WiFi 6 is not suitable for individual users yet

5G has become a household name, but its new WiFi standard, Wi-Fi 6, may have better economic and technical prospects. WiFi 6, also known as 802.11ax, is better than previous Wi-Fi technologies. It is faster and comparable to 5G, has better connectivity, better signal coverage and stability, supports more users, and is cheaper than 5G base stations. In commercial scenarios such as factories, warehouses, and docks, WiFi 6 has obvious cost advantages and security attributes compared to 5G (data and devices are local), but for individual users, is it worth paying for WiFi 6?

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It sounds good to buy a good and cheap WiFi6 router and experience the 5G speed in home, office and commercial environments in advance. Many router manufacturers have already put WiFi6 routers on the shelves in the peak season of students returning to school. In the next few months, most router manufacturers will surely join the promotion of WiFi 6 routers. But for ordinary consumers, is it worth buying a WiFi 6 router now?

According to Amazon's price monitoring, the price of Wi-Fi 6 routers is on average $100 to $150 higher than similar Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) routers. Although Wi-Fi 6 may help solve some wireless network problems (such as signal coverage, connection stability, etc.) in public places such as airports, stadiums, and public transportation stations, it will not bring visible benefits to home users at present. The reasons are as follows:

Most current mobile devices cannot take advantage of Wi-Fi 6 routers

Any device connected to a Wi-Fi 6 router that does not have the latest 11ax chip will not be able to take advantage of Wi-Fi 6's performance, and the extra money you pay for WiFi6 technology will basically go down the drain. It will take a long time for various streaming devices, mobile phones, tablets, wireless headphones, laptops, printers, smart speakers, and other smart home technologies to be equipped with 11ax / Wi-Fi 6 chips. Currently, there are only a few 11ax devices on the market, but it is expected that the shipment of products that support 11ax will expand rapidly in the next few years.

Wi-Fi 6 is faster and has higher bandwidth, but only if you connect more than 50 devices

Wi-Fi 6 is expected to reach a speed of 10,000 Mbps (10GB/s, 10Gb/s). It sounds really fast, but you have to understand that this speed is only the LAN speed, and the speed you use on your mobile phone or laptop is mainly bottlenecked by the WAN speed of the cloud service or streaming content provider. In other words, except for data exchange within the LAN, the high bandwidth of WiFi 6 can't help you with Internet applications. However, the high bandwidth of WiFi 6 is very useful for multi-user and multi-device environments. For example, to play a streaming 4K HD video, you only need 20 Mbps bandwidth. Therefore, even if you have four TVs in your home playing 4K sports at the same time, you only need 80Mbps, which WiFi 5 can meet. However, if the number of users connected in your application scenario is as high as 50, then the bandwidth advantage of WiFi 6 will be reflected. However, the bandwidth data of WiFi 6 is only a theoretical value. For home users, in order to get a speed close to the theoretical value, they must be very close to the router, about 5 meters, and there must be no walls or furniture in the middle.

It will take 3 years or more to become popular

Wi-Fi 6 is a new technology that is currently very expensive for mobile phone or other device companies to purchase. Moreover, the increased cost and almost no obvious benefits for home users may slow the popularization of Wi-Fi 6 chips. IDC's research shows that mainstream adoption of Wi-Fi 6 will be completed before 2023, and the popularization stage will last up to three years.

For home Wi-Fi users and small businesses, they can hold off on purchasing Wi-Fi 6 routers until Wi-Fi 6 costs drop and more devices are compatible with 11ax chips. Currently, WiFi 5 router users can enhance Wi-Fi 5 signal coverage and connectivity through mesh systems and other methods.