5G has been in the news for the last few years because of the revolutionary speed increases it offers cellular networks. Similar technological shifts are taking place with Wi-Fi 6 as well, but how do you take advantage of it? Believe it or not, just paying for faster internet may not actually help you see higher speeds on your wireless devices. Read on to see how you may be able to do some “spring cleaning” to get your dated home network up to speed.

Multi-Gigabit Capability

If you need devices to run at optimal speeds and be ready for future expansion, multi-gigabit capability becomes more important as technology moves forward. Most users have a 1Gbps connection, which delivers adequate performance for most users with simple devices on the network. But since the demand for Wi-Fi has increased, with more users in the home connecting more frequently from more devices simultaneously, new Wi-Fi standards are needed for your home network to perform at a much faster rate.

Connect More Devices at Once

As stated above, Wi-Fi 6 was developed to allow the network to function at total capacity even when numerous devices are connected. The new standard feature is called MU-MIMO, which stands for Multiple User - Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output. Think of how many devices your family uses each day - from computers, TVs streaming 4K video simultaneously from multiple rooms, several mobile devices per person, security cameras and devices, and whole-home control systems that manage your entire property. More and more WiFi-connected devices are moving into our homes and onto our networks, and that trend doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon. As a result, the old 1G connection has become a bottleneck to device performance in the home.

Increases Battery Life on Your Devices

No, really...using a feature called Target Wake Time. This feature allows the router to talk to each device and negotiate how long the device should be awake to receive and send data and how long between those times it should go to sleep. The router will only send data during awake times, drastically reducing unnecessary chatter on the network. As a side benefit, it improves the battery life for any Wi-Fi 6 device on the network.

Access Networks has a great video on WiFi 6 Access Points if you'd like to know more on how Wi-Fi 6 works in the home:

Check out speedtest.net to find out what speed you are getting at your devices. If you are experiencing slow connections at home, it may be a great time to spring clean your Wi-Fi. Contact BRAVAS DFW today so we can help you get the most out of your network.