The standard WiFi rename is much easier to remember, preparing to welcome WiFi 6

The WiFi Alliance, which develops and introduces wireless networking standards, is planning a simpler new name change for WiFi from 802.11ax next year.Accordingly, the new standard will be named WiFi 6, which in turn can be called out to old standards like this.

1. Wi-Fi 1: 802.11b (1999)
2. Wi-Fi 2: 802.11a (1999)
3. Wi-Fi 3: 802.11g (2003)
4. Wi-Fi 4: 802.11n (2009)
5. Wi-Fi 5: 802.11ac (2014)

Thanks to the new name, just by looking at it, ordinary users can understand immediately and know where the new standard is faster.

1. WiFi - 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n and 802.11ac standards

The current name uses the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to monitor the development of electronic standards.The standard is divided into groups, whereby IEEE 802 includes 802.11 internal and network standards including wireless LAN.

The 802.11 group is changed every year, the latest is 802.11-2016 and then the release of additional and modified versions.These modifications are named alphabetically and it is these modified names that are used to name WiFi technology standards.

For example, the standard 802.11-1997 was later modified to 802.11a (54Mbit / s on 5Ghz), 802.11b (11Mbit / s on 2.4Ghz) and 802.11g (54Mbit / s on 2.4Ghz) and respectively the devices was told to support 802.11a / b / g standards.Most of these letters are used to define new features.

802.11ax is a revised version of the 802.11-2016 standard, bringing higher speeds, consuming less battery with bandwidth from 2.4Ghz to 5Ghz.Currently 'draft' 802.11ax devices can support 1.1Gbit / s on 2.4Ghz and 4.8Gbit / s on 5Ghz, the demo machine can reach 11Gbit / s.This standard is expected to launch next year.

The icon mockup indicates the WiFi version is connected

Now instead of having to wonder if 'ac' or 'n' is better, or if the two versions are compatible, just look at the number.WiFi 5 is newer than WiFi 4, ie better.Because WiFi networks are always supportive, WiFi 5 devices can connect to WiFi devices 4.

The WiFi Alliance also says this new change is not just on hardware.They hope to be used on the operating system (not the package) to indicate the level of connectivity of the device.In the future, when connecting to a WiFi network, the device (phone, laptop .) will tell you which WiFi version you are connecting.

See more:

1. What is the newly announced WPA3 WiFi security protocol?
2. What is Beamforming Technology?How does it optimize WiFi networks?
3. What is MU-MIMO?Why should your next WiFi router have MU-MIMO?