Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6e: Which One Should Businesses Opt For?
Compared to Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 has several new features that improve wireless performance. Examine how it differs from its predecessor and the major benefits.
Although Wi-Fi 6 now accounts for the majority of sales of home Wi-Fi routers, a new wireless data standard is on the rise. The WiFi Alliance launched Wi-Fi 6e in 2020. Given the name, Wi-Fi 6e appears to be a little advancement over Wi-Fi 6. Perhaps you’re now wondering how the two stack up against each other. Find out the primary attributes that set the two apart.
If your company’s wireless infrastructure currently relies on 802.11ac as its wireless standard, you are probably considering upgrading soon. After all, that standard was released in 2013, and the world has changed significantly since then. 802.11 was introduced in 1997 and is the naming convention most of us have grown accustomed to. The IEEE recently changed the naming convention, so 802.11g is now known as Wi-Fi 3, 802.11n is Wi-Fi 4, and 802.11ac is Wi-Fi 5. That would mean Wi-Fi 6 is the next successor and precede Wi-Fi 7, right? Well, not quite. Wi-Fi 6 debuted in 2019, and then late last year, Wi-Fi 6e was released as a technical extension of the Wi-Fi 6 standard. So, what’s the difference, and if you’re upgrading, which standard should you embrace?
Know the Difference Between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e
Both have improved security
There is very little difference from a security point of view, as both standards have a lot in common. Both standards utilize WPA3, which was released in 2018. Remember that Wi-Fi 5 uses WPA2 by default, dating back to 2004. One distinguishing improvement of WPA3 over its predecessor is that it is far more impervious to dictionary attacks. For those who protect their wireless connections with a pre-shared key (PSK), WPA and WPA2 allow hackers to throw thousands of passwords from a pre-compiled list until they get a hit. Networks that used the minimum number of characters and didn’t follow basic practice complexity requirements were susceptible to attack.
WPA3 prevents this by replacing PSK authentication with a new technology called Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE). Unlike PSK, SAE doesn’t send the passphrase between Wi-Fi devices during the exchange, limiting each device to one password guess for each authentication cycle. This significantly expands the amount of time required for a dictionary attack. Of course, better technology is meaningless if you still insist on using passphrases such as “password123” or “qwerty.” For those currently using WPA2 Enterprise, WPA extends the length of the encryption key from 128 bits to 192 for greater security.
Another great feature of both standards is using something called Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE). Providing wireless access to unknown customers or guests has always been a challenge. Using PSK to encrypt the connection meant conveying the passphrase to them, which is never easy. However, while convenient, open access opens your wireless environment to man-in-the-middle attacks. Here, an attacker intercepts the four-way handshake process of an unencrypted connection to trick users into connecting to a rogue wireless router. Open wireless sessions are also susceptible to packet sniffing. OWE gives you the best of both worlds. It offers the convenience of an open wireless connection while still encrypting session traffic using a secret key that the end user doesn’t have to know.
Both offer better performance than Wi-Fi 5
Regarding speed, performance, and efficiency, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e offer significant improvements over Wi-Fi 5. For one thing, Wi-Fi 5 only supported 5 GHz, so devices that only supported 2.4 GHz had to connect using Wi-Fi 4. While 5 GHz offers greater bandwidth than 2.4 GHz, it services a smaller coverage area, so distant devices still require 2.4 GHz to connect. WiFi 6 and 6e support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, offering your client devices the flexibility to choose the better option. Some other ways Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6e are superior to Wi-Fi 5 include the following.
- Both have a maximum throughput of 9.6 GB versus only 3.5 for Wi-Fi 5.
- Both have Target Wake Time (TWT) capabilities that allow devices to determine when they will normally wake up to send and receive data. TWT reduces power consumption and expands the battery life of wireless devices.
- While Wi-Fi 5 only allows a single user per channel, the newer alternatives allow up to 30 users in a single channel.
- Both support up to 8 MU-MIMO beams simultaneously. Wi-Fi 5 only supports four, thus allowing for more devices to connect simultaneously.
In the end, more devices can connect to your access points with faster speeds and greater bandwidth, regardless of which standard you choose to upgrade to. So, what’s the point of Wi-Fi 6e then?
The big differentiator that only Wi-Fi 6e has
While both standards support 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, Wi-Fi 6e does one better. It’s the only wireless standard that supports the new 6 GHz frequency band. Thus, Wi-Fi 6e devices can operate within their exclusive area, bypassing the other two overutilized bands. This band allows them to operate without interference from noisy legacy devices that still rely on legacy protocols. Because Wi-Fi is limited to wireless devices, you don’t have to worry about interference from other devices, such as microwaves. Think of Wi-Fi 6e as the commuter or toll lane on the Interstate that offers a dedicated lane to bypass everyone else during rush hour. In this case, you only need a wireless client that supports Wi-Fi 6e.
The new 6GHz band was created for today’s wireless workloads. It offers 59 additional 20 MHz channels and 29 additional 40 MHz channels. The multi-gigabit low latency connections make it ideal for 4K and 8K streaming so that demanding visual sessions run optimally. While 6 GHz still can’t reach as far as 2.4 GHz, Wi-Fi 6e access points come equipped with three radios to accommodate all three frequencies, allowing distant devices to connect still using 2.4 GHz. While WiFi 6 supports WPA3 and OWE, these security protocols are mandated for all certified devices operating in the 6 GHz frequency, so minimum-security levels are guaranteed.
See More: 10 Best Mesh Network Routers
The one caveat
There is one small downside to Wi-Fi 6e, but it is only temporary. Although multiple WiFi 6e access points are available today, few clients support the new protocol that is still just months old. But that will change quickly, and since Wi-Fi 6e infrastructure devices are backward compatible with Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 5, and even older devices, you can support your current wireless fleet while preparing for the inevitable future ahead.
Conclusion
While upgrading your wireless infrastructure to the Wi-Fi 6 standard will offer you improved security and performance for your wireless environment, taking the full leap to Wi-Fi 6e, which offers 1,200 MHz of new spectrum, will maximize your upgrade intentions. The exclusivity of the 6 GHz frequency band and mandated security make Wi-Fi 6e the logical choice for anyone looking to transition from their current Wi-Fi 5 environments.
MORE ON WI-FI TECHNOLOGY
