Wi-Fi 6 is coming very soon. Why should you care?

Your house and smaller office probably runs very well on Wi-Fi 5.¹ In that case, don’t worry about replacing your routers any time soon.

A Look to the Future

Wi-Fi 6 is for more demanding uses:

1. Maximum speed should be 40% better than Wi-Fi 5 when comparing the speed of a single device on a Wi-Fi 6 vs. Wi-Fi 5 network.
2. Much better performance in crowded areas. I have some clients in densely packed office towers. Find channels and frequencies where neighbourhing businesses don’t interfere or “overshout” can be challenging. Wi-Fi 6 is 4 times better at avoiding this contention.
3. Better transmissions through concrete walls and solid objects. Previous W-Fi standards focused on the 5 GHz band for faster data transmissions, but signals have a harder time going through walls and concrete at the higher frequencies. Wi-Fi 6 will provide significant speed boosts for the 2.4GHz bands which are much better and penetrating solid objects.
4. Wi-Fi 6 will enable better battery life on smartphones, tablets and laptops. It will also help with other low power devices as part of the emerging “Internet of Things” (IOT).² It does this by telling your device when to go to sleep and for how long before getting the next transmission.
5. Fewer Wi-Fi access points to cover the same population. For very large indoor and outdoor spaces with lots of people like warehouses, parks, shopping centres, commercial districts in a city, stadiums and sports arena, concert halls, Wi-Fi 6 will be great. Instead of a wireless access point under Wi-Fi 5 being able to support 50-75 simultaneously connected devices, Wi-Fi 6 can support 250 or more. This is because Wi-Fi 6 is so much more efficient at packing data that each channel in Wi-Fi 5 can now be sub-divided into a large number of smaller channels in the new standard. That can mean 80% fewer access points to serve the same large groups of people.
6. Fantastic coverage in large open and outdoor spaces. A single Wi-Fi access point can now cover up to 800′. That’s an amazing range. Previously, an area like a park, outdoor industrial yard, or farm might have needed 16-18 access points, each with a network and power connection. Now that same area can be covered by a single access point.

The Future is Now

Atlas is pleased to announce it will be carrying 2 models of Wi-Fi 6 access points: an indoor only model with ranges up to 300′ and 250 concurrent users; and an outdoor model with ranges up to 800′ with 250 concurrent users. Both are cloud monitored and managed meaning that:

• Any loss of service is immediately reported to Atlas for analysis and resolution;
• Configuration and management of the device can be performed remotely without the need to go on-site or physically climb up to access the device.

For more information, reach out to us for more information.

1. Wi-Fi 5 is also known as the 802.11ac standard first released in 2014. Wi-Fi 6 is also known as 802.11ax. Perhaps this is why the industry is moving to a simple numbering system.
2. If you’re not familiar with IOT, it refers to the growing trend that everything–from home security systems and thermostats, to coffee makers and vacuum cleaners–will require a wireless network connection to operate in the future.