Which capability was introduced by 802.11ac that no previous Wi-Fi standard could offer

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) develops official standards to enable wireless local area network (WLAN) devices to work together, regardless of which manufacturer made them.

These standards are driven by two factors:

• speed - getting data transmitted faster between PCs and access points
• security - making sure that the wireless capability is not abused

You need to be aware of both factors when choosing wireless networking equipment.

Current IEEE standards

At present, the IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g standards are widely accepted throughout the industry. 802.11a standard is uncommon in standard office systems and incompatible with any of the other standards.

802.11b standard supports operation up to 100 metres away in unobstructed areas, but it has limited security capability, particularly in older devices.

802.11g standardoffers greater speed and security and is available in most new equipment. If you are setting up your first WLAN, or upgrading an existing system, you should buy equipment that incorporates at least 802.11g standard. Using 802.11b and 802.11g devices together is possible, but if you do, you may find that your 802.11g equipment is less effective.

New generation of wireless standards

If you're in the market for new wireless networking equipment, it may be worth looking at the emerging IEEE standards to make sure you don't buy a wireless technology that quickly becomes obsolete. Some of the more recent standards include:

• IEEE 802.11i - an amendment to the original IEEE 802.11 standard that specifies security mechanisms for wireless networks.
• IEEE 802.11n - an amendment to the previous IEEE 802.11-2007 standard to improve wireless network throughput. 802.11n will offer the fastest maximum speed and best signal range, and be more resistant to signal interference from outside sources.
• IEEE 11ac - a newer standard that can potentially offer even faster throughput.

Find IEEE published standards.

A common strategy for many businesses is to set up 802.11g client devices - the local equipment - while gradually moving to 802.11n or 802.11ac as part of new equipment purchases. The 802.11n or 802.11ac equipment will be backward compatible with 802.11g.

Wi-Fi 6 standard

Wi-Fi 6, or 802.11ax, is the newest version of the 802.11 standard for wireless network transmissions. It offers backwards compatibility and promises to improve speed and reliability at a network level. It enables more devices to simultaneously operate on the same Wi-Fi channel, which improves the efficiency, latency times, and data throughput of your wireless network.

Learn more about Wi-Fi 6 standard.

When considering standards and networking equipment, choose devices that the Wi-Fi Alliance has tested and certified. This guarantees that they meet industry requirements and can work together.

The difference between 802.11ac and 802.11ax is significant. The two wireless standards differ notably in features such as AP capacity, spatial streams and data rates.

Wireless standards documents can be hundreds of pages long and fraught with technical minutiae. But the important highlights generally boil down to a short list of talking points that differentiate one standard from its predecessor.

With the buzz about the latest Wi-Fi standard -- 802.11ax, also known as Wi-Fi 6 -- it's worth examining the new standard versus its predecessor, 802.11ac, also known as Wi-Fi 5. As we compare 802.11ac vs. 802.11ax, some important differences emerge between the two specifications.

Where 802.11ac was considered evolutionary, 802.11ax has sometimes been labeled revolutionary. Even if that sounds grandiose, the new .11ax magic is different enough in several technical constructs to warrant scrutiny and to appreciate the real changes under the hood versus past standards.

802.11ac vs. 802.11ax: Key differences summarized

Some of the key differences between 802.11ac and 802.11ax include the following:

• frequency bands;
• spatial streams;
• maximum data rates;
• modulation; and
• overall performance at the same power levels.

Let's start with the spectrum in play for 802.11ac vs. 802.11ax. Many people don't realize, when they buy a dual-band .11ac access point (AP), that the 2.4 GHz band reflects a much older standard -- namely 802.11n. Why? 802.11ac operates only in the 5 GHz band, while 802.11ax works in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.

Additionally, while the .11ac standard allowed up to eight spatial streams, the hardware market stagnated at four. For 802.11ax, eight spatial stream APs are theoretically possible.

The significance here is that 802.11ac never got close to delivering its maximum potential of 6.9 Gbps because of hardware limitations. By contrast, .11ax is better positioned to deliver its own maximum of 9.6 Gbps, albeit under ideal conditions that most of us still may never achieve.

One factor that prevailed in the earliest versions of the 802.11 standard also holds true in 802.11ax. In a well-designed Wi-Fi network, you can generally expect to see better data rates at the same ranges and power levels as the technology you are replacing. Simply put, you can expect better cell quality.

Wi-Fi 6 delivers more throughput and capacity than previous generations of Wi-Fi.

802.11ax and Wi-Fi 6 promised benefits

Now to the nitty-gritty of what makes performance gains possible when considering 802.11ax vs. 802.11ac: You'll see the 4x multiplier used fairly frequently when comparing the specifics of the two standards.

For example, .11ax, at its best, uses 1024 quadrature amplitude modulation, as opposed to .11ac's 256 QAM scheme. This means the symbol duration for .11ax is four times wider than .11ac, which lets more data pass through in a given operational time slot. Then, there is nearly a 4x reduction in spacing between the modulated sub-carriers in .11ax, meaning that more spectrum is actually used for data transfer and less for management.

When comparing 802.11ac vs. 802.11ax, other significant developments include the following:

• the use of orthogonal frequency-division multiple access, which lets an AP service multiple wireless clients at different bandwidth requirements simultaneously;
• a new battery-preserving power-save methodology aimed at IoT devices;
• bidirectional improvements in multiuser multiple input, multiple output radio processes; and
• a feature called basic service set (BSS) coloring, which deals with co-channel interference.

As good as 802.11ac is, it has no effective way to deal with interference from neighboring cells on the same channel, which can translate into reduced performance. BSS coloring in 802.11ax adds a field to the wireless frame that overcomes issues associated with same-frequency cell coexistence, leading to increased overall capacity.

As you can see, 802.11ax has some powerful features, which is impressive when you consider that 802.11ac, as a standard, is no slouch.

What is the 802.11 ac standard?

Which type of mobile device connectivity is defined by the IEEE 802.11 standard?

How many antennas can the 802.11 ac standard support?

Which of the following are characteristics features of the IEEE 802.11 n wireless standard?