You're Going to Love These Five Techy Features of the Best Wi Fi Routers

Explore the new standard in connectivity. See what benefits the new WiFi 6 has to offer, and discover how your organization can take the best advantage of It.

If you want to take advantage of the latest tech available, you'll need to upgrade your router and devices. Over the next few years, you'll see hardware become integrated with the new 802.11 ax standard, but the routers are available right now.

Portland OR IT specialist Nick Hess from SureTec IT shares what you need to know.

1. Network Type

802.11ax, or WiFi 6, is the new network standard for routers. Introduced in 2019, it offers transfer speeds up to 11 Gbps, flooding channels with data to make them more efficient. Multiple devices can run simultaneously, performing a variety of different functions, without the worry of lag. There's also no VPN required for corporate employees to access their intranet system. Applications, files, and other internal information are readily available through a WiFi 6 network, unlike they were with 5G.

2. Band

WiFi 6 is fast -- faster, really, than we can actually make use of at the moment because another technology has still to catch up. Running at a base speed of 1.2 Gbps. this means dual-stream connection runs at 2.4Gbps and quad-stream at 4.8Gbps. Both are supreme improvements over 5G of old. This won't improve the time it takes to download information from the internet, but it will bump up your internal processes significantly.

3. Throughput

To take advantage of WiFi 6 in your home or business, you'll need to have a router capable of running it. The newest routers in the market, such as those offered by Cisco and Netgear, are necessary. It's also important to note that old devices -- ones that aren't built with WiFi 6 capabilities will still run as they did before, but they won't be improved by a new WiFi- 6 routers. To get the bigger effect, you'd have to update all your equipment with brand new versions.

4. Range

A WiFi 6 mesh system is key to making the most of the new WiFi 6 technology. Using a mesh system in place of a single router will allow you to place hardware units farther away from each other, giving you greater range and better connectivity from room to room.

5. MU-MIMO

Multi-user, Multiple Input, Multiple Output, or MU-MIMO, gets an upgrade in the new WiFi 6-ready routers. In previous versions, routers were able to communicate with as many as 4 devices at once. New routers up that number to eight. This means that instead of communicating through one device to the next, your router can now broadcast to as many as eight devices, simultaneously.

What you want to remember is that it's not a good idea to go out and buy all new hardware. It would be a good idea, however, when you begin replacing hardware that's becoming obsolete, that you choose WiFi-6 capable versions. You'll be seeing more and more of those in 2020.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes.