With WiFi 5, the wireless connectivity it’s fast enough already; especially if we use the 5 GHz band, where there are channels with more bandwidth that allow you to enjoy a higher speed. With this standard, speeds of hundreds of Mbps can be reached without problem, as well as having a very low and stable latency if there are not many devices using the connection. And in the case that there are many, we can always opt for a router that has more antennas with several channels.
Between WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 there is no doubt
With WiFi 6 a lot of things have been improved. For starters, it offers lower power consumption, better performance when many devices are connected thanks to improvements in MU-MIMO, better compression with OFDMA to transmit more data on the same frequency, more efficient use of the spectrum with 1024QAM modulation, and the possibility of bringing all these improvements to the 2.4 GHz band. With all this, the theoretical maximum speed of WiFi 6 is 9.6 Gbps, compared to 3.5 of WiFi 5. In security too we have improvements thanks to WPA3, with better encryption and protection.
Thus, between choosing a router or repeater with WiFi 5 or WiFi 6 there is no question: go for one with WiFi 6. The problem is that just a year after the launch of this new standard came WiFi 6E. With it, WiFi 6 is further improved, offering a key improvement: the ability to use 6 GHz frequencies. This frequency supports even more channels up to 160 MHz in size. If we have a device compatible with the standard, it can use the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz at the same time to reach speeds of several gigabits without problem.
Therefore, if you want to get all the performance out of a 1 or 10 Gbps connection via WiFi, opting for the WiFi 6E and devices compatible with it may be a good option. However, WiFi 6 is the minimum improvement that we should look for when buying a new device, since that is where we will notice the most improvements in terms of speed, coverage and less network saturation.
The WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 are not worth it (so much)
And in case you had more questions, the IEEE is already working on the WiFi 7. The future standard will begin to be shown at conferences such as CES in 2022 next month, but its official launch is not expected until at least spring 2024. The standard, with a technical name 802.11be, will allow you to use channels up to 320 MHz through Carrier Aggregation, in addition to having up to 16 independent channels. With this, it is expected to be able to achieve speeds up to 30 Gbps, triple that with WiFi 6.
As we can see, it is increasingly difficult to introduce improvements in the WiFi standards. Given the current network use of wireless connectivity, with a normal WiFi 6 router we will have more than enough for the next few years, so do not worry if you do not buy something that has WiFi 6E today. For the WiFi 7 there are still two years and a half, and more to see commercial devices that make use of it. Therefore, look at WiFi 6 from now on as the minimum you have to demand from your new devices.