14 DAY TRIAL // Wi-Fi 6 will soon expand to the 6 GHz spectrum with the introduction of Wi-Fi 6E, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced this week. Wi-Fi 6E is currently awaiting regulatory approval, with the first devices projected to adopt it later this year.
Wi-Fi 6E will obviously come with a series of benefits thanks to 6 GHz band support, including addressing the Wi-Fi spectrum shortage. It brings 14 additional 80 MHz channels and 7 additional 160 MHz channels, and it’s expected to make the debut on consumer access points and smartphones.
One rapidly growing industry that will benefit from the debut of 6 GHz is augmented reality.
“Industrial environments are also expected to see strong adoption from Wi-Fi 6E to deliver applications including machine analytics, remote maintenance, or virtual employee training. Wi-Fi 6E will utilize 6 GHz to deliver much anticipated augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) use cases for consumer, enterprise, and industrial environments,” the Wi-Fi Alliance explains.
US first to adopt Wi-Fi 6E
Industry experts believe that the United States will pioneer the adoption of Wi-Fi 6E, with Europe to lag behind at least in the first months of availability. However, thanks to reduced latency and increased data rates, some see Wi-Fi 6 with 6 GHz band support becoming a more viable alternative to 5G in a series of environments, including campus networks.
“It will bring increased capacity and better Wi-Fi performance for the highest quality experiences in homes and enterprises. The FCC’s pending decision to open up the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use in the United States is a crucial step in Wi-Fi technology’s evolution to further support widespread wireless device use,” Carlos Cordeiro, Senior Principal Engineer for Intel Corporation and Technical Advisor to the Wi-Fi Alliance Board of Directors, said.
Phones will undoubtedly be the first consumer devices to support Wi-Fi 6E, and expect the flagships launching in the next couple of years to come with such capabilities both in the US and in other large markets.