Wi-Fi 6: How Will 802.11ax Improve Wi-Fi
Technology is known to change and evolve at a rapid pace. What you may not know is that your Wi-Fi really hasn’t changed all that much since 2014, when 802.11ac (which is also known as Wi-Fi 5) entered the scene. In 2019, a new Wi-Fi standard called 802.11ax, or Wi-Fi 6, is entering the market, offering a variety of improvements.
Key Features to Expect from Wi-Fi 6
Wi-Fi 6 offers more efficient data management, which means you can expect significantly faster internet speeds. By expanding the amount of data transferred in radio waves and improving the internal technology that translates data, Wi-Fi 6 even improved speeds on a 2.4GHz network.
Wi-Fi 6 features “target wake time” (TWT), which improves the battery life of your smartphones, laptops and other connected devices. TWT allows your network access point to communicate with your device and put the Wi-Fi connection to sleep or wake up. When the Wi-Fi radio frequency spends more time in sleep mode, it conserves and extends your device’s battery life.
Since Wi-Fi 6 was designed to handle a higher number of devices and deliver more data to devices, latency drops significantly. This means you’ll have a better Internet connection even in super busy places like airports, stadiums and hotels.
Optim and Wi-Fi 6
Optim Managed Wi-Fi service offers tools that improve your home network, regardless of whether it’s using 802.11ac or 802.11ax. Optim offers automatic band steering, a tool that will be helpful when transitioning to Wi-Fi 6, which features additional bandwidth options beyond 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Automatic band steering takes the guess work out of which frequency band to connect your devices to.
Wi-Fi 6 is capable of handling more devices while maintaining fast Internet speeds. Optim’s easy to navigate dashboard takes the hassle out of managing all of your connected devices. It even helps to identify data hogs and unknown devices.
When to Expect Wi-Fi 6
Wi-Fi 6 certified routers and access points are currently available for purchase. The long anticipated launch of Wi-Fi 6 is expected late 2019
To learn more about the evolution of Wi-Fi standards and stay up-to-date on all things Wi-Fi 6, check out Actiontec’s Complete Guide to WiFi Networking.