Is it worth to get a Wifi 6 router now sense we all have Wifi 6 phones ?

[max2]

My whole family now has phones that support Wifi 6. Is it worth to get a new router just because of this or no ?

 

[techwarrior]

Not necessarily.

In any network, the slowest point becomes the bottleneck. Typically, that is the ISP connection. If your WiFi is good, and you can hit speeds at or around your ISP connection speed, why spend money on new WiFi?

Example: 100Mbps ISP service, current WiFi 5 performance 800Mbps, the fastest internet speed you will get is 100Mbps. Sure, transfers of data between local devices may be 800Mbps, but how often do you do that? With most phones, you are using internet sources for almost everything. Faster WiFi would do nothing for you.

However, if your current WiFi suffers and your speeds are less than ISP level, maybe it could help.

In addition to faster speeds, WiFi 6 is designed to deal with contention from other networks and other signals on the same frequency better. It may also have a longer reach. If you live in a place where you see several screens worth of WiFi networks from your neighbors, and speeds vary and get really slow at times, WiFi 6 may help.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

Looking at the ISP speed as the main decision making point for purchasing a WiFi 6 router is terribly shortsighted in 2020.

WiFi 6 provides more throughput for the local network (9Gbps, about twice that of WiFi 5) so multiple 4K video streams can be handled without choking the network.

More importantly today's households have FAR more connected devices than five years ago. It's not just 1-2 computers and 1-2 smartphones. Smart speakers, smart doorbell cameras, printers, baby monitors, security cameras, smart TVs, smart lights, smart curtains, smart refrigerators, various streaming media devices (Firestick, Roku, Apple TV, etc.), videogame consoles/portable gaming devices, smart watches, network-attached storage, exercise equipment, automobiles in your garage, etc.

Plus each device is accessing the network with far more services that before. Cloud services on a bunch of apps. It's not just raw network throughput, it's a huge increase in network connections on a per-app basis.

WiFi 6 is designed to handle the congestion and interference created by a lot of devices on the same household network and manage demand for network resources by a bunch of different devices that don't know what the others are doing.

You can't point at the ISP's wires and say "that's your bottleneck so don't worry." That's a very 2010 mindset that has been archaic for years.

 

[techwarrior]

Looking at the ISP speed as the main decision making point for purchasing a WiFi 6 router is terribly shortsighted in 2020.

WiFi 6 provides more throughput for the local network (9Gbps, about twice that of WiFi 5) so multiple 4K video streams can be handled without choking the network.

More importantly today's households have FAR more connected devices than five years ago. It's not just 1-2 computers and 1-2 smartphones. Smart speakers, smart doorbell cameras, printers, baby monitors, security cameras, smart TVs, smart lights, smart curtains, smart refrigerators, various streaming media devices (Firestick, Roku, Apple TV, etc.), videogame consoles/portable gaming devices, smart watches, network-attached storage, exercise equipment, automobiles in your garage, etc.

Plus each device is accessing the network with far more services that before. Cloud services on a bunch of apps. It's not just raw network throughput, it's a huge increase in network connections on a per-app basis.

WiFi 6 is designed to handle the congestion and interference created by a lot of devices on the same household network and manage demand for network resources by a bunch of different devices that don't know what the others are doing.

You can't point at the ISP's wires and say "that's your bottleneck so don't worry." That's a very 2010 mindset that has been archaic for years.

OP simply asked if getting WiFi6 to match his phone capability, "just because of this" is worthwhile.

I don't disagree with your reasoning, but you speculate on a lot of things OP never posed as challenges. From a pure phone connection speed perspective, I stand by my comments which were "not necessarily". If current speeds are limited by ISP connection speed, upgrading will improve nothing.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

It is true that the OP provided scant information which prevents commenters here from offering truly informed and relevant advice.

That said my speculations are not a weird one-in-a-thousand type of scenario. People in 2020 have tons of devices. New phones mean bigger bandwidth hogging activities like streaming 4K video.

You are still thinking of networking as a point-to-point connection. That mindset is obsolete.

Just the new phones themselves -- discounting other connected devices -- are probably generating huge amounts of network packets. It's sending health data into the cloud, your location at all times, today's weather, road traffic, social media background updates, etc.

It's not your phone checking for new e-mails every fifteen minutes. Those days are long over. Hell, my stupid iPhone XS running iOS 12.4.1 will download iOS 13.5.5 in the background even though I don't want to install it. I can delete the download and it'll still download that crap.

One person in a household running a video conference session can probably noticeably affect other devices on an older wireless network.

Hell, I see decreased DNS lookup performance on other devices if I'm updating apps on ONE iOS device. Newer wireless network technologies are supposed to be better at managing the types of network traffic (better QoS).

That in itself is probably ample reason enough to upgrade to a WiFi 6 router in a household of new phones.

 

[konqerror]

I don't disagree with your reasoning, but you speculate on a lot of things OP never posed as challenges. From a pure phone connection speed perspective, I stand by my comments which were "not necessarily". If current speeds are limited by ISP connection speed, upgrading will improve nothing.

Your reasoning misses an important point. Faster Wi-Fi connections often improve battery life by allowing the chipset to finish transfers quickly then shut down to save power. This is important for components, like RF receive components, that draw a constant amount of power regardless of the data transferred.

Additionally, Wi-Fi 6 has specific protocol improvements (TWT) for improved battery life.

 

[techwarrior]

Erehy Dobon, konqerror, Not looking to disagree here, but the question was simple, the response was tailored to the question.

I test network devices all day long, I understand the benefits of WiFi6 over prior generations. But, for most people, it simply comes down to speed. Battery performance on a network that is capable of keeping up with, or exceeding the ISP link will not be noticeable to the average user.

OP never stated any problems with the existing setup. The question was simply, should he upgrade to match his phone capabilities, no other reason. The simple answer is not unless there is a problem, advice suggesting costly upgrades when most people won't notice a performance benefit are irresponsible, particularly in these times.

Many people don't bother with a lot of the latest gadgets. Smart Homes are currently only 150M or so, worldwide. Given a population of 7-8B people. Streaming video is maybe near 50% of homes, at least for part of the viewing. But again, if there isn't a problem, what is gained by spending the money on new tech now?

 

[jettie1767]

I've been on gig Fios for about two years and upgraded to their Fios Wifi 6 router and extender a month ago. I have two 11 Pro Max and two 2020 iPad Pros which are supposed to be Wifi 6 capable. I didn't upgrade because of these devices per se. But, I have been experiencing intermittent slow speeds or hangs on a variety of connected devices (eg. Peloton, iPhone, iMacs, HomePod, Alexa, Google Home, Family Hub, Roku, Hue, Rachio, Nest, etc.) since early this year. I have a lot of smart devices at home so I figured maybe it was time to replace the routers. Ever since I switched to the new router and extender, I've not seen slowdowns or hanging.

 

[konqerror]

Another factor to remember is that Wi-Fi 6 routers have support for WPA3 which offers increased security. Apple even supports WPA3 on their Wi-Fi 5/AC devices.

 

[pldelisle]

As a (previously) network engineer, I’d say it depends of the number of devices you have connected to your network and your uplink speed.

But unless you have 6 TVs watching a 4K stream at the sametime, I’d say it’s pretty useless.

If you have 15+ devices on your network I’d say yes, go for it.

But with the right equipment, 802.11ac is just fine. People tends to have crappy routers/APs. I have two Ubiquiti UAP-AC-LR, one per floor. I installed this in many, many places, and it works perfectly even with 15+ devices. These APs are robust, stables, nothing to do with crappy consumer devices. With a good Ubiquiti UDM, it really works like magic. I only have a 30/10 mbps ISP link, but never suffer from slowdown even with a couple of Facetime/Zoom calls, downloads... Even if it’s considered really slow, I’m still fine especially with the price (40 CAD per month). I only have one TV thought.

 

[2984839]

Not worth it unless you are hitting the limits of 802.11ac, which most people aren't.

 

[techwarrior]

As a (previously) network engineer, I’d say it depends of the number of devices you have connected to your network and your uplink speed.

But unless you have 6 TVs watching a 4K stream at the sametime, I’d say it’s pretty useless.

If you have 15+ devices on your network I’d say yes, go for it.

But with the right equipment, 802.11ac is just fine. People tends to have crappy routers/APs. I have two Ubiquiti UAP-AC-LR, one per floor. I installed this in many, many places, and it works perfectly even with 15+ devices. These APs are robust, stables, nothing to do with crappy consumer devices. With a good Ubiquiti UDM, it really works like magic. I only have a 30/10 mbps ISP link, but never suffer from slowdown even with a couple of Facetime/Zoom calls, downloads... Even if it’s considered really slow, I’m still fine especially with the price (40 CAD per month). I only have one TV thought.

I upgraded from Airport to Synology about 2 years ago, with an RT2600AC for the main router, and an MR2200AC mesh access point (1Gbps Ethernet connected). I currently have 11 wired, and 23 wireless connections. I never have lags, every time I test speeds, they equal or exceed my ISP service levels. We typically have 3 full time work from home sessions going with VoIP, video conferences, and VPNs.

Several of the wireless devices are smart home devices, mostly 2.4Ghz that wouldn't really benefit from AX.

My home office often has 10 or more VoIP devices plugged in to a VPN appliance that sits behind my router. I have three streaming boxes in the house, the only lags seem to be from the content provider end and only rarely. I know it is the provider because other channels and services have no lags when I do experience it.

My strategy is, use wired whenever possible, leave wireless for the rest of the devices.

My Comcast service is 75Mbps service, and I typically see 90 Mbps, dipping as low as 70-75Mbps in the evenings when the neighbors are using their networks. Thanks to COVID, I expect to be working from home more and am considering bumping up the service level. But AC is working fine for my needs, I don't feel the need to upgrade to AX.

I do benefit from having minimal conflicts with neighbors. Homes in my area are on .75 acres or more, I typically only see 2-3 "foreign" SSIDs in my home, so contention isn't a real challenge.

 

[pldelisle]

I upgraded from Airport to Synology about 2 years ago, with an RT2600AC for the main router, and an MR2200AC mesh access point (1Gbps Ethernet connected). I currently have 11 wired, and 23 wireless connections. I never have lags, every time I test speeds, they equal or exceed my ISP service levels. We typically have 3 full time work from home sessions going with VoIP, video conferences, and VPNs.

Several of the wireless devices are smart home devices, mostly 2.4Ghz that wouldn't really benefit from AX.

My home office often has 10 or more VoIP devices plugged in to a VPN appliance that sits behind my router. I have three streaming boxes in the house, the only lags seem to be from the content provider end and only rarely. I know it is the provider because other channels and services have no lags when I do experience it.

My strategy is, use wired whenever possible, leave wireless for the rest of the devices.

My Comcast service is 75Mbps service, and I typically see 90 Mbps, dipping as low as 70-75Mbps in the evenings when the neighbors are using their networks. Thanks to COVID, I expect to be working from home more and am considering bumping up the service level. But AC is working fine for my needs, I don't feel the need to upgrade to AX.

I do benefit from having minimal conflicts with neighbors. Homes in my area are on .75 acres or more, I typically only see 2-3 "foreign" SSIDs in my home, so contention isn't a real challenge.

Exactly. My servers, laptop, Apple TV, TV are plugged. The rest (iPhones, iPad, smart thermostat) are the only things on Wifi. And I only have 866 Mbps APs. More than enough, really. But I get a true 866 mbps steady, because it's quality hardware.

 

[mmomega]

So you guys are actually getting 650+ Mbps on WiFi?

For myself, I can only think of 2 reasons to pay for new wifi equipment.
1. You just want to spend money on something.
2. If the current equipment is slowing down your day to day, when you are actually being limited and the only fix is purchasing new hardware.

 

[ian87w]

How's wifi6 range? My biggest issue with wifi is usually range. I have an AC router, but most of my devices simply connect at 2.4GHz since the 5GHz range is so short and easily blocked by walls. So even if my devices all are AC capable, I'm mostly just on 2.4GHz n.

 

[pldelisle]

So you guys are actually getting 650+ Mbps on WiFi?

For myself, I can only think of 2 reasons to pay for new wifi equipment.
1. You just want to spend money on something.
2. If the current equipment is slowing down your day to day, when you are actually being limited and the only fix is purchasing new hardware.

Absolutely. Hitting 700+ mbps on a 866 mbps rated UAP-AC-LR.

And yes, once you have a good AC equipment that is working and not slowing you down, it's definitively just to spend money.

How's wifi6 range? My biggest issue with wifi is usually range. I have an AC router, but most of my devices simply connect at 2.4GHz since the 5GHz range is so short and easily blocked by walls. So even if my devices all are AC capable, I'm mostly just on 2.4GHz n.

802.11ac 5 GHz best work when the device has a direct "sight" to the AP. If it needs to going through walls, speed will be greatly affected. My house is mostly "open air", so my devices always "see" the APs. That helps a lot.