5 Surprisingly Powerful Reasons to Upgrade to WiFi 6

The digital sphere has undergone unprecedented changes over the past two decades. Since the premiere of wireless routers, WiFi has enjoyed unprecedented popularity. Yet, we anticipate more pronounced advances in the wireless realm.

Over time, there have existed wide-ranging WiFi variants. The Wi-Fi Alliance, in a bid to eliminate confusion, is using a numerical sequence to rename past and present WiFi versions. Enter WiFi 5.

Understanding WiFi 5

Essentially, Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. Essentially, WiFi is a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) protocol that allows devices to communicate via a wireless connection.  There exist various types of WiFi, and they mainly vary with frequency and speed. 

For the ordinary internet user, Wi-Fi Alliance announced its plans to ditch its clunky branding of WiFi standards and stick to the new WiFi 4, WiFi 5, and WiFi 6 labels. 

This move encourages hardware manufacturers to adopt a simplified numbering version of their products, facilitated with newly designed logos.

Rolled out in 2013, WiFi 5 started off the exploration of 5 GHz WiFi networks among business entities. Wi-Fi is also known as IEEE 802.11ac, the fifth generation Wi-Fi standard. 

It builds on its predecessor 802.11n. Its benefits over 802.11n include a broader channel range (80 or 160 MHz) in the 5GHz band, higher-order modulation of up to 256-QAM, up to eight spatial streams, and Multi-User MIMO capability.

WiFi 5 is still more powerful than the preceding WiFi standards, however. It delivers wireless service at rates 100x better than Wireless-G devices and 6x better than Wireless-N devices. 

Having an older Wireless-G or Wireless-N router means sacrificing security and overall speed, a big hindrance to newer device capabilities. So, while you may decide to upgrade to WiFi 5, you may find that WiFi 6 offers greater benefits.

WiFi 6 Explained

WiFi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax) is the latest WiFi standard facilitating faster data transfers and higher-capacity wireless connectivity. Introduced in late 2019, WiFi 6 builds on WiFi 5’s performance by borrowing key techniques from 4G Long Term Evolution cellular radio technology. WiFi 6 offers the high-capacity connectivity required by the growing number of interconnected wireless devices.

Why Should You Upgrade to WiFi 6?

There’s no better time than now to upgrade from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6. Below are the 5 powerful reasons why:

Wi-Fi 6 Offers Faster Data Transfer Rates

Faster than WiFi 5, WiFi 6 uses higher-order modulation 1024-QAM compared to Wi-Fi 5’s 256-QAM. This modulation boosts data transmission speed and efficiency throughout the entire network. 

In addition, WiFi 6 offers improved signal encoding, which helps connected devices send more data in a single transmission. 

But, that’s not all: when compared to average internet speeds, WiFi provides a 1000% boost in speed, 5X more capacity, and a 40% increase in data throughput.

ZYXEL‘s flagship WAX6505 Wi-Fi 6 access points feature advanced smart antenna technology. It supports multi-gigabit connections, making it ideal for higher-density settings.

WiFi-Enabled Devices Enjoy Longer Battery Life with WiFi 6

Thanks to its new “target wake time” (TWT) feature, WiFi 6 supports longer battery life for wide-ranging WiFi-enabled devices. With the TWT feature, the connected device rests in sleep mode and only “wakes up” to receive incoming transmissions, thus extending device battery life.

WiFi 6 Supports New, Disruptive Technologies

Unlike WiFi 5, WiFi 6 supports disruptive devices such as smart 5G wireless-enabled cell phones, the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and autonomous driving systems.

Unlike WiFi 5, WiFi 6 Supports BSS Colouring to Mitigate Interference From Neighbouring Wireless Networks

Unlike WiFi5, WiFi 6 utilizes basic service set (BSS) colouring. BSS colouring codes traffic with various colours. It works to boost network efficiency by preventing and alleviating cochannel interferences between BSSs. BSS colouring allows BSSs to share the same channel, boosting channel capacity in the process.

WiFi 6 Provides Superior Transmission in Crowded Areas

In Singapore, WiFi signals suffer in crowded areas like malls, airports, schools, and enterprises with high wireless data connection requirements. WiFi 6 outperforms WiFi 5 in such settings. 

WiFi 6 outmatches WiFi 5 because it incorporates several technologies like 8-stream multi-user-multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA).  

Given the fast-paced technological advances and the growing number of WiFi-enabled devices, WiFi 6 is a must-have for better performance, faster data transfer speeds, better connectivity in crowded spaces, and longer battery life.

Seeking to adopt the latest, fastest, and most secure WiFi iteration? Contact us today to schedule your WiFi 6 rollout.