What’s the difference between WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E

You may just start to get familiar with WiFi 6 and consider replacing your old phone with the latest wifi 6 one. The WiFi Alliance announced a new WiFi standard, the WiFi 6E in 2020. Going by the terminology, WiFi 6E appears to be an incremental update to WiFi 6, but you are probably left wondering how WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E differ from each other.

WiFi 6 Technology

WiFi 6 is the next-generation standard in WiFi technology built in response to the growing number of devices in the world. If you own a VR device, multiple smart home devices, or simply have a large number of devices in your household, then a WiFi 6 router might be the best choice for you.

WiFi 6 uses both 1024-QAM to provide a signal packed with more data and a 160 MHz Channel to provide a wider channel to make your WiFi faster. This means you could enjoy a stutter-free VR or stunningly vivid 4K and even 8K streaming. More importantly, technologies like MU-MIMO and OFDMA generated from WiFi 6 provide up to 4x larger capacity and to handle more devices. With WiFi 6, you could easily throw house parties with a network built to handle all your guests and their devices.

What is WiFi 6E and how does it differ from WiFi 6E?

In fact, WiFi 6E is identical to WiFi 6 with an addition of “E”, which stands for “Extended” — as in an extended number of the usable wireless band, the 6 GHz band. So simply put, WiFi 6E means WiFi 6 extended to the 6 GHz band.

6 GHz is the new frequency band ranging from 5.925 GHz to 7.125 GHz, allowing up to 1,200 MHz of additional spectrum. Unlike the existing bands on which channels are currently crammed into the limited spectrum, the 6 GHz band exists without overlap or interference. Access to the 6 GHz frequency brings more bandwidth, faster speeds, and lower latency, opening up resources for future innovations like AR/VR, 8K streaming, and more.

How does WiFi 6E make a difference?

Unlike the crowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, the wide-open 6 GHz spectrum is occupied only by efficient WiFi 6 connections, removing frustrations currently caused by overcrowding on many WiFi networks. Channels on the newly opened 6 GHz band also wouldn’t overlap with each other, greatly reducing network congestion.

WiFi 6E allows for 7 additional 160 MHz channels that double bandwidth and throughput, enabling many more simultaneous transmissions at the highest possible speeds. This translates to you enjoying 8K movies, AR/VR gaming, and large file downloads—all without buffering.

WiFi 6E offers up to 1,200 MHz of additional spectrum for 6 GHz WiFi, fulfilling the needs of ever-increasing WiFi usage. The 1.2 GHz of the contiguous spectrum more than doubles the number of pathways currently available for sending and receiving data, dramatically increasing network capacity while reducing congestion.

WiFi 6E: Unlock the Full Potential of WiFi 6

Opening the 6 GHz band will change the game for WiFi 6. WiFi 6 brings about upgraded performance in network efficiency and capacity. Whereas the advantages of WiFi 6 are not fully realized while competing with transmission WiFi 5 (or other radios). The 6 GHz band is available only for WiFi 6 traffic, allowing WiFi 6 to meet its intended potential.