What is Wi-Fi 6E and how fast is it?
Wi-Fi 6E
Wi-Fi 6E is the newest standard for Wi-Fi. It is an improvement of the existing Wi-Fi 6 also called Wi-Fi 802.11 ax. Wi-Fi 6E simply means Wi-Fi 6 extended. It has all the features as wi-fi 6 and some extra features as well.
How is Wi-Fi 6E better than wi-fi6? Well for a start, it uses an extended frequency area where wi-fi can operate. Wi-fi 6E is extended to use both 5GHz and 6 GHz frequency area, and of cause the old 2.4 GHz frequency for backward compatibility. With the increased frequency area, we also get less latency, higher transfer rates and better reduced battery consumption on wi-fi devices (Target wake time). When it comes to max speed, the theoretical max speed is the same as with Wi-fi 6 (9608 Mbit/s), but because of the extra frequency band there will be less interruptions and by that you will get an increased average speed on the new specification.
Wi-Fi Generations
| Generation | IEEE Standard |
Maximum Linkrate (Mbit/s) |
Adopted | Radio Frequency (GHz)[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wi‑Fi 7 | 802.11be | 40000 | 2024 | 2.4/5/6 |
| Wi‑Fi 6E | 802.11ax | 600 to 9608 | 2020 | 2.4/5/6 |
| Wi‑Fi 6 | 2019 | 2.4/5 | ||
| Wi‑Fi 5 | 802.11ac | 433 to 6933 | 2014 | 5 |
| Wi‑Fi 4 | 802.11n | 72 to 600 | 2008 | 2.4/5 |
| (Wi-Fi 3*) | 802.11g | 6 to 54 | 2003 | 2.4 |
| (Wi-Fi 2*) | 802.11a | 6 to 54 | 1999 | 5 |
| (Wi-Fi 1*) | 802.11b | 1 to 11 | 1999 | 2.4 |
| (Wi-Fi 0*) | 802.11 | 1 to 2 | 1997 | 2.4 |
| *: (Wi-Fi 0, 1, 2, 3, are unbranded common usage.[2][3]) | ||||
Wi-Fi 6E requirements
Like with all other new generation of wi-fi you will need a new router/access point that support the new standard. It is also requited that your wireless devices connecting, support the new standard of Wi-fi 6E. You can of cause still use your old devices, but they will not benefit from the new standard. If you phone, laptop, tablet or other devices you use on wi-fi, doesn’t support the new standard. There is no need to go and replace your router. The device will still use the same standard as before.
Conclusion on Wi-Fi 6E
With the extended 5-6 GHz frequency area, there is for sure, some great advantages in the new Wi-Fi standard. However, there is not yet many devices supporting this new technology. Not even the new iPhone 14 has support for Wi-fi 6E. Another thing to noticed, is that wi-fi 7 might be coming in 2024. With that being said, you might want to wait until there is more supported devices on the marked or simply wait until Wi-Fi 7 routers and devices will be available on the marked. If you want to check which wi-fi technology your current smartphone has support for, I can recommend the website GSMArena.
