222 points
*

Most consumers are familiar with the 802.11 standards; however, this new sequential number rebranding is intended to simplify things. Previously, the naming design used the alphabet, starting with a to bto g and n, with each one representing the next generation. We’d expect z to be the last or fastest one, or until they have new names, but suddenly we’re on 802.11ac, which is faster than all previous versions, so it’s understandable that users would be a bit confused. Thus, starting from 802.11n, Wi-Fi will be referred to as Wi-Fi 4, 802.11ac as Wi-Fi 5, and 802.11ax as Wi-Fi 6.

—————

WiFi 6: higher data rates, increased capacity, enhanced performance in dense environments, and improved power efficiency. Operating on the same 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz band as Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6 is rated to support transfer speeds of up to 10 Gb/s, which ranges from four to ten times faster than the current standard.

—————

802.11ax utilizes OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), one of the big advancements with LTE technology.

TL;DR: less congestion in crowded networks and better speeds.

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99 points

Most consumers are familiar with the 802.11 standards

Lol, no. Not in any way.

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129 points
22 points
*

Might be true for people buying their own WiFi routers.

Which already isn’t most consumers, because most people use what their ISP gives them.

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-12 points
*

You’re kidding, right? Wireless G, N, AC, AX etc are commonly printed all over the boxes of routers and is the main way to talk about their speed and how new they are. Do you not buy your own router? It seems as common to me as 3G/4G/5G but for a different kind of wireless.

I wouldn’t expect my mom to know it, I would expect most people on Lemmy to know and most somewhat tech familiar people to know. Not deep into the specs, but knowing AC is faster than N.

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27 points

Most consumers don’t buy their own routers. The only time I’ve helped people buy routers in the last decade is to get one you could install a vpn on. Looking at the wireless standards never crossed our minds.

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8 points

They might be printed on there, but as long as it looks like it has wifi (pointy units or the wifi symbol on your phone), people will buy it.

802.11 isn’t anywhere near common knowledge. That’s why it was named WiFi and trademarked to begin with.

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65 points

Thanks homie for the whole official scoop on this.

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6 points

And it saves battery for mobile devices.

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97 points

WiFi 6

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12 points
*

This. WiFi version 6 - this is the latest version of WiFi.

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29 points

Except for WiFi 7

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11 points

And 6E

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5 points

Is Wi-Fi 7 final nowadays?

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2 points
*
Deleted by creator
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2 points

WiFi 24 is the highest.

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0 points

It’s right there… can’t he read?

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15 points

Who tf follows news about Wifi standards? I’m sure most people don’t even know what their router is capable of.

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8 points

Mine can be dropped off a roof and could probably kill a guy, or at least irritate him.

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1 point

Maybe it’s a ‘b’ who can say.

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86 points

You’re connected over WiFi 6.

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53 points

You are connected through wifi 6 , which means big brother can spy on you even faster (/s)

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18 points

Hey yo hey yo!!

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33 points

Your phone is bragging about supporting wifi6

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