parties with a network built to handle all your guests and their devices.
| PHY | Number of data subcarriers |
Coding rate | Bits/symbol | Time per OFDM symbol (0.4μs GI) |
1SS | 4SS | 8SS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 802.11ac | 234 (80 MHz) | × 5/6 | × log2(256) | ÷ 3.6 µs | = | 433.3 Mbps | 1.74 Gbps | NA |
| 802.11ax | 1960 (160 MHz) | × 5/6 | × log2(1024) | ÷ 13.6 µs | = | 1.2 Gbps | 4.8 Gbps | 9.6 Gbps |
Pack More Data
with 1024-QAM
25% faster than 256-QAM
With 1024-QAM, each symbol carries 10 bits rather than 8 bits, improving raw speeds by 25% compared to 802.11ac 256-QAM. Watch Netflix at home or live stream Twitch Broadcasts from your home computer – with 1024-QAM, streaming just got that much better.
| 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) | 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Data Subcarriers | 234 | 980 |
| Symbol Duration(μs) | 3.6 (3.2 symbol + 0.4 GI) | 13.6 (12.8 symbol + 0.8 GI) |
| Valid Data Subcarriers Rate | 65 | 72.05882 |
| Improvement | 1.108597 |
More Speed and
Greater Stability
4x Longer OFDM Symbol
OFDM is a symbol that transmits data. It divides its data among smaller sub carriers for more stability and wider coverage. AX WiFi uses a 4x longer OFDM symbol to create 4x more sub carriers. Because of this, Wi-Fi 6’s longer OFDM symbol provides increased coverage and makes it 11% faster. Enjoy rock solid coverage from your garage to the second story and get ultra-fast connections for all your smart home, mobile, gaming and desktop devices in between.
More Bandwidth on a Wider Channel
160 MHz Channel Width
Wi-Fi 6 expands the WiFi band from 80 MHz to 160 MHz, doubling the channel width and creating a faster connection from your router to the device. With Wi-Fi 6, you can enjoy 8K movies, large file downloads and uploads, and responsive smart home devices – all without buffering.
Increased Efficiency with OFDMA
Make Latency A Thing of The Past
The Wi-Fi 6 standard uses OFDMA for increased efficiency. Imagine your WiFi connection as a series of delivery trucks delivering data packets to your devices. With 802.11ac WiFi, each delivery truck or “packet” could only deliver one parcel to one device at a time. But with OFDMA, each truck can deliver multiple parcels to multiple devices simultaneously. This vast improvement in efficiency works for both uploads and downloads.
-
WaitingClient 2WaitingData Transmitted
802.11ac | without OFDMA
-
Client 1Client 2Client 3Data Transmitted
802.11ax | OFDMA
Connect to
More Devices Simultaneously
With 8 x 8 MU-MIMO
With traditional MU-MIMO, multiple users can access the router simultaneously without any noticeable decreases in bandwidth quality– up to a point. However, with 8 x 8 MU-MIMO, more than 8 streams are available for users to choose from. And whereas 802.11ac MU-MIMO only works for downloads, 8 x 8 MU-MIMO works with both uploads and downloads. This means that whether you’re streaming, downloading, torrenting, playing VR/AR, MMO’s or RPG’s; with Wi-Fi 6’s 8 streams, there’s more than enough bandwidth for everyone.
Minimize WiFi Conflicts with Your Neighbor
With Wi-Fi 6’s BSS Color
Interference from your neighbors' wireless networks can cause issues with your wireless signal. BSS (Base Service Station) Color, marks frames from neighboring networks so that your router can ignore them. If you’ve ever lived in an apartment or close to your neighbors, this means that your router just became that much more efficient – no extra work required.
Reduce Power Consumption
With Target Wake Time
Target Wake Time (TWT) allows devices to negotiate when and how often they will wake up to send or receive data, increasing device sleep time and substantially improving battery life for mobile and IoT devices.