WiFi 5 vs. WiFi 6: Which should you choose?

When purchasing a wireless router, smartphone or other device that relies on WiFi to connect to the Internet, you may encounter WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 standards. They are the two most common WiFi standards at present, and before spending money, you should know which one is better for you.

However, WiFi 7 will be released next year, and this new generation will be more than twice the speed of WiFi 6. But until then, let's dive into the main differences between WiFi 5 and WiFi 6.

What is WiFi 5?

WiFi 5 is the fifth generation WiFi wireless LAN standard. Its technical name is IEEE (i.e. the Association of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) standard 802.11ac, but WiFi 5 is more concise and easy to understand, so the Wi-Fi Alliance has renamed it retroactively.

WiFi 5 was released in 2013 and has a significant improvement over the IEEE standard 802.11n (or WiFi 4). Since then, WiFi 5 support has become very common in wireless devices and routers. WiFi 5 allows devices to transmit data on the 5 GHz wireless band, with theoretical speeds up to 3.5 Gbps, but under ideal conditions, it is more realistic to have actual speeds above 1 Gbps.

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WiFi 5 relies on many new and improved technologies to achieve its faster and more reliable speeds. It supports channels up to 160 MHz; it is multi-user, multi-input, multi-output (MU-MIMO); and can be beamformed in which WiFi signals are directed to a specific receiving device rather than radiating in all directions.

Nevertheless, as a product with a history of nearly ten years, WiFi 5 is still far from the most advanced wireless standards.

What is WiFi 6?

WiFi 6 or IEEE standard 802.11ax is the sixth generation WiFi, released in 2019. It is designed to provide faster speeds on multiple devices, especially in high-density environments such as offices, schools and cafes, if you have a lot of smart home devices and a few kids are using smartphones and tablets to surf the internet if you have a lot of smart home devices and a few kids are using smartphones and tablets to surf the internet , this is also very important.

While WiFi 6 is usually designed to improve WiFi efficiency, it does allow for faster connections. WiFi 5 has a theoretical maximum data rate of 3.5 Gbps, while WiFi 6 has a theoretical maximum data rate of 9.6 Gbps.

WiFi 6 uses the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless bands and is backward compatible with WiFi 5 and WiFi 4 devices. It also supports other improvements such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OMFDMA), where different devices are allocated their own channels for more efficient data transmission; Target Wake Time (TWT), allowing devices to automatically shut down when not in use WiFi connection to save battery power; and it supports WPA3 encryption for a more secure WiFi connection.

All in all, WiFi 6 allows more devices to get faster and more stable internet connections on the same LAN than WiFi 5.

What are WiFi 6E and WiFi 7?

WiFi 6E is an extended version of WiFi 6, which also uses the 6 GHz wireless band, which allows for faster speeds in a more limited range. It was released in 2021.

WiFi 7 or IEEE standard 802.11be will be released in 2024 to enable significantly faster wireless connectivity, with a theoretical maximum data throughput of 46 Gbps.

Which is better: WiFi 5 or WiFi 6?

WiFi 5 looks increasingly outdated now. While you can still buy a router that only supports WiFi 5, you won't be able to use nearly a decade of technological improvements.

While both WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 have improved over WiFi 6, neither has received widespread support. You can buy WiFi 6E routers now, and the first WiFi 7 routers have been released, but they are all very expensive and most devices don't support the new standards yet.

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Therefore, WiFi 6 is still the best choice for most people. WiFi 6 devices are affordable, widely available, and may be supported in the coming years. Therefore, if you are buying a router, it is best to keep an eye on the WiFi 6 logo.

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