WiFi 6 vs WiFi 5, which is more efficient?
WiFi 6 vs WiFi 5, which is more efficient?
The EPON OLT is a device serving as the endpoint for the service provider in a passive optical network. In other words, the Optical Line Terminal (OLT) manages the Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON). This technology offers multiple services thanks to its point-to-multipoint passive optical transmission.
1. What are WiFi 6 and WiFi 5?
WiFi is a WLAN technology based on IEEE 802.11. So, 802.11n is named WiFi 4. WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 also represent IEEE 802.ac and IEEE 802.ax separately. WiFi 6 is developed based on WiFi 5 and has better performance. Today, more and more WiFi 6 devices appear on the market. WiFi 6 will become common in the near future. But it is also a bit difficult for some industries to upgrade their product to support WiFi 6 due to current technical issues. Once the problem is solved, WiFi 6 will be present everywhere in our lives. Obviously, WiFi 6 is better than WiFi 5. In this post, we are going to introduce the aspects in which WiFi 6 is superior to WiFi 5.
1. Speed
Compared with WiFi 5, the highest transmission rate of WiFi 6 reaches 9,6Gbps, which is 3 times higher than the rate of WiFi 5. If we convert the 9,6Gbps to the download speed we always use, it is 1228,8MB/s or 1,2GB/s.
Remarks:
The speed we mention here is the speed at which you connect your device, like your phone or computer, to the router, not the actual speed of the Internet. WiFi 6 cannot greatly improve your Internet speed if your bandwidth speed is low. But WiFi 6 makes a difference in LAN transmission.
2. Frequency
When it comes to frequency, WiFi 5 only supports 5GHz, but WiFi 6 covers 2,4GHz and 5GHz. As we all know, WiFi signal coverage reduces with increasing frequency. Thus, 5GHz is faster than 2,4GHz but covers smaller areas. With the dual band of WiFi 6, you can cover larger areas with 2,4GHz and gain higher speed with 5GHz.
3. Efficiency and deadline
Compared with WiFi 5, the biggest change in WiFi 6 is the improvement in efficiency and reduction in delay. For 802.11 a/b/g/n, they adopt OFDM as the main transmission solution. However, WiFi 6 improves it to OFDMA, which can serve multiple users at the same time.
In addition, the spatial data stream of WiFi 6 is improved from 4 to 8 for WiFi 5, which suggests that WiFi 6 can support 8×8 MU-MIO at most. The average latency of WiFi 6 is 20ms, which is 10ms lower than that of WiFi 5. Therefore, the efficiency is greatly improved and the latency is reduced. The Internet can maintain stability even if more devices are connected to the router.
4.Safety
WiFi 6 adopts WPA 3. In 2018, the WiFi organization released the new generation of WPA 3 encryption protocol, which is upgraded from the previous WPA 2. The security of WPA 3 is improved, which can better prevent brute force attack.
5. Power consumption
WiFi 5 works in a mode where when the end device transmits data with the router, other devices wait to receive data out of order. On the other hand, WiFi 6 introduces the new TWT technology. This means that other devices enter sleep mode when one device is working, reducing power consumption and increasing the device's battery life.
3. Application of WiFi 6
1. Transport 4K/8K/VR videos and other broadband videos
As we mentioned above, WiFi 6 supports dual bands of 2,4GHz and 5GHz. The 5GHz band supports a bandwidth of 160MHz, and the highest access rate reaches 9,6Gbps. Additionally, there is relatively less interference for 5GHz. All these features make WiFi 6 more suitable for broadband video transmission.
2. Transmit low latency services like online gaming
Online games have high bandwidth and delay requirements. In general, the best access method for VR games is to use wireless networks. Wi-Fi 6 can provide a special signal channel for gaming. So the high efficiency and low latency of Wi-Fi 6 is ideal for games like VR games.
3. Smart home
There are more and more smart home devices, such as door locks or smart cameras, which significantly improve our living comfort. Today, many router developers produce and promote WiFi routers that support WiFi 6. For example, Huawei launched the WiFi 6 router family, and ELFCAM produced 5G CPEs with WiFi 6.
Remarks:
Your terminal devices, like your mobile phone, must also support WiFi 6. Then you can enjoy WiFi 6 services when you have the WiFi 6 router. For the moment, the chips of WiFi 6 routers are developing better than those of terminals . Most phones that only support WiFi 6 are 5G phones.
After the comparison, we know that the performance of WiFi 6 is better than WiFi 5. WiFi 6 enters our life, optimizing our Internet experience and bringing us more convenience.
