WiFi 6E is an upgrade of WiFi that supports a new 6GHz radio brand, which means faster peak connectivity and reduced airwave congestion. Of course, WiFi 6E still supports 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz legacy frequencies.
Qualcomm’s new branding for these WiFi chips is called the Immersive Home platform and has announced the Immersive Home 214, 216, 316, and 318 (product homepage).
The main difference between all these Immersive Home variations is the performance in terms of aggregated maximum bandwidth, going from 3Gbps for the Immersive Home 214 to 7.8Gbps for the Immersive Home 318.
In a home, you might have several to dozens of devices using the network simultaneously. Many people could be streaming high-resolution video, play games, or transfer files at the same time.
Generally, the heavier your usage is, the more devices you have and the higher performance you might need. No one device will saturate even the 3Gbps network, but simultaneous use might create hiccups.
6 GHz WiFi also opens the door to better WiFi Mesh Networks. We’ve explained what mesh networks were when we reviewed the Samsung Connect mesh router. Mesh networks are like having a single WiFi network, supported by several access points that all appear as one.
Mesh networks are very convenient because your device automatically connects to the best access point, and it is much easier to set up and operate for regular people.
The router can use the 6GHz frequency to let access points communicate among themselves while connecting your phones and computers use 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz. In that case, 6GHz would be an access point data super-highway.
In turn, users could sprinkle more mesh-WiFi access points in their homes to ensure a more consistent wireless network experience. Qualcomm describes this as the “densification” of the home wireless network and has demonstrated pocket-sized WiFi nodes that could even be connected directly to a power outlet – I love this idea.
Mesh WiFi was undoubtedly the essential WiFi update in the past decade, but the addition of WiFi 6E brings a significant boost.
Do not get too excited quite yet as products will only appear in early 2021. Companies like Xiaomi, Belkin, and Netgear have already signaled that they will use this platform.
We have looked at Netgear routers (like the AX Series) that use the previous generation of Qualcomm chips, and they performed exceptionally well. We cannot wait to see how WiFi 6E will behave in the real world.