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Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

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Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#31

Post by colanderman »

gonzo wrote: post #19
colanderman wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hm, I would expect 802.11-1997 to be 1. Is that 0? Or does it share a number with b, because they're the same technology? Or is it 1, and a and g share a number because they're the same technology? Or do a and b share a number because they were released simultaneously? (This is, of course, a Very Important Question.)

> Or does it share a number with b, because they're the same technology? 802.11b is part of 802.11-1999. 802.11-1997 describes the older Direct Spread (DS) and Frequency-Hopping (FS) standards in 2.4GHz. 802.11a and 802.11b were both ratified on 16 September 1999. 802.11g wasn't ratified until 12 June 2003. http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/Reports/802.11_Timelin...

Right, 802.11b extended DSSS used by 802.11-1997 for 1 and 2 Mbps through 5.5 and 11 Mbps rates. No other Wi-Fi standards used DSSS.

Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#32

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

mtgx wrote: post #4

802.11ax is 802.11n's true successor and I hope it will be adopted quickly by everyone. 802.11ac for the 5GHz band was a faux successor, in my opinion, as you couldn't use it in the same scenarios. It came with some higher performance, but with major compromises in reach for a typical home. Wi-Fi 6/802.11ax should last for a while, so I hope the Wi-Fi Alliance starts focusing on an actual long-range standard that's m…

5GHz is a godsend for anyone in a dense neighborhood, apartment building, etc. Range isn't the issue for arguably the majority of WiFi users, it's interference.

That's not to say that improvements to 2.4 aren't welcome; they are simply suitable for different applications.

Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#33

Post by forapurpose »

kbirkeland wrote: post #26
kalleboo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. There's only the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz split. And the problem with "long range" is that everyone who doesn't live in a detached suburban house now has massive noise on the 2.4 GHz band from their 20 neighbors so that everyone gets terrible speeds. The weaker penetration/range of 5 GHz solves that by right-sizing everyone's network. edit: researching the updates in 802.11ax, it looks like Wi-Fi 6 will bring th…

The larger problem with the 2.4 GHz ISM band is the lack of non-overlapping channels along with only one station being able to transmit at a time per channel (in pre 802.11ax). There are only three non-overlapping 20 MHz channels in the 2.4 GHz unlicensed spectrum, where 5 GHz spectrum has about 21 (although some require active radar avoidance).

> The larger problem with the 2.4 GHz ISM band is ... only one station being able to transmit at a time per channel

Is there any Wifi tech for which that isn't true, sans beam-shaping and other tech that effectively puts stations on different physical networks? How do 5 GHz technologies handle multiple simultaneous broadcasts on the same channel? How will 802.11ax do it? Signal processing?

My impression, based on only a little research, is that it's impossible with any tech. Even cell providers need CDMA, TDMA, etc. Maybe that understanding is out of date?

Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#34

Post by jessriedel »

dev_dull wrote: post #29

From Wikipedi: > Though the nominal data rate is just 37% higher than IEEE 802.11ac, the new amendment is expected to achieve a 4× increase to user throughput due to more efficient spectrum utilization. >IEEE 802.11ax is due to be publicly released sometime in 2019.[2] Devices were presented at CES 2018 that showed a top speed of 11 Gbit/s.[3] Sounds good but with limited practical value while broadband speeds stay s…

I suspect for most WiFi users, the overwhelming need is more reliable and fast establishment of connection. I waste vastly more time trying to deal with flaky connections, reconnection after wake from sleep, and network priority issues than I do waiting in the rare cases the WiFi is limiting thd data transfer rate (rather than the wired connection).

The timescales involved in making Wifi connections should be ms or less, not human-noticeable (order 10 sec).

Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#35

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

Obi_Juan_Kenobi wrote: post #32
mtgx wrote: post #4

802.11ax is 802.11n's true successor and I hope it will be adopted quickly by everyone. 802.11ac for the 5GHz band was a faux successor, in my opinion, as you couldn't use it in the same scenarios. It came with some higher performance, but with major compromises in reach for a typical home. Wi-Fi 6/802.11ax should last for a while, so I hope the Wi-Fi Alliance starts focusing on an actual long-range standard that's m…

5GHz is a godsend for anyone in a dense neighborhood, apartment building, etc. Range isn't the issue for arguably the majority of WiFi users, it's interference. That's not to say that improvements to 2.4 aren't welcome; they are simply suitable for different applications.

Yes, I don't know much about WiFi standards but I do know that when I updated from an 802.11n router to an 802.11ac one, range increased. I can connect from some rooms where I couldn't before. I live in an apartment building where my phone sees 19 networks right now.

Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#38

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

I have a quite long apartment with reception problems in some rooms, and was planning to buy a mesh system (like the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus or similar) to replace my aging range extender (which is stuck on 802.11n now that I have a 802.11ac router).

I'm more of a software guy, don't know that much about hardware and networking, so can any expert on these things give an opinion as to whether this is a bad moment to buy it? Would it be better to wait for 802.11ax/6 to arrive? When can we expect to find hardware (such as mesh kits) reliably supporting the new standard?

Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#39

Post by azinman2 »

schen57 wrote: post #37

Can someone explain what this means for consumers? Who benefits the most from this new release?

Ordinary people who go to buy a device can know what “version” a router or laptop/phone supports. It makes it much clearer when comparing two routers which supports newer technology rather than knowing the diff between .ac or .n

Re: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

#40

Post by kalleboo »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #30
garmaine wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WiMax?

WiMax is an LTE alternative designed by an IEEE 802 committee. It is designed for last mile delivery and also meets the requirements to be considered a 4G and 5G protocol. Although technically superior to LTE, phone companies (outside of Sprint, in the US at least) chose not to deploy it as it was not based on existing protocols (GSM and CDMA), even though that isn't an actual legitimate reason, as "true" LTE require…

WiMAX may have had technical potential in its standards (I am not equipped to evaluate that) but all the actual deployments of it were just worse than existing HSDPA networks. 10-20 Mbit WiMAX in the US got falsely branded by Sprint as "4G" which caused companies like T-Mobile and AT&T to also brand their faster HSDPA networks as "4G" which caused massive confusion in the the market (iPhones in the US will still show HSDPA networks as "4G"!! It's kind of insane)

I live in Asia and actually have a WiMAX plan still active (since it's grandfathered in on the only still remaining "really really unlimited" plan) but it always sucked in performance even when I got it, and since then they've refarmed half the spectrum. They sell "WiMAX 2" now, but that's just branding - it's just LTE.

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