The 802.11ac handset records 278.5 Mbps speeds

Oct 2, 2014 12:18 GMT  ·  By

A video comparing the Wi-Fi speeds of the 802.11ac iPhone 6 Plus and the 802.11n iPhone 5s has emerged on YouTube. In case anyone needed an extra reason to upgrade.

Supporting 5G speeds, the iPhone 6 generation is the fastest yet, as far as wireless connectivity is concerned.

According to Apple, “iPhone 6 supports more advanced wireless technologies to boost performance and help you connect to the things — and people — that matter most [...] With new support for 802.11ac, you’ll experience up to 3x faster Wi‑Fi than with 802.11n,” the company states on the marketing pages of the iPhone 6.

Something that the clip embedded below seems to confirm.

The test

iClarified took an iPhone 6 Plus (the biggest and most powerful of the two iPhones launched earlier this month) and an iPhone 5s unit (the previous-generation iPhone and the first Apple smartphone to incorporate a Touch ID fingerprint sensor).

While the iPhone 6 has 802.11ac Wi-Fi (also known referred to as 5G), the iPhone 5s has the 802.11n standard, which is slower but by no means too slow.

Both test devices were restored to a stock iOS 8.0 IPSW and connected to the latest Apple AirPort Extreme wireless router placed just 1.5 meters (around 5 feet) away. The phones were connected via a 5GHz-only network, and they were left to download data separately so that they wouldn’t interfere.

The test was done using a custom app designed specifically for this video.

The results

Not surprisingly, the iPhone 6 Plus performed much better than the 5s did. It reached 278.5 Mbps, while the iPhone 5s just barely went beyond 101 Mbps. Which is almost in line with Apple’s advertising.

That doesn’t mean you’ll be experiencing these speeds all the time. Depending on signal strength, network limitations and other technical mumbo jumbo, your mileage will vary quite a lot.

Wi-Fi calls

Another thing worth noting about the iPhone 6 is that you can use it to initiate calls over Wi‑Fi using your number, whenever cellular reception is poor or unavailable altogether.

“And once you go out of range of your Wi‑Fi connection, your call can seamlessly transition to VoLTE. So when you’re going from your house to your car to your office, your call switches over without any interruption,” according to Apple.

Watch the embedded clip below (it’s less than a minute in length) and let us know what you think of it in the comments.