What Wi-Fi 6 brings to wireless networking and why it matters
Businesses who operate large facilities where thousands of devices connect daily will be keen to offer their customers, employees and partners the best in-building wireless coverage. You may have heard that the latest wireless standard known as Wi-Fi certified 6 was on the horizon and the improvements it would bring, however, it can cause confusion when comparisons to older Wi-Fi standards are made. Here we have summarised key reasons why your business should consider upgrading to a WiFi 6.
Wi-Fi 6 provides additional capacity to deliver greater network performance in locations where thousands of devices connect simultaneously. Although the previous standard allowed routers to communicate with multiple devices, this was only with one device at a time; Wi-Fi 6 is approximately 4 times more efficient as it streams to more devices at once at the same power levels. It also offers greater support & advanced connectivity in large-scale venues, conference halls, student accommodation, residential spaces, large business campuses, stadiums and transportation hubs.
Wi-Fi 6 helps you to make your building connectivity future-proof and be ready to support the next generation of gigabit-capable devices. Wi-Fi 6 was originally built in response to the growing number of devices now available, making it a solid choice for introducing use of multiple IoT devices & applications (smart surveillance cameras and sensors, switches, lightbulbs, door locks, thermostats and other equipment), Voice over Wi-Fi and unified communications, next-generation cloud-driven applications, virtual and augmented reality used in e-Learning and healthcare, all without negatively impacting your Wi-Fi speeds. Wi-Fi 6 is designed to make this all possible.
Wi-Fi 6 helps reduce energy consumption & improves the battery life of network connected devices: The new technology in Wi-Fi 6 allows devices to plan communications with a router, reducing the amount of time needed to power their antennas and search for signals. That means less drain on batteries and improved battery life in turn, including IoT devices. For smart buildings that have a myriad of devices connected to a network, this will be essential. Industry experts predict that there will be 25 billion connections on the Internet of Things by 2025, which is a lot of devices that need to be charged!
Wi-Fi 6 offers better security: WPA3 security provides better encryption and therefore better protection making it harder for hackers to crack passwords. It also makes some data less useful even if hackers manage to obtain it. Until now, recommendations for combating this situation have included using VPNs or not connecting at all. Wi-Fi 6 is a game changer for business spaces where Wi-Fi is crucial to user satisfaction. Undoubtedly, it will affect how tenants choose commercial buildings where bandwidth hungry technology is widely used.
Wi-Fi 6 increases network efficiency and lower latency for simultaneous users (meaning an increase in users won’t necessarily reduce the speed), allowing higher data rates with more data to be transferred at one time. Wi-Fi 6 extends Wi-Fi range and increases the robustness of outdoor networks.
Wi-Fi 6 is a wireless local area network (WLAN) technology designed to operate throughout a building, facility or other crowded public space. A site survey is recommended to fully realise the benefit of Wi-Fi 6 and it is essential to take into account several criteria: the Wi-Fi infrastructure and connecting terminals must be compatible with the 802.11ax standard, combined with a very high speed broadband connection. Moving from an aging network to Wi-Fi 6 typically requires a new access layer that can support added traffic and devices, new switches and other infrastructure. To be able to take advantage of Wi-Fi 6, your client equipment needs to be ready to support it, meaning it will be necessary to use routers, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other smart devices with Wi-Fi 6 certification. The beauty of Wi-Fi technology however is that you can upgrade your devices incrementally and have a mixed infrastructure online in your facility until Wi-Fi 6 becomes fully enabled.
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