The confusing alphabet soup of Wi-Fi versions got renamed. 802.11n became Wi-Fi 4, 802.11ac became Wi-Fi 5, and 802.11ax became Wi-Fi 6. Wi-Fi 7 is still in development so 6 is the best in-use version.
Technically 6E is the best in-use version for compatible devices. Same as WiFi 6 but adds the 6GHz spectrum that was recently unlocked by many regulatory agencies around the world. The 6GHz range is significantly less congested and would have better real-world performance in dense residential areas.
Edit: A few months ago I stumbled upon this site where the author goes quite in-depth about WiFi and does so in a way that is easy to understand. They debunk/corroborate claims and technologies advertised by manufacturers so it really helps demystify the process of selecting the right WiFi gear.
Usb could have been great, then they decided that with every minor version bump they needed to go back and fuck with the name of the previous version..
Like FFS just do 3(5gbps) 3.1(10gbps) 3.2(20gbps) etc or whatever the fucking difference even is between them all at this point.
6E is great, but basically nothing supports it. I got a 6E capable AP from Ubiquiti, and looking at my devices table, basically nothing has ever used the 6GHz radio. My house has a wide variety of devices, many new. The only thing that's used it is my MacBook
And then, because they can’t help themselves, they came out with 6E. Honestly I think all standards bodies (USB, HDMI, WiFi) just love making stupid sub-versions that make things even more confusing.
WiFi has literally gone the opposite of USB.
It used to be obvious what USB speeds were, whereas WiFi was 802.11b or whatever.
Now we have WiFi 5 or WiFi 6. And we have USB-C PD 10gbps with AltMode
USB has gotten more complicated and does way more now in more contexts. It charges laptops now, it carries multiplexed displayport signals, it does its own handshake and performs hardware level initialization protocols.
Meanwhile we've been wanting the same thing out of wifi since the start. Nothing's really changed, we just want it to go faster.
Fair point.
USB doing everything requires significantly more description of what a port can actually do.
I just wish the USB foundation didn't go with something that makes it difficult to find devices supporting specific features, and played directly into the marketing "upselling/shrinkflation" thing.
The ubs3.1, usb3.2, gen1, gen2, 10gbps etc. It's a LOT, and everything is very similar.
No, I'm thinking about the port. Which is what we are talking about. Usb-c, usb-pd, thunderbolt, etc, all use the same port. I can use the same cable in the same port for all of these.
I'm more confused now than before. I always knew what b, g, n and ac were, but now when people say Wifi 5 or Wifi 6 I don't know which of the standards it corresponds to.
Wait, what? How could they do that? The first standard was wifi a, I was there 3000 years ago! These guys have no respect for history!
/OldManYellsAtCloud
Edit: it seems that b and a both came in 1999. Oh well.
Ugh, yeah I still remember working at a school 20+ years ago trying to figure out why I couldn't connect to WiFi with a lab full of computers. Amazingly I feel like we're only just now at a point where WiFi is mature enough that a current system is basically the same experience as twisted pair.
I would add the potential for better range as well from a variety of improvements.
Newer WiFi standards can take advantage of multiple frequencies in a single link, which allows for fallback on the slower, but longer range, 2.4GHz networks. Beamforming has been available since at least WiFi 5 (802.11ac) and helps connection quality as well. The new 6GHz spectrum is uncongested and gives better performance in areas with high saturation of 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, such as apartments and highrises.
Range is definitely not better with 6. 6 has larger bandwidths, and is less congested right now because of all the IoT devices using 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands. This will change eventually. 2.4 still has the best range.
WiFi 7 (802.11be) has Multi-Link Operation (MLO) where it uses both 6 GHz, 5 GHz, and 2.4 GHz frequencies simultaneously to always maximize bandwidth at a given range.
It's a retroactive name just to keep the numbering scheme logical. It would be weird to start off giving the next version "1" so they added numbers to all of the old versions. 802.11n was renamed a full 15 years after it was released!
USB 3.1 Gen 1 is the same as USB 3.0. It's like they're trying to foster scam products. I would genuinely like to know how this bullshit naming scheme came into existence if anyone reading this happens to know.
Do you mean to say it's not perfectly logical that USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1, and USB 3.2 Gen 1 are all actually the same version? I wish I could travel back in time to the meeting where that was proposed and slap the person in the face until they realized the error of their ways.