The latest Wi-Fi generation, which is the Wi-Fi Alliance branding of the 802.11ax standard from the IEEE. Emerging in 2021, Wi-Fi 6 works more efficiently in crowded networks, and it uses the same channel bandwidths as Wi-Fi 5 but with more subdivisions. However, unlike Wi-Fi 5, which operates in only the 5 GHz frequency band, Wi-Fi 6 supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Earlier Wi-Fi devices can detect and bypass Wi-Fi 6 packets.
Wi-Fi 6 uses 1024QAM modulation (four times Wi-Fi 5's 256QAM) as well as two multiuser uplink and downlink transmission methods (MU-MIMO and OFDMA). Wi-Fi 6's theoretical maximum speed is 9.6 Gbps compared to 3.5 Gbps for Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac). In practice, download speeds are much lower than the maximum. See
MU-MIMO,
OFDMA and
QAM.
Whereas previous Wi-Fi standards support one uplink stream at a time from a client to an access point (AP), Wi-Fi 6 handles several users simultaneously.
Wi-Fi 6E (Wi-Fi 6 Extended)
Wi-Fi 6E includes the 6 GHz band, which adds 14 more channels. However, the higher frequency means shorter wavelengths and more difficulty passing through dense walls and floors. Wi-Fi 6E is also not backward compatible like Wi-Fi 6. 6E provides a faster transmission lane for 6E devices at both ends. See
802.11 versions and
Wi-Fi 7.