WiFi Standards Chart

When you’re setting up a Wi-Fi network, it’s important to understand the different Wi-Fi standards that are available. These standards determine the maximum speed and range of your network, and can affect the reliability of your connection. Here’s a quick rundown of the most common Wi-Fi standards you should know:

In general, you’ll want to choose a Wi-Fi standard that meets your needs for speed and range, while also ensuring that your devices are compatible with the standard. Be sure to check the specifications of your devices and your router to ensure that they all use the same Wi-Fi standard for best results.

WiFi Standards Overview:

Today, every home and business, owners have a WiFi Router and looking for a reliable network. But Because of the rapid growth of this technology they face many sorts of acronyms for WiFi standards. You should be familiar with wifi standards specifications, they all basically mean a few things:

How far can the wireless signal reach
How much data can the signal send
Is it backwards compatible with other standards

To make it easier to understand, Just think how far can a wireless signal go, and how fast can it transmit data. Now the standards will make more sense.

Wifi standards rapidly changed every few years to bring faster internet, better connections and more simultaneous users.

What is “WiFi” and “IEEE 802.11” ?

You may all have heard about the IEEE 802.11 and WiFi standards, almost both have the same meaning but the term WiFi is synonymous with wireless access in general. WiFi is a specific trademark owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance, a group dedicated to certifying that WiFi products meet the IEEE 802.11 wireless standards.

WiFi Standards Specifications

Speed and Frequency are two fundamental changes in WiFi standards.

Speed means How much data the wireless network can transmit.
Frequency means what radio frequency the data is carried on. These are either 2.4Ghz , 5 Ghz and 6Ghz.

802.11b:

One of the older Wi-Fi standards, 802.11b has a maximum speed of 11 Mbps and a range of about 150 feet. This standard is rarely used today.

802.11g:

A popular Wi-Fi standard in the mid-2000s, 802.11g has a maximum speed of 54 Mbps and a range of about 150 feet. This standard is still used today, but is being phased out in favor of newer standards.

802.11n:

A newer Wi-Fi standard that debuted in 2009, 802.11n has a maximum speed of 600 Mbps and a range of about 300 feet. This standard is still common today, but is being replaced by even newer standards.

802.11ac:

The current Wi-Fi standard for high-speed connections, 802.11ac has a maximum speed of 1 Gbps and a range of about 300 feet. This standard is ideal for streaming video or other bandwidth-intensive tasks.

802.11ax:

The upcoming Wi-Fi standard for even faster connections, 802.11ax promises to deliver speeds of up to 10 Gbps. This standard is still in development and is not yet widely available.

Update :

From April 2020, the WiFi 6E standard was officially introduced and the 6Ghz frequency was added to the allowed frequencies of WiFi networks.

WiFi Standards Compatibilities:

Standards compatibility considerations in WiFi Routers:

802.11ax WiFi 6E Router is a Dual-band or Tri-band router(2.4Ghz
,5Ghz , 6Ghz bands) and can communicate with 802.11b/g/n/ac/ax and 6Ghz-compatible clients.
802.11ax WiFi 6 Router is a Dual-band or Tri-band router(2.4Ghz ,5Ghz bands) and can communicate with 802.11b/g/n/ac/ax clients.
802.11ac WiFi Router is a Dual-Band or Tri-band router and can communicate with 802.11b/g/n/ac clients.
802.11n single band WiFi Router (2.4Ghz band) can communicate with 802.11b/g/n clients in 2.4Ghz frequency band.
802.11n dual band WiFi Router(2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands) can communicate with 802.11 b/g/n clients in both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequency bands.
802.11g WiFi Router(2.4Ghz band) can communicate with 802.11b/g devices.
802.11b WiFi Router(2.4Ghz band) can communicate with only 802.11b devices.

New WiFi Standards Naming Convention

Over time, different classifications of WiFi networks were given different naming conventions. All of them are using the same scheme for example:

802.11ac as a router’s communication generation.
802.11k as a router’s communication capability (for roaming issues in enterprise WiFi networks).

As you see , both using the same schema, and it can be a little confusing for users to understand and differentiate between them.

Recently , the WiFi standard has changed to a new classification, to help make it easier for consumers to understand. Instead of memorizing a dual-purposed alphabet combination, they can use a simple naming. As can see in the followint table , you can use “WiFi 5” instead of “802.11ac or “WiFi 6” instead of “802.11ax” .

What is WiFi 6 Technology?

Technically, WiFi 6 is the successor to the WiFi5 (802.11ac) standard and operates in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum. This standard enables WiFi Routers and Clients to send more data in one transmission stream, resulting in speed improvements of up to 20% to 40% with higher modulation rate (1024-QAM). Higher modulation increases the efficiency and speed of data transmission on your network.

The 2.4GHz Frequency is back

The 2.4Ghz band is available in WiFi6 standard, while the industry has shifted to 5GHz WiFi for less interference. 2.4GHz is still better at penetrating solid objects. And there shouldn’t be as much interference for 2.4GHz as old wireless (non-WiFi but 2.4GHz) equipment like cordless telephones and wireless baby monitors are retired.

The advantages of Wi-Fi 6 at a glance:

Stable Wireless connections : Due to use of Beamforming technology.
Less Latency : Using technologies such as OFDMA and MU-MIMO.
Longer Battery Life: The client’s WiFi radio only turns on when needed.
More Speed : Due to use of 1024-QAM modulation.
More Security: By using the WPA3 security protocol.