<story><title>Wi-Fi 6 is designed to reduce congestion from devices</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/technology/personaltech/new-generation-wi-fi-home-network.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>ksec</author><text>Ok, a few things.&lt;p&gt;1. WiFi 6 only improves &amp;#x2F; reduce congestions when all devices on the network are WiFi 6 only. As soon as you have older WiFi devices, the difference becomes negligible to non-existence.&lt;p&gt;2. WiFi 6 only improves &amp;#x2F; reduce congestions when all devices on the network support WiFi 6 &lt;i&gt;OFDMA&lt;/i&gt;, which while being officially part of WiFi 6, it was not mandatory. And if you have one that doesn&amp;#x27;t support it or does not have a firmware updated to support it, read point 1.&lt;p&gt;3. WiFi 6&lt;i&gt;E&lt;/i&gt; will mandate all those optional features that were intentionally missed out on WiFi 6 due to all sort of technical, economical, political reasons. So in realty if you dont have all your devices as WiFi 6E, read point 1.&lt;p&gt;4. It is not clear whether 6Ghz support is mandated to be certified as WiFi 6E. On paper it seems to be the case, In practice most part of the world dont have 6Ghz spectrum ready. And I am not sure how FCC ( or similar ) clearance will work for a product that are already shipped on the market. Could we get new spectrum support via Firmware update? I am sure that is how US intends to deal with it since Intel are already shipping WiFi 6E product with label that support 6Ghz. I am just not sure if EU, UK, or other part of the world would allow or follow similar route. That has an implications on how fast WiFI 6E could launch worldwide.&lt;p&gt;5. Finally, there is only so much you can do with WiFi spec. If you have an extremely noisy environment nothing could really help. In an ultra packed City like HK, I could detect at least a dozen AP at any given time.</text></comment>
<story><title>Wi-Fi 6 is designed to reduce congestion from devices</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/technology/personaltech/new-generation-wi-fi-home-network.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>t0mbstone</author><text>I have a Ubiquiti Unifi UAP‑AC‑HD wifi access point for my home. It&amp;#x27;s not WiFi 6, but it can handle 500+ concurrent users while delivering 800 Mbps on 2.4 ghz and 1733 Mbps on 5 ghz.&lt;p&gt;All in all, I have around 70 wifi devices in my apartment. That might sound like a lot of devices (it is), but I&amp;#x27;m a nerd and I like to tinker with lots of smart home stuff and I also have a lot of computers and gadgets.&lt;p&gt;Also, because I live in an apartment complex, there is a ton of WiFi noise from other neighbors. There are around 20 different WiFi networks within range.&lt;p&gt;I went through multiple WiFi routers (including high end $300 ones), but I was rarely able to get over 100 Mbps.&lt;p&gt;When I upgraded the Unifi UAP‑AC‑HD, it was like flipping a light switch. All of my wifi problems went away, and I was able to get 300-400 Mbps in pretty much every room.&lt;p&gt;I get that WiFi 6 is great and all, but at this point, I&amp;#x27;m not really sure what I would be gaining by upgrading. The UAP‑AC‑HD is on the high end of the previous generation, and at least for now, it&amp;#x27;s good enough for me.</text></comment>