What is WiFi 6E and what can you do with it?
Sometimes it seems like WiFi is just WiFi: you connect to it and you have internet. However, there is a difference between the different generations of WiFi. At the moment, the latest addition is WiFi 6E. Here’s what that means and what you can do with it.
6GHz frequency
It has been possible to use the 6GHz frequency in the Netherlands since this quarter. That’s the first time. Where many people at home can now choose between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz in WiFi connections, you will also be able to use 6 GHz in the future. You can achieve higher speeds with this, partly because no devices are connected to this frequency yet. Upcoming gadgets need high speeds and that’s where the 6GHz frequency comes in handy. This one is fast and stable.
For example, the 5GHz band cannot handle both an 8K television streaming and VR glasses. This makes the new band a savior. That is not only nice for the other bands because they cannot handle the latest gadgets: it also helps that there will soon be three choices in terms of connections, so that the gadgets can make more proportional use of WiFi.
Divide your tires
For example, it is advisable to have your smart home devices work on the 2.4 GHz band (they don’t need much), your smartphone and regular smart TV on 5 GHz and newer gadgets on 6 GHz. Who knows how much WiFi the Metaverse will need in the future: developments follow each other in rapid succession. For example, also in the field of online gaming. The more that happens in VR, in which the internet connection has to help create a completely different world where you are in the middle and also press buttons, the greater the demand for that 6GHz connection.
Now you may be wondering why we don’t just call it WiFi 6. That is sometimes done, but at the beginning of 2020 the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to go for WiFi 6E. The E shows that a device can work on WiFi 6, nothing more. Hopefully, more and more devices will be equipped with WiFi 6E support, because at CES we saw beautiful things pass by.
