It means it is only 1/3 evil
That’s… Not how any of this works 🤔
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I’m surprised that you didn’t go into Roman numerals. VI
It’s wifi 6
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.
pre-numbering, it was almost like trying to decipher Sanskrit when going out to buy a router.
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 AltModeUSB 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.
You’re thinking of USB-C, not the USB standard. USB PD, Alternative Mode and Thunderbolt aren’t part of the USB spec.
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.
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.
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.
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
Most new devices support 6E at this point with the exception of low-cost phones/computers and IoT devices.
What speeds are you getting on your MacBook?
Smidge over 1.1Gbps peak, average probably around 900Mbps.
And that MacBook must get unparalleled speed and airtime
It’s the absolute best computer I’ve ever owned. Maxed out it’s ram and everything just flies
I got over a 1 gigabit download on my S23 Ultra and still couldn’t believe that 10 years ago 10 megabit on wifi was considered decent.
It’s funny that WiFi is alphabet soup as the other comment mentioned, they rebranded to a single, simple number…then chucked an E on the end.
I get how/why, but it’s just funny.
Do you know the horrors of USB naming?
https://wccftech.com/usb-naming-gets-even-worse-with-the-introduction-of-usb4-2-0-80-gbps-standard/
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.
3.1 gen 1 and gen 2 was when they really jumped the shark.
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WiFi in its current form will never be better than ethernet for backhaul applications as it is half-duplex. The benefits of the new spectrum are wider bands which makes the real-world speeds closer to the published speeds. Congested frequencies mean the bands must be more narrow, which lowers real-world bandwidth.
That is a wonderful website, very well written. Thanks for sharing.
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.
Just count them, that’s what I do. 1 is a, 2 is b, 3 is g, 4 is n, 5 is ac, 6 is ax.
Thanks, that actually a good idea.
I guess I did miss “a”, that was never something I saw on our older APs when I was a teen, only “b”
To be honest, when I deployed my first wifi network in 04, it was already a choice between b and g, the latter being faster but more expensive, so I don’t think a was used for a very long time.
You want to be really confused then? Because b is WiFi 1 and a is WiFi 2. Everything else you said is correct though.
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.
They also weren’t compatible with each other. That was fun.
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.
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.
Huh I had no idea, many thanks. I assume it’s backwards compatible?
Yes, as a general rule the device and access point will just connect at whatever the newest version they both understand is.
802.11b PCMCIA card from 2002? You bet!
Never heard about Wi-Fi 4. Always ‘n’ letter was advertised.
Wi-Fi 5 kinda associated with 5 GHz bandwidth, but can be also used on the 2.4 GHz.
802.11a was 5GHz long before Wi-Fi 5 was a phrase, and “Wi-Fi 5” as a phrase does not imply any particular frequency.
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!
I wished they’d tidy up the clusterfuck that’s USB versions. Especially in combination with thunderbolt. Holy…
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.
It was like a posthumous award
Show it for marketing. Not that this WiFi standard would matter much to most users, but if you show it there, you can still make them want it.
5
4
3
2
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D:
It’s Wi-Fi 6, a new version of the Wi-Fi standard which provides increased bandwidth and decreased latency.
I don’t know why it’s relevant to show it directly in the icon though.
6 is old news. 6e is where its at with 2.4, 5, and 6ghz support.
Even 6e is not the latest anymore. Wifi 7 is rolling out now
Wifi 7 is so hot right now.
It may be beneficial on some devices that requires low latency (like streaming to a VR device or remote gaming). I can see the difference in latency from wifi5 to wifi6 when remote gaming.
My device always shows the WiFi number. It’s nice to know since I live in an apartment building with shared wifi. The shared wifi is 4/5 and mine is 6 so I can see at a glance if I’m connected right.
I can’t imagine another reason it’d be useful though.
Seems like consistency with showing 4G/5G/etc… Nice to know if you’re on public WiFi.
Wifi 6, little bit poor signal, and password locked
This isn’t a wrong answers only post so lets make sure everyone is aware of Internet Protocol versions 4 and 6.
Most internet addies look like this 001.002.003.004
That’s IPv4, the current common standard. And were running out of addresses.
To fix this some systems are using IPv6 which adds two more numbers (and more bits per number) as well as a whole batch of protocol improvements.
I’m pretty sure that’s what the WiFi ⁶ enumerator is about.
…or maybe I’m wrong. All the interne6 suggests its the WiFi protocol version 6. Sorry.
c/confidentlyincorrect
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Not only are you correct, your description of ipv4 and ipv6 sounds like if 8 year old looked at the wikipedia page of ipv6 for five minutes, and was asked to explain it in-depth a month later. I’d recommend just deleting your comment, it’s awful in so many ways.
