Launching a new Wi-Fi standard like Wi-fi 6E is extremely costly and complicated and leads to many new questions. Wireless performance is all about spectrum and making the most of what's available. For years, we have been limited to 40MHz wide channels with only the newest router fully embracing 80MHz and 160MHz channels.
Even with these advancements, in crowded areas, people still need to share bands which can lead to inconsistent performance. Wi-Fi 6E utilizes newly available spectrum at 6GHz to open up many more 160MHz channels than was possible at 5GHz. But for many people, this upgrade won't make a huge difference, at least not yet.
What is Wi-Fi 6E?
Wi-Fi 6E is Wi-Fi 6 extended to the 6GHz band. Simply put, Wi-Fi 6E is very nearly the same thing as Wi-Fi 6 with access to the greater open bandwidth available at 6GHz compared to 5GHz. With around 1,200MHz of space available on the 6GHz bands, there is plenty of room for up to seven 160MHz channels from routers. This means that even if you live in an area with a lot of Wi-Fi access points, there is still enough bandwidth to keep your connection fast and consistent — with no interference.
Standard Wi-Fi 6 operates on the same bands that were available to Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) devices. This includes one band at 2.4GHz and two at 5GHz. While the lower frequency 2.4GHz signal can travel farther without degrading, it has less available bandwidth, maxing out at 40MHz per channel. Even so, in the United States, there are only 11 available channels, so most people with neighbors will end up sharing. 5GHz bands help quite a bit, with many more channels available typically at 80MHz.
For a long time, this was sufficient even in an apartment building but as we continue to add more and more wireless devices to our homes, even these 5GHz bands are hitting the limit. Wi-Fi 6E with its greater number of channels available to 160MHz bands at 6GHz is adding a ton of capacity. While some high-end Wi-Fi 5 routers supported a 5GHz 160MHz channel, the limited bandwidth available made it less useful.
Is it faster than Wi-Fi 6?
For the most part, Wi-Fi 6E routers will have very similar top speed specs. The upcoming Netgear Nighthawk RAXE5000 (opens in new tab), for example, has the same 10.8Gbps top speed as the Wi-Fi 6 variant. The key here is that the Wi-Fi 6E version will be able to maintain those speeds more consistently even in a crowded area. For those looking to finally go fully wireless with their home networks, this can help you get closer than ever to the consistency we've come to expect from Ethernet.
It's worth keeping in mind that for many people, even Wi-Fi 5 offered speeds much faster than the average home internet connection and is mainly limited by available spectrum. Wi-Fi 6E routers paired with a capable Wi-Fi 6E device will be able to get very close to your optimal internet speeds even in a crowded area.
