Understanding Wi-Fi Standards

If you work with figures, codes, and calculations on a constant basis, the last thing you probably want or need in your life is more numbers to puzzle over. So when you start examining your business network’s Wi-Fi capabilities, you may find yourself scratching your head over designations such as Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi6, Wi-Fi6, and 802.11. What do these standards mean for your network’s speed and effectiveness? Let’s take a basic look at the world of Wi-Fi standards.

First, let’s settle the confusion over different ways of saying the same thing. In the past, the Wi-fi Alliance would designate Wi-Fi’s technical standard as different “flavors” of 802.11. Every time the standard got upgraded, this number would gain a fresh initial (such as 802.11b, 802.11g, and so on). As you can imagine, the general public found this approach hard to follow, so 802.11 earned the nickname Wi-Fi 5 for the purposes of clearly indicating what standard a networking device used. For instance, Wi-Fi 6 is the same thing as 802.11ax.

If your system runs devices made in 2014 or later, they probably run Wi-Fi 5. If you bought a state-of-the-art router in 2019 or later, it may be running Wi-Fi 6. The main difference lies in data speeds, with Wi-Fi 6 proving almost twice as fast as Wi-Fi 5. That’s because Wi-Fi 5 sends bursts of data to one device at a time, while Wi-Fi 6 can send data to multiple devices simultaneously. If you seek more security, Wi-Fi 6 can offer that, too, because it uses the WPA3 standards instead of the older, more vulnerable WPA2.

If you’d like to improve your Wi-Fi performance, contact our Austin business IT support team at Gravity Systems. We’ll be happy to evaluate your network and provide any recommended upgrades!