Is 5G really invincible? The sixth generation of Wi-Fi disagrees

With the official commercialization of the fifth generation of mobile communication technology (5G), the situation of the fifth generation of Wi-Fi technology (802.11ac) is very embarrassing. In addition to no traffic charges, 5G has the qualifications to beat 802.11ac in terms of network speed, number of device connections and network latency. So, when 5G networks and 5G mobile phones become popular, how should Wi-Fi respond?

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The sixth generation of Wi-Fi technology is released

Since mobile communication technology can evolve from 4G to 5G, Wi-Fi naturally has the ability to evolve as well.

Well, the sixth generation of Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6, or 802.11ax) is already ready for 5G. Simply put, Wi-Fi 6 incorporates many key 5G technologies (such as MU-MIMO), and its theoretical peak speed can reach 9.5Gbps, which is at the same level as the theoretical peak speed of 5G.

At the same time, Wi-Fi 6 has a 4-fold increase in network bandwidth compared to the previous generation Wi-Fi 5, can connect more devices at the same time, expands coverage by 20%, reduces network latency to 20ms, supports the new security protocol WPA3, optimizes power consumption performance, and is also compatible with past Wi-Fi standards.

It should be noted that the Wi-Fi Alliance does not seem to have officially launched the Wi-Fi 6 certification. Although there are already many routers and terminal devices claiming to support the sixth generation of Wi-Fi (802.11ax-ready will be indicated in the parameters), only products with the Wi-Fi 6 certification label can ensure 100% performance, compatibility and complete functionality.

Complementary advantages with 5G

When the speeds of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 overlap, it does not mean that they will replace each other. The coordinated cooperation of these two wireless technologies is the greatest guarantee for the future mobile life experience.

The advantage of 5G is that as long as you are within the coverage of the 5G signal, you can connect to the Internet at ultra-high speed and low latency through the mobile network at any time.

However, due to the high spectrum, frequency band and frequency of 5G, the wall penetration ability of 5G signals is relatively weak. In environments such as indoors of densely populated buildings, closed elevators and basements, if there are no large number of micro base stations deployed by operators, it is likely to automatically slow down to the 4G network or even have no signal.

Wi-Fi 6 can cover every corner of the room through routers, repeaters and powerline cats, leaving no dead spots.

In addition, in terms of popularization speed and construction difficulty, 5G is much more difficult than Wi-Fi 6. For 5G, you first need to buy a 5G mobile phone, and you must be within the coverage of the operator's 5G base station. The bottleneck comes from the operator, and individuals cannot intervene.

To use Wi-Fi 6, you only need to purchase a terminal that supports the technology (mobile phone, laptop, etc.) and then purchase a router that supports Wi-Fi 6. This cost can be solved with personal ability.

Therefore, for a long time in the future, we may live a life using Wi-Fi 6 indoors and using 5G networks when going out. Both have great application potential and imagination space in many fields such as industrial production, Internet of Things, and intelligent driving, helping all walks of life to burst out new productivity.

Wi-Fi 6-enabled devices

Currently, the only mobile processors (SoC platforms) that support Wi-Fi 6 are Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, Snapdragon 730, and Kirin 990. However, Wi-Fi 6 is also an optional feature for these SoCs. For example, the Redmi K20 and Lenovo Z6 equipped with Snapdragon 730 do not support Wi-Fi 6. Among the flagship phones equipped with Snapdragon 855 and supporting Wi-Fi 6, only the Samsung Galaxy S10 series is available.

Therefore, if you want your future mobile phone to be able to connect to Wi-Fi at high speed, you need to carefully check the official website parameter list for descriptions of Wi-Fi performance.

Although mobile phones represented by Samsung Galaxy S10 already support Wi-Fi 6, its maximum transmission speed is only 1.2Gbps (153MB/s), which is far from the theoretical speed of Wi-Fi 6.

In fact, whether it is 5G or Wi-Fi 6, they have a process of slowly accelerating, and the hardware side needs to undergo several years of iterative upgrades before they can run at full speed.

However, even if the actual speed of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 is only 1Gbps in the early stage, it is enough to handle 4K, 8K streaming media and various high-intensity network application environments.

In the PC field, only a few models of wireless network cards support Wi-Fi 6, such as Intel Wireless AX200 series and Killer AX1650 "Killer" network cards. Currently, a very small number of high-end notebooks are equipped with AX200 wireless network cards, and Intel has also recommended Wi-Fi 6 as a feature of the 10th generation Core Ice Lake (optional for OEMs, not mandatory).

Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi 6 router, the most critical component in personal Wi-Fi 6 network deployment, is currently "contracted" by ROG and Netgear's top models, and the starting price of around 2,500 yuan is expensive.

Therefore, like 5G, the key to whether Wi-Fi 6 can be popularized is when the relevant routers can be priced at RMB 1,000. Only then can they be accepted by more ordinary consumers and further accelerate the popularization of terminal devices that support Wi-Fi 6 technology.