When people talk about Wi-Fi 6, they talk about the higher data rates and blazing speed. Yes, theoretically, 802.11ax will achieve much higher connection rates (up to 9.6Gbps). However, Wi-Fi 6 promises to deliver much more than increased speeds. Below is a summary of the key benefits that most Wi-Fi 6 networks are expected to realize:
MU-MIMO has been expanded to allow for routers to talk with up to eight devices simultaneously
OFDMA will enable one transmission to provide data to multiple devices at once. This is accomplished by slicing the few big existing Wi-Fi channels into much smaller ones called Resource Units
1024-QAM allows for more data to be packed into each transmission for greater throughput and improving spectral efficiency
160MHz Channel Bandwidth combined with MU-OFDMA improves efficiency by (1)reducing packet airtime and (2) enabling packet transfer of different sizes from multiple clients simultaneously
Basic Service Sets such as Spatial Frequency Re-use allows for utilizing channels in a more coordinated and efficient manner
Additional 6GHz Spectrum for Wi-Fi 6E networks will make available an additional 1.2GHz of clear spectrum in certain regions
Target Wake Times (TWT) allow for scheduled check-in times to extend battery life for power constrained IoT devices
Managed and efficient use of the bandwidth will conserve power
Faster throughput and getting on/off the air faster will decrease the signal traffic and collisions
Improved bandwidth management will reduce the RF noise
Faster RF data rates will yield faster throughput
Efficient management of bandwidth in crowded areas (OFDMA…allowing the AP to talk to multiple STAs simultaneously)
Improved interference performance reduces latency
Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE)
Wi-Fi Enhanced Open Mode – Traffic encryption for open networks.