What Is Wi-Fi 6?

Wi-Fi generation comparison

Generation	Standard	Year	Max speed	Bands
Wi-Fi 4	802.11n	2009	600 Mbps	2.4 / 5 GHz
Wi-Fi 5	802.11ac	2013	3.5 Gbps	5 GHz only
Wi-Fi 6	802.11ax	2019	9.6 Gbps	2.4 / 5 GHz
Wi-Fi 6E	802.11ax (6E)	2021	9.6 Gbps	2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz
Wi-Fi 7	802.11be	2024	46 Gbps	2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz

What actually changed from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6

OFDMA — the biggest real-world improvement

Wi-Fi 5 uses OFDM, which means the router talks to one device at a time within a given channel. Even when 20 devices are all waiting, the router has to serve them sequentially. This is fine when there's little traffic, but in a busy home or office, devices queue up and wait their turn.

Wi-Fi 6 introduces OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access), borrowed from 4G LTE. The router can now divide a channel into sub-channels and simultaneously serve multiple devices. In a home with 30 connected devices, this dramatically reduces the time each device waits — resulting in lower latency and better throughput for all devices simultaneously, not just one at a time.

MU-MIMO improvements

Wi-Fi 5 supports 4-stream MU-MIMO for downloads only. Wi-Fi 6 supports 8-stream MU-MIMO for both downloads and uploads, doubling the simultaneous spatial streams and adding upload efficiency that Wi-Fi 5 lacked entirely.

BSS Colouring — better performance in dense environments

When neighbouring Wi-Fi networks overlap, devices have traditionally been overly conservative about when to transmit — they back off any time they detect another network's signal, even if it's far away. BSS Colouring adds a "colour" identifier to each network's transmissions. Devices can now identify signals from other networks as low-priority and transmit through them rather than waiting. In apartment buildings, this makes a significant difference to real-world throughput.

Target Wake Time (TWT)

Wi-Fi 6 allows the router to schedule when battery-powered devices wake up to receive data. Instead of constantly polling for new packets, a smart doorbell or IoT sensor can sleep between scheduled wake times. This reduces battery drain by up to 7× on compatible devices — the reason Wi-Fi 6 is increasingly the standard for smart home devices.

1024-QAM modulation

Wi-Fi 6 uses 1024-QAM vs 256-QAM in Wi-Fi 5. This 25% increase in spectral efficiency means more data is packed into the same radio signal when signal quality is high (i.e. close to the router). Real-world throughput gain: approximately 20–25% at close range.

Wi-Fi 6E — the 6 GHz band

Wi-Fi 6E is identical to Wi-Fi 6 but adds access to the 6 GHz band. The 6 GHz band offers 1,200 MHz of additional, currently uncongested spectrum — compared to 500 MHz for the entire 5 GHz band. This means Wi-Fi 6E routers can run 160 MHz channels (for maximum speed) without overlapping with other networks.

Wi-Fi 6E requires both a Wi-Fi 6E router and a Wi-Fi 6E device. Supported devices include: iPhone 15 Pro and later, most flagship Android phones from 2022 onwards, and Intel Core 12th generation and later laptops. Older devices connect to the 5 GHz band on a Wi-Fi 6E router with no issues.

Should you upgrade to Wi-Fi 6?

Your situation	Recommendation	Expected benefit
Still on Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) router	Upgrade now	Large speed and reliability improvement
Wi-Fi 5 router, 1–3 devices, house	No urgent need	Minimal real-world difference
Wi-Fi 5 router, 10+ devices, apartment	Worth considering	OFDMA will reduce per-device latency noticeably
Dense apartment, severe congestion on 5 GHz	Upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E	Uncongested 6 GHz band removes neighbour interference
Replacing router for other reasons	Buy Wi-Fi 6 as minimum	Future-proof for the next 5–7 years

Wi-Fi 6 and older devices

Wi-Fi 6 routers are fully backwards compatible with all Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 devices. Older devices connect to a Wi-Fi 6 router using their native standard — they don't get Wi-Fi 6 features, but they don't stop working either. The Wi-Fi 6 improvements (OFDMA, TWT, BSS Colouring) apply between the router and Wi-Fi 6 capable clients only.