802.11ax (WiFi 6) standard and the upgrade process.

WiFi 6 is the most recent wireless standard in the market. Companies looking to upgrade their existing technology should consider implementing WiFi 6 as it'll future-proof their network.

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WiFi 6, also known as the 802.11ax standard, offers significant improvements in wireless networking over the previous standards. Although it provides backward compatibility, it also introduces substantial improvements and new technological breakthroughs that make it the most advanced standard thus far.  With WiFi 6 enabled devices, you’ll get faster wireless speeds, increased capacity, and improved reliability for business WiFi installations.

In the era where businesses are looking for WiFi installation services companies to help them migrate to the new standard, you must work with a wireless expert company that understands the WiFi solution and its integration in the existing network infrastructure.

You should also read our article about WiFi Spectrum Analysis.

Now that 802.11 ax is standardized, companies have begun to consider the upgrade process, either because of the typical technical life cycle, to address pressing WiFi connectivity issues, or to jump on the new technology to take advantage of the latest and greatest. To truly take advantage of the WiFi 6 technology and all of its benefits, you need a WiFi 6 capable network; this includes access points, WiFi clients, and the network infrastructure.

Think about it, WiFi 6 gives us a more consistent and dependable network that will deliver speeds up to four times faster than 802.11 ac Wave 2 with four times the capacity. It provides a seamless experience for clients using next-generation applications such as 4K/8K streaming HD, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) video, and better capacity for high-density environments such as hospitals and universities, lecture halls, malls, and stadiums.

As you can see, WiFi 6 requires business WiFi installation companies to be true WiFi experts in designing and developing a solution that offers reliable service and integration to the network infrastructure.

The most significant benefits you can experience when using WiFi 6 are:

  • Higher Capacity: WiFi 6 communicates in parallel with devices.
  • Improved Power Efficiency: Using target wake time, client devices that support eh WiFi 6 standard may consume two-thirds less power, making it ideal for IoT devices.
  • Increased speed: Theoretically, you can get up to four times throughput or about 3.5 Gbps.
  • Improved Security: Supporting WPA3, it offers enhanced security for open WiFi networks with encryption of unauthenticated traffic, robust password protection against brute force dictionary attacks.
  • Spectral Efficiency: it relates to using the bandwidth more effectively. Up until 802.11 ac standard, only one client could transmit at a time; 802.11 ax allows multiple user access, which means that bandwidth can be simultaneously shared between clients.
  • Spatial Reuse: it offers the ability to allow devices to transmit even when they detect other devices transmitting simultaneously. This is a significant improvement over the CSMA/CA protocol that set WiFi communication standards for years. The main goal of 11ax is to increase network efficiency, and it found it by increasing frequency reuse between BSS’s, thus allowing multiple clients to transmit at the same time.

Now that you know the benefits of the technology itself, you have to consider how it will integrate with the rest of the IT infrastructure.  After all, to truly support the high data rates, network switches and cabling infrastructure should support connection speeds of over 1Gbps.

Companies are taking a progressive approach as they migrate to WiFi 6 by:

  • Implementing WiFi 6 enabled access points to take advantage of the higher capacity, coverage, and reliability, even when client devices aren’t capable of taking full advantage of it.
  • Plan the Infrastructure upgrade in Phases; some decide to upgrade the edge switches and cabling infrastructure in specific areas such as lecture halls and upgrade other places at other times
  • Upgrade the client devices to WiFi-enabled units in the next hardware refreshment cycle.

The acceptance and implementation of the WiFi 6 technology become more accessible as the industry, businesses, and organizations embrace the technology. For some, it may be a long road. Still, to others, especially those in the middle of a hardware refreshment program or in the process of expanding or relocating, it’s the perfect opportunity to implement a solution to improve wireless connectivity.

We are WiFi experts providing business WiFi installation services. We provide WiFi assessment services, Spectrum Analysis, and deploy WiFi solutions from the leaders in the industry, including Cisco, Extreme Networks, Cisco Meraki, Cambium, Aruba, and UniFi.

Contact us at 888-580-4450 | www.jdtechsolutions.net | [email protected] for details about our WiFi services and solutions.

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