The Internet is known as the most powerful creation in the 20th century. This creation is something we thoroughly enjoy and benefit from in this generation (the 21st century). Through the years, the internet is continuously evolving and progressing, in turn making many things possible. One of the best breakthroughs in the evolution of the internet was when wireless fidelity (WiFi) was invented.
In 1997, IEEE 802.11, which is commonly known as WiFi, became available to the public. Its basic specification during that time was only just two megabytes per second of data transfer wirelessly between two devices. And in that period, it was considered fast already—which is not the case today as it continues to evolve.
Fast forward to 2020, WiFi 6 was introduced to the public. Despite the fact that its purpose and how it works haven’t changed since its invention, the speed of WiFi today is way faster than it used to be.
With a whopping speed of up to 9.6 Gbps, WiFi routers are now able to communicate with more devices at the same time compared to before. The routers can also send data to multiple devices at the same broadcast. In reality, WiFi can be distinguished as the evolution of how the internet works.
But for common WiFi users, like most of us, what does WiFi 6 mean? How does it differ from previous WiFi versions released aside from its faster speed?
In this blog, allow us to share with you some of the features of WiFi 6 for a better understanding.
It Is Not Just About Speed
WiFi 6 improves its connection capabilities whereas multiple users are able to connect at the same time. But what does that mean? WiFi speed was created in order to respond to the growing number of demands from internet users relying on WiFi connections.
In today’s society, we heavily rely on the internet. It’s not just anymore for communication, education, and entertainment. Using WiFi, we now have tools, equipment, and gadgets at home that require the internet to work. And by using WiFi, we can easily use these things without LAN cables connected to the router to make them work. The communication between devices is much faster which makes them operate at the same time even if it’s just relying on a single internet router.
Better Communication
With WiFi 6, 4K UHD video conferencing is much more reliable without buffering or loss of connection due to stability issues. The idea is to have no more lags and glitches when you’re video conferencing even if there are other devices connected to the same router.
It makes the experience of communication using 4K UHD videos seamless. This way, it makes business meetings easier without delays. It would help businesses to close deals better and faster even a thousand miles apart.
Improves Battery Life Of Devices
Devices accessing the internet through WIFi 6 don’t require more power to keep antennas open to stay connected and have a signal. A feature known as “target wake-up time” (TWT) is what keeps the battery life of the device extended because it enables a WiFi access point to communicate when it needs to turn on and off the WiFi radio. This makes the device have more sleep time that conserves the battery consumption.
Better Security
WiFi now has a new protocol called WPA3—the biggest security update of the decade—which has stronger user authentication capabilities and better encryption tools. It offers robust data encryption and longer password protection which makes hackers have a hard time accessing your WiFi network illegally.
Better Performance in Congested Areas
WiFi opted to lag or be unstable when there are many open Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Imagine accessing WiFi, together with several other people, in a public space or establishment, it’s not easy to connect right? And even if you’re able to connect, accessing the internet would be so slow.
But with WiFi 6, it minimizes the interference of WiFi connection through the more focused use of beamforming. This sends signals in a more focused directly into the device rather than being consistently signal spread across the location.
It’s Just Getting Started
Since it’s just recently launched, WiFi 6 has more improvements to make, making your devices be more secure when connecting through WiFi. Furthermore, new devices and internet routers would be released as standard equipment on using the internet soon.
In our modern and fast-paced society, change is really a constant thing. However, the word ‘improvement’ is another that may qualify when we think of constant things in this world. Both are not tangible but give an impact on our lives. We can clearly see that in how we access the internet. Over the years, our access to the internet is changing, but at the same time, it is improving for the better, leading us to move forward.
