Blog OCTO

Wi-Fi for the Connected World of the Future

David Coleman Director, Wireless Networking at the Office of the CTO Published 1 Dec 2022

For over 20 years, Wi-Fi has been a vital component of our daily communication culture and the wireless backbone for connectivity. But we are moving beyond connectivity. The next 20 years of Wi-Fi will be about enhanced experiences and new methods of engagement.

We’re not just talking about faster speeds or more bandwidth, either. We’re talking about a revolution in how we interact with each other. The next 20 years are going to see an explosion in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), as well as other technologies that allow us to engage with the entire world in ways that we never thought possible.

And what will be the trigger? Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz spectrum band – it’s a wireless bedrock for a connected world of tomorrow.  As I have written in numerous blogs, Wi-Fi 6E brings us up to 1,200 MHz of new spectrum in the 6 GHz band. To put this in perspective, the new 6 GHz spectrum available for Wi-Fi is more than double the usable channels of the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels combined.

Wireless Wi-Fi 6 and 6E Spectrum

Wi-Fi 6E is truly the foundational generation of Wi-Fi that offers 6 GHz connectivity. That means that Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 8, and other future generations of Wi-Fi will be built upon the 6 GHz spectrum foundation that has debuted with Wi-Fi 6E. To learn more, please read my recent article in RCRWireless News magazine:

Wi-Fi 6E: It’s not a niche technology; it’s foundational

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