FCC's victory clears the way for a large-scale upgrade of Wi-Fi 6E

2021.12.29

A ruling [PDF] published by the U.S. District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday supports a decision made by the Federal Communications Commission in April 2020 to open up the 1200MHz spectrum in the 6GHz band for "unauthorized use." The so-called "unauthorized use" means that anyone can use it, including the use of your future Wi-Fi 6E home network.

 

 

 

Although Wi-Fi 6 connections are more reliable and efficient use of the same spectrum that has been used for decades, especially when multiple devices are connected, Wi-Fi 6E routers will operate in 2.4GHz and 5GHz and the new 6GHz band Work. This has enough room for up to seven Wi-Fi streams with the largest capacity to be broadcast simultaneously in the same area without interfering with each other or using any existing spectrum.

 

Until recently, several generations of Wi-Fi products were mentioned through a mysterious naming scheme, which requires you to understand whether 802.11n is faster than 802.11ac and whether 802.11ac is faster than 802.11af, for ordinary consumers The names of these Wi-Fi specifications are a bit confusing

 

To solve this problem, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to rename the Wi-Fi generation with a simple version number. Therefore, the current generation of Wi-Fi, 802.11ac, has become Wi-Fi 5. The new generation of products, formerly known as 802.11ax, is now Wi-Fi 6.

 

In addition, there is a future standard work called IEEE 802.11be or Wi-Fi 7. This can further optimize the use of new frequency bands, even larger 320MHz channels, a maximum transmission rate of 46Gbps, and more, but it is planned to be completed by 2024 (pdf).

 

In the near future, although the theoretical maximum speed of 6GHz Wi-Fi is the same as that of 5GHz Wi-Fi, the extra space means that you will not receive a lot of interference from other devices and nearby networks, but will be faster and more stable Connection. Last year, a representative of the Wi-Fi Alliance told The Verge that it should be possible to achieve a 1-2 Gbps connection through Wi-Fi, similar to the mmWave 5G you see now.

 

But this FCC plan was opposed by AT&T. AT&T believes that the FCC has failed to identify and resolve interference that may interfere with "tens of thousands of microwave links that are vital to maintaining network infrastructure," referring to the wireless technology that enables many base stations to connect to the wider Internet.

 

In a document found by Light Reading, AT&T said: “The 6GHz FS [Fixed Service] frequency band is the only frequency band suitable for long-distance transmission. It usually supports paths of 10-50 miles, and in some cases, even longer distances. . Mobile operators are more inclined to a plan that the FCC will auction a large block of 6GHz bandwidth for their 5G network use only.”

 

The FCC stated that low-power indoor use can protect AT&T's licensed 6GHz technology such as microwave links and television broadcasting from interference, while "standard power" equipment used indoors and outdoors can include automatic frequency control to prevent interference.