Since the dawn of Wi-Fi technology, we've commonly referred every new iteration of Wi-Fi to 802.11something, as in 802.11a, 802.11b, 80211ac, and so on. The numerical system is at best confusing, with letters sometimes not following an alphabetical scheme, thus making matters more complicated than need be when determining what Wi-Fi tech is the latest.
The Wi-Fi Alliance has set forth to clear up the confusion and announced that the upcoming version of Wi-Fi (802.11ax) will be known as … Wi-Fi 6. Previous iterations will retroactively be named Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 4 (802,11n) respectively.
“For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi users have had to sort through technical naming conventions to determine if their devices support the latest Wi-Fi,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance is excited to introduce Wi-Fi 6, and present a new naming scheme to help industry and Wi-Fi users easily understand the Wi-Fi generation supported by their device or connection.”
Additionally, Wi-Fi 6 will provide more capacity, greater coverage, and better performance. Wi-Fi 6 networks will also enable lower battery consumption in Wi-Fi 6 devices.
We think that's a lot simpler moving forward! Don't you agree? let us know in the comments!