
Future enhancements such as Wi-Fi 6E will open up new chunks of spectrum for enhanced speed, but that's a year or so down the road.įor our test we'll be comparing four devices: two previous generation Wi-Fi 5 devices and two new Wi-Fi 6 systems. The newer standard focuses largely on optimizing existing technologies. While Wi-Fi 6 certainly offers faster speeds compared to previous generations, that's not necessarily its main goal. In less dense environments, Wi-Fi 6 allows for more simultaneous connections from each device to increase throughput. It also makes better use of the wireless spectrum to improve multi-device performance in crowded environments. TL DR: Wi-Fi 6 allows more bits to be sent with each transmission for improved speed. For a deep dive into the technology and each area of improvement, check out our Wi-Fi 6 Explained. It's great if you can get fast speeds close to the router, but if they drop off a cliff once you go into the next room, then what good is it? Those will be the three categories we will use to rate a system's performance.Īs with any major new release, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) brings a host of new features compared to Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). Transfer speed is the most obvious, but signal strength and network capacity are just as important.


When comparing the performance of a wireless network, there are a few key areas to measure. The goal here isn't to recommend a specific brand or system, but rather to see how the new technology and features stack up. We're starting to see more Wi-Fi 6 capable devices hit the market, so naturally, the big question is: should you upgrade? Today we are taking a look at how some of these systems perform compared to those from the previous generation.
