Wi-Fi 6

Wi-Fi is the technology that lets phones, laptops and TVs get online without cables. A device in the room, the router, sends and receives radio waves for this purpose. This technology is revised every few years, and each revision gets a number. Wi-Fi 6 is the version that came onto the market in 2019. Its technical name is 802.11ax, but the simple number has become the standard way to refer to it. Its predecessor is retroactively called Wi-Fi 5, and its successor is Wi-Fi 7.

Why the number of devices became more important than speed

Earlier Wi-Fi generations were judged above all by how many megabits per second a single device could achieve. This race has lost significance. That’s because a typical home today no longer has just three wireless devices, but twenty or thirty. These include phones, laptops, TVs, speakers, security cameras and even light bulbs.

Older networks treat radio like a conversation at the dinner table: only one person speaks at a time, and everyone else waits. With three participants, this is barely noticeable. With thirty, noticeable delays arise, and video calls start to stutter. Wi-Fi 6 was designed specifically for this crowded environment.

A second point concerns battery-powered devices. Sensors, watches or cameras are meant to run for years without anyone having to change the battery. Wi-Fi 6 significantly reduces their power consumption. This makes the technology attractive even for small, cheap devices for which Wi-Fi previously wasn’t worthwhile.

How several devices transmit at the same time

The central innovation is called OFDMA. You can picture the radio channel as a truck shuttling between the router and a device. In the past, a separate truck would set off for each individual message, often nearly empty. With OFDMA, the router divides up the cargo space: one truck carries small packets for several devices at once. This doesn’t save speed, but rather trips—and thus waiting time.

A second method is called MU-MIMO. The router has multiple antennas and uses them to aim bundled radio beams at individual devices. This way it can serve up to eight receivers in parallel, instead of handling them one after another. In addition, there is Target Wake Time: the router tells a sensor exactly when it should wake up next. In the meantime, the device switches off its radio and saves power.

Range is frequently misunderstood. Wi-Fi 6 doesn’t transmit farther through walls than Wi-Fi 5, since the physical limits are the same. A special variant called Wi-Fi 6E additionally uses the 6-gigahertz band. There is more space there and less interference, though range tends to decrease, because higher frequencies penetrate walls less effectively.

How to recognize Wi-Fi 6 in stores and on the specs sheet

On packaging for routers, phones and laptops, the designation is now usually printed directly on it, often with a logo featuring a 6 inside a radio-wave symbol. Nearly all high-end phones of recent years support the technology, and routers supplied by internet providers now frequently support it as well. What matters here: both sides have to play along. A new router won’t speed up a six-year-old laptop.

Likewise, Wi-Fi 6 doesn’t make a slow internet connection fast. It only improves the link between the router and the device. Anyone with a plan offering 50 megabits per second won’t get more than that, even with the best router. The technology brings the greatest benefit where many people are transmitting close together: in schools, train stations, stadiums, office buildings and lecture halls.

In business news, Wi-Fi 6 mainly comes up in connection with chipmakers and network equipment providers, for instance when companies report their revenues from new radio modules. Since 2024, Wi-Fi 7, which uses even wider channels, has increasingly been marketed. However, Wi-Fi 6 will remain for years to come the standard actually running in most households.