Understanding Wi-Fi 4/5/6/6E/7/8 (802.11 n/ac/ax/be/bn)

Wi-Fi speeds vs. broadband speeds: Wi-Fi speeds have lagged behind ever increasing Internet speeds. As a result, there has been a very rapid switch in Wi-Fi from Wi-Fi 4 [§9] 2.4 GHz 802.11n to Wi-Fi 5 [§10] 5 GHz 802.11ac, to Wi-Fi 6 [§11] 5 GHz 802.11ax, and now to Wi-Fi 6E [§12] 802.11ax extended into 6 GHz in an attempt to keep up. And now even the next generation Wi-Fi 7 [§13] is out.

Router Manufacturers' Marketing Hype: Don't be fooled by the marketing hype [§6] of router manufacturers advertising outrageously high aggregate (all Wi-Fi bands maximum speeds added together) Gbps wireless speeds like "11 Gbps", and for client devices that the industry does not yet make 4×4 MIMO client devices. What really matters is the realistic speed that YOUR Wi-Fi client devices [§3] can actually achieve today often that means a 2×2 MIMO limit, for a single Wi-Fi band.
The dirty little secret in the router industry is that virtually ALL routers of the same Wi-Fi generation have the SAME maximum PHY speed to YOUR 2×2 MIMO client device. And likely very similar throughput speeds when standing right next to the router. So the real differentiator is how the router performs 'at distance' for your devices DFS, MIMO, etc, at your location contention, interference, etc.

This paper was written to help everyone understand current Wi-Fi technology better, so that YOU can make educated Wi-Fi upgrade decisions -- because there is WAY too much hype [§6] out there especially about Wi-Fi speeds -- and router manufacturers are directly to blame.

So, let's dig in and learn more about Wi-Fi...

Read the full article at wiisfi.com