Are there specific industries or types of businesses that are particularly well-suited for WiFi 6 adoption?

[TusharPareek7]

Is there a specific industry or category of business that can benefit significantly from the adoption of WiFi 6 technology due to its distinctive capabilities and characteristics in the context of wireless network advancements? Please explain how WiFi 6 meets these industries' or enterprises' particular connection demands and problems, as well as the potential impact of WiFi 6 adoption on their operations, customer experiences, and competitive positioning.

 

[Tech9]

School assignment question?

 

[drinkingbird]

Is there a specific industry or category of business that can benefit significantly from the adoption of WiFi 6 technology due to its distinctive capabilities and characteristics in the context of wireless network advancements? Please explain how WiFi 6 meets these industries' or enterprises' particular connection demands and problems, as well as the potential impact of WiFi 6 adoption on their operations, customer experiences, and competitive positioning.

Tell your professor to stop using 10 year old questions and at least update to 6e or 7. Most corporations or industries are already on 6 if nothing else just due to EOL on wifi 5 hardware.

 

[TusharPareek7]

School assignment question?

Yes

 

[TusharPareek7]

Tell your professor to stop using 10 year old questions and at least update to 6e or 7. Most corporations or industries are already on 6 if nothing else just due to EOL on wifi 5 hardware.

Actually it is a topic of discussion. And discussions on 6e have already been held. I'd appreciate any suggestion and opinions on this topic.

 

[drinkingbird]

Actually it is a topic of discussion. And discussions on 6e have already been held. I'd appreciate any suggestion and opinions on this topic.

It isn't a relevant question, like I said the main benefit is simply replacing end of life gear that may not be getting security updates anymore.

5 years ago the answer would have been increased capacity and range. Now it's just "that's all that is available". Wifi6 is on its way to being obsolete at this point, probably in the last quarter of its lifecycle.

Any industry looking to upgrade for capacity or range reasons is looking at 6e or 7 at this point.

I guess you could make the point of WPA3/PMF support for increased security but with Wifi6 it can be pretty iffy, 6e and 7 solidify it.

Maybe it is a trick question and they're looking for you to make the counterpoint that investing in Wifi6 at this point would be a waste of money and time.

 

[L&LD]

There is no 'investing' in WiFi, ever. Buy at the lowest price possible, with the highest WiFi class available, from a known manufacturer and a proven model. Always. 'Always', if you're chasing the best bang for the buck, of course.

But, buying WiFi 6 is not a waste of time or money. It is the best thing to do while WiFi 7 is officially released (and I don't mean just the products, I mean certified, tested, and proven products).

I can easily see a new network using WiFi 6 or 6E for the next couple of years before the above happens.

Can a case be made for WiFi 6E and/or WiFi 7 (even pre-certified, today)? Sure. But that isn't the question, today. When value, reliability, and dependability are important, then older, proven, certified tech, is still a solid recommendation.

 

[Tech9]

Any industry looking to upgrade for capacity or range reasons is looking at 6e or 7 at this point.

What extra range I'm going to get with 6GHz Wi-Fi?

 

[drinkingbird]

What extra range I'm going to get with 6GHz Wi-Fi?

None, you'll get less range with 6ghz.

 

[coxhaus]

I am seeing shorter range on my Cisco WiFi-6 2x2 APs 802.11ax vs my old Cisco 4x4 AC APs but I am seeing higher close speeds. A lot of my wireless now is 802.11ax so it benefits me.
I don't think Cisco has a cheap 6E unit.

 

[sfx2000]

Is there a specific industry or category of business that can benefit significantly from the adoption of WiFi 6 technology due to its distinctive capabilities and characteristics in the context of wireless network advancements?

I would say that Hotels are the primary win - most places I've stayed are capacity impaired... and these are networks that can only do so much planning compared to enterprise...

The second would be other high density venues - e.g. clubs, sports, etc - as again, one can plan some level of capacity, and that will be very dynamic based on events and number of users at the event

Note that I don't include 6E into this discussion - while it has a lot of available spectrum, the number of clients out there that can support 6E and the additional cost with the extra radio - it really doesn't make sense...

In the small business/home networks - WiFi6 is an evolution - it actually doesn't add much over what WiFi5 offered up...

In WiFi - performance is always a hockey stick curve - closer to the AP, you might get promised data rates based on spatial streams and modulations, but get into the mid to long range, it's all down to physics - and it's band dependent there - next room over, WiFi5 and WiFi6 at 5GHz is going to be about the same for a given client radio...

 

[coxhaus]

In WiFi - performance is always a hockey stick curve - closer to the AP, you might get promised data rates based on spatial streams and modulations, but get into the mid to long range, it's all down to physics - and it's band dependent there - next room over, WiFi5 and WiFi6 at 5GHz is going to be about the same for a given client radio...

Not sure what limits there are but I am 28 feet away with higher performance using Wi-Fi6. To me it was an obvious difference using Windows 11 over Windows 10 switching to Wi-Fi6 with no walls in between.

Where my old Cisco WAP581 4x4 AC APs worked better were at the very edge of the AP limits. The WAP581 AC performed better at one of my inside Windows where the Wi-Fi6 AP fell short about 6 feet. I could not connect standing at the Window inside wife's sewing room. The iPhone would switch to cell.

I ended up adding a third AP to fix the issue inside my wife's sewing room. This made a world of difference on speed since she did not have go through any walls. It makes for a better setup to run more APs and travel through less walls. My wife spends a lot of her days in her sewing room as she is retired also.