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> But “Wi-Fi 6” means your device is still operating on the same old spectrum, so starting later this year, you’ll want to start looking for the label “Wi-Fi 6E
by ornornor 7y ago
> But “Wi-Fi 6” means your device is still operating on the same old spectrum, so starting later this year, you’ll want to start looking for the label “Wi-Fi 6E.” That stands for “Wi-Fi 6 extended into the 6GHz band.”
Why do we keep doing this?? It’s as if we’re trying as hard as we can to confuse consumers... “WiFi 6”? Yeah that’s not WiFi 6ghz, that’s 2.4 and 5. But “WiFi 6E” now that’s 6ghz.
- theandrewbailey 7y agoAt least they aren't renaming old standards like the USB-IF does.
- toast0 7y agoI think I had seen some references to which letters were now WiFi 4 and 5... But to your point, they haven't turned everything to WiFi 6-full speed (aka slow)
- Sir_Substance 7y agoAaah, fond memories. I was working at an electronics store back when "draft-N" was a thing. Good luck to everyone stuck explaining 6E to impatient 50-something fathers, my thoughts are with you.
- wmf 7y agoUltimately it won't have to be explained since equipment will just negotiate, but the flip side is that virtually no one will be using 6 GHz for the next ten years or so.
- tradertef 7y ago10 years? Are you crazy.. Article says equipment will be available later this year.
- wmf 7y agoBut you need a 6E AP and one or more 6E clients to actually use 6E and most people will just have one or the other.
- theandrewbailey 7y agoAvailability isn't usage. Most people don't get new routers every year.
- tradertef 7y agoFair enough but it is not going to take 10 years before people start using this spectrum.
- detaro 7y agoAnd most people replace their router every 5-10 years when the old one dies. And/or get whatever cheap box their ISP sends them.
- Sir_Substance 7y ago>Ultimately it won't have to be explained If there are two boxes on the shelf, one with "Wifi 6" written on it and the other "Wifi 6E", it will be someones personal hell to explain the difference between the two to a customer who is not technically minded enough to understand "6E is faster, but only if your other devices are also 6E", but is completely obsessed with making the absolute optimal decision about whether the extra $20 is worth it.
- ac29 7y agoBecause this is consumer branding, the vast majority of which couldnt tell you what frequency their WiFi devices use, or even what a radio frequency is. They can understand that Wifi 6 is newer than Wifi 5 and so on. Maybe 6E should have been called Wifi 7 or 6+, but that's a nitpick and just about anything is better than the 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/etc mess.
- fomine3 7y agoBut consumer still should know about radio frequency because available distance and bandwidth is very different.