Move Over, WiFi5. WiFi6 Is Almost Here [Infographic]

Brian Wallace — June 10, 2019 Follow @nowsourcing

— June 10, 2019

In 1941, Hollywood actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr created and patented Frequency-Hopping Spread-Spectrum Technology, or FHSS. Including capabilities that allowed for skipping over multiple frequencies in a predetermined pattern, this technology was intended to help guide torpedoes without detection during WWII. But this was far from the beginning and further still from the end of WiFi as we know it today.

When we consider the idea WiFi, in particular, 1940s Hollywood might not come to our mind right away, and yet, it was where one of the most important advancements for wireless connectivity was developed. It wouldn’t be until 1971 that it was further compounded on by ALOHAnet, the first network to use radio communications and random access protocols that allowed computers to send transmission as soon as information was available. By 1999, “Wi-Fi” had been trademarked by the Wi-Fi Alliance and from then until now, WiFi speeds have grown 650x faster.

So what makes this possible? The internet as we understand it today is the product of decades of work, exponential growth, and digital theorizing. In 2013, WiFi 5 became the fastest connection, theoretically reaching up to speeds of 1300 Mbps. Yet today, even this isn’t enough to support our IoT; as the average American household has around 5 connected devices on their network and businesses often have far more than that. By 2020, it is predicted that there will be 20 billion IoT devices worldwide, and WiFi5 might not be up to the task. Instead, WiFi6, designed with IoT in mind, will be the new normal.

Businesses depend on WiFi to handle the growing burden on online applications. Is your WiFi ready to handle the growing load of IoT devices? This infographic details the current state WiFi capabilities, how it’s managing the billions of connected IoT devices, and what we can expect for the future of WiFi6 as a result.

Infographic Source: Netgear

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