The WiFi 6 Thread

[Dos_Box]

For all of you who attended the conf last week and watched the livestream you will have seen the fascinating Ruckus presentation kindly organised by Net-Ctrl on the new WiFi standard 802.11ax.

 

**This presentation will be going live on our YouTube channel and embedded here soon**

 

The first thing you will note is that the .ax standard has been named 'WiFi 6' by the WiFi Alliance in an effort to simplify how various standards (n, ac etc.) are differentiated as you can see by the pic below:

 

 

If you have watched this talk, you will be aware that the new standard will not be quite a 'plug-in-and-go' affair as as happened in previous generations of WiFi, with data rates surpassing 1Gbps you may find yourself having to invest in new network equipment to take best advantage of it.

The waters are also muddied somewhere by current .ax hardware being labelled as 'pre-ax' due to the standard not yet being ratified (It should be ratified later this year), and if any of you remember the 'pre-n' debacle, you will understand why it would probably be best to wait.

This thread is here to give you all an early place to post your questions, ideas and, for the first adopters, experiences to help us all with this huge step-up in wireless provision.

[mavhc]

Did it ever get to YouTube?

[discoveranother]

Hi all,

 

How does moving to wifi 6 affect current laptops for instance ? By that I mean, what hardware would need updating to work with wifi 6, is it all hardware in terms of switches, laptops for example that connect to the wireless ?

 

Also, if moving to wifi 6, is it backward compatible with older standards that current hardware i.e laptops etc have been using with wifi 5 ?

 

Thanks all

[supportman]

Hi all,

 

How does moving to wifi 6 affect current laptops for instance ? By that I mean, what hardware would need updating to work with wifi 6, is it all hardware in terms of switches, laptops for example that connect to the wireless ?

 

Also, if moving to wifi 6, is it backward compatible with older standards that current hardware i.e laptops etc have been using with wifi 5 ?

 

Thanks all

Just needs a new wifi card really, and yes backwards compatible.

[seustice]

Just needs a new wifi card really, and yes backwards compatible.

 

Watch out for drivers too, we found some needed updates.

[Dos_Box]

One thing I have found is that with legacy clients (g, n, ac) you may find their connection speed reduced as I found on my new home AC access point, where ac clients only connect at a max of 400Mbps as opposed to 800+ Mbps with the old ac one.

With a new PCIe XC card I'm connecting at about 1000Mbps max when demand is high (this rate will vary depending on the amount of network traffic you are generating). This is primarily down to the way ac handles other traffic and can be dependent on the AP used.

I found this page very informative as to the why - https://www.duckware.com/tech/wifi-in-the-us.html

[mavhc]

Note WiFi 6E (6GHz) won't be as great in uk as we've only allocated 1GHz not 2GHz of bandwidth to it

[RobD]

Note WiFi 6E (6GHz) won't be as great in uk as we've only allocated 1GHz not 2GHz of bandwidth to it

 

Do you mean the spectrum width? Still enough for plenty of 160mhz wide channels.

[mavhc]

Yes, the width of the band of frequencies.

 

Only 5 or so 160MHz channels rather than 10, so a US based site will say it's twice as good

[Norphy]

Yes, having less bandwidth in the 6GHz band is a bit of a bugger but it won’t hurt performance of Wifi 6e devices in this country unless you’re in an area with a lot of 6e access points. It certainly doesn’t make it ‘twice as good in the US’.

 

Even here, in a relatively densely populated area in SE London, I can only see half a dozen or so 5GHz networks mostly clustered on the same low channel. 6GHz networks aren’t going to be as good at penetrating walls as 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks, so there will be less noise

 

It’s also worth pointing out that we can use 160MHz channels on 5GHz but but the amount of devices that actually do are minuscule. I’m willing to bet that devices using 160MHz channels on WiFi 6 are going to be comparatively rare too.

[discoveranother]

Hi Guys,

 

So what is the overall consensus, upgrade to Wifi 6 or stay at Wifi 5 for now ?

 

I noticed that there was a mention that existing laptops etc would need new wireless cards. That just wouldn't be worth the time, effort and cost so is it really feasible to upgrade to Wifi 6. I'm just trying to figure out if existing hardware needs completely replacing i.e. laptops, switches in order to function with Wifi 6 Access Points or will there be a drop in performance if existing hardware is trying to connect to Wifi 6 Access Points ? I assume obviously any current switches would need replacing if they don't incorporate 802.11ax needed to work with Wifi 6 Access Points.

 

Thanks all

 

Thanks all

[atcoates]

As far as I'm aware wifi 6 is backwards compatible with all current kit so should work quite happily. If you get new hardware that's wifi 6 compatible then it will all work quite happily with that as well. We were due to replace 4 APs at one school so have gone for the Wifi six version and are also upgrading the switch at the same point. They can run Multi-Gigabit so may bring some benefits to current clients as well. Over the next few years as we replace more APs everything is in place ready to go.

These APs https://meraki.cisco.com/product/wi-fi/indoor-access-points/mr36/

This switch https://meraki.cisco.com/product/switches/stackable-access-switches/ms350-24x/

[mavhc]

Depends on the relative cost really, they're going to last longer, but cost more. Next year new laptops will be faster, so you'll have 5-10 years of faster speeds.

 

If Wifi 5 APs are much cheaper, then you can a) get more or b) replace them sooner

[Net-Ctrl]

I think it is worth you considering why you would be looking to upgrade.

 

Are you getting user complaints?

 

If it is down to coverage then it is perhaps better reviewing your current set-up - or - getting a wireless survey conducted on your site so you can confirm your blackspots, and put a plan in place to optimise your existing network.

 

If you're experiencing performance issues - this could also be down to your wifi design and set-up - so again worth reviewing what you currently have.

 

With WiFi 6 there are performance gains to be had - wifi is a shared medium so all users can benefit regardless of their tech. If you have a BYOD scheme I imagine you will already have WIFI 6 devices on your network, by upgrading these devices are served quicker freeing up capacity for those that aren't. If you don't have this in place, future laptop purchase may have WiFi 6 cards.

 

Price wise there doesn't tend to be a lot of difference between WIFI 5 and WiFI 6 - unless you're going back to the first iterations of AC a lot of which will be EOS now - and in most solutions both AP portfolios can work together seamlessly. If you need to add points you may as well go for WiFi 6, if possible, otherwise you would be investing in older technology and place these in your higher density areas where you will get more benefits. That also saves on a full replacement. Speak to your reseller about this and they can advise on your options available for compatibility.

 

Reg. switches most WiFi 6 APs need PoE+ to work at full capacity. Some will work with standard PoE, but you wont get full functionality. With Ruckus for example, in most cases you get lower transmit power and 2nd ethernet port will be disabled. Im sure it is a similar case with other providers but worth confirming.

 

If you don't currently have a reseller, or contact for surveys we can run surveys for you, if you have a Ruckus network we can also help there if at all needed.

[mikeprice]

Is wifi 6 the version that links to 5G and activated the microchip in the Vaccine?????

 

asking for a friend

 

 

 

 

 

 

actually - saying it because that is next

I have lived through

CRT VDUs cause miscarriages/cancer/blindness

mobile phones cause cancer/madness

digital mobile phones cause brain damage

the phone masts kill everyone who lives within x yards of them (where x is a number from0 to 'whereIlive'_

3G cause Brain damage and cooks the brain

No - wait 0 it's 4G that does that

now all the 5G stuff

and the link in the vaccine

 

 

so - I think - just don;t tell anyone about the upgrade that doesn;t need to know!!!!