Wi-Fi 6E: When will it arrive? What will be the impact?

Wi-Fi 6E: When is it coming?

New wireless spectrum recently dedicated to Wi-Fi allows for more channels and higher-density deployments, but devices that support it won't be widely deployed until 2020, according to an executive at Wi-Fi Networks.

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To further understand what Wi-Fi 6E is and how it differs from Wi-Fi 6, network solutions provider Extreme Networks introduced:

What are Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E?

Correll: The concept of Wi-Fi 6 already existed before, and Wi-Fi 6E appeared after that. In comparison, Wi-Fi 6 has enhanced features, such as user multi-input, multiple output (multi-user MIMO) capabilities.

The 6GHz spectrum is not the reason for the name Wi-Fi 6: it is the sixth generation of Wi-Fi. The bottom line is that we have just mastered 5G and are already working on 6G.

Why do we need Wi-Fi 6E vs. regular Wi-Fi 6?

Correll: The last time we had UNII-2 and UNII-2 extensions was 15 years ago, before smartphones. To be able to go to 1.2 GHz now is a pretty big leap.

With Wi-Fi 6E, we're not doubling the Wi-Fi space, we're quadrupling the available space. That's 3x, 4x, or 5x the spectrum, depending on where in the world you are. Plus, you don't have to worry about DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection), especially indoors.

When will Wi-Fi 6 come out?

Correll: It will certainly be on the fringe in the short term. The first products will probably come out by the end of this year, and they will be consumer grade. For the enterprise, products that support 6GHz will start to appear next year. You won't really start to see it until 2022.

Still, it’s a huge opportunity. The best thing about 6GHz versus CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) or 5G is that a lot of people would rather stick with Wi-Fi than have to migrate to another architecture.

Some people talk about 5G replacing Wi-Fi 6. Is this realistic?

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Correll: You can't actually put a SIM card in every device. But one of the main issues that comes up is data ownership, because the carrier will own your data, not you.

The fact that carriers are not necessarily willing to release the data to you if you want to use it for any kind of business analysis is also a dissuading fact.

There are too many reasons why Wi-Fi won’t go away. There’s also the huge question of how laptops, tablets, and IoT devices that used to only have Wi-Fi connectivity will work when Wi-Fi 6 and 5G-enabled devices come out.

There will be Wi-Fi-only or Wi-Fi and 5G devices, but 5G will not completely replace Wi-Fi. If you look at the 5G radio network backbone, Wi-Fi is a component of it. It's one big happy family. These technologies are designed to coexist.