The latest generation of Wi-Fi, known as Wi-Fi 6, brings with it some significant performance improvements that aim to address limitations in older generations. While plenty of routers and clients are already available with chips using the 802.11ax certification, Wi-Fi 6 is just beginning its rollout. It will become part of the official IEEE specification in September 2020. This is ushering in a wave of updated devices touting new wireless capabilities that will contribute toward next-generation networks with more speed and less congestion.

Before we get too far, it's important to understand that 802.11ax, also known as "high-efficiency wireless," is the same thing as Wi-Fi 6. It's just easier to say Wi-Fi 6 than 802.11ax.

This is a new naming standard set by the Wi-Fi Alliance, with previous generations now being known as Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n). This labeling convention is expected to appear on devices as shown below.

Technically, Wi-Fi 6 has a single-user data rate that is 37% faster than the previous generation, but what's more significant is that the updated specification will offer four times the throughput per user in crowded environments, as well as better power efficiency which should translate to a boost in device battery life.

To achieve those improvements, Wi-Fi 6 implements a variety of changes including several multi-user technologies which have been borrowed from the cellular industry – namely MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple inputs, multiple outputs) and OFDMA (orthogonal frequency-division multiple access) – techniques that greatly improve capacity and performance by enabling more simultaneous connections and more thorough use of spectrum.

Home users who upgrade their hardware can look forward to some improvements from these technologies, especially over time as the number of devices per household increases – some estimates suggest there will be as many as 50 nodes per smart home by 2022.

While Wi-Fi 6 isn't designed to boost download speeds significantly, the new features will really shine as the device count in an area increases. It has a more nuanced approach that is expected to bring move benefits over time. This will ultimately aid in laying a foundation for the number of nodes expected on upcoming smart infrastructure. Along with addressing overlapping coverage from the sheer number of devices and network deployments emerging as IoT rolls out, Wi-Fi 6 will be equipped to handle the ever-increasing demand for faster multi-user data rates.

Overall, Wi-Fi 6 builds on 802.11ac with more than 50 updated features originally proposed, though not all of them are included in the finalized specification.

Here are some of Wi-Fi 6's main benefits:

• More overall bandwidth per user for Ultra-HD 4K and Virtual Reality streaming
• Support for more simultaneous streams of data with increased throughput
• More total spectrum (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, eventually bands in 1 GHz and 6 GHz)
• Said spectrum split into more channels to enable more routes for communication
• Packets contain more data and networks can handle different data streams at once
• Improved performance (as much as 4x) at the maximum range of an access point
• Better performance/robustness in outdoor and multi-path (cluttered) environments
• Ability to offload wireless traffic from cellular networks where reception is poor

Released in 2013, 802.11ac (now also known as Wi-Fi 5) was standardized in 2013. While this specification is largely adequate for today's typical home usage, it only uses bands in the 5GHz spectrum and lacks the level of multi-user technologies that will support a growing number of devices connected at once.