6 Things you should know about 6GHz Wi-Fi

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), earlier this week, adopted a proposal that essentially opens up the 6GHz spectrum for unlicensed use. This move frees up 1,200MHz space, which can then be used for boosting home Wi-Fi and other unlicensed Wi-Fi connections.

"To accommodate that increase in Wi-Fi demand, the FCC is aiming to increase the supply of Wi-Fi spectrum with our boldest initiative yet: making the entire 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use. By doing this, we would effectively increase the amount of spectrum available for Wi-Fi almost by a factor of five. This would be a huge benefit to consumers and innovators across the nation," FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.

The move by the organisation was welcomed by all tech companies and tech organisations alike. "By making 6 GHz available for unlicensed use, the FCC has secured the future of Wi-Fi. 6 GHz access is a seminal development for connectivity and provides Wi-Fi more capacity to deliver groundbreaking use cases and to unlock novel new Wi-Fi applications," Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance said in a statement.

"Great news from the @FCC today. Opening the 6GHz band will help increase wireless innovation and enable Americans to better connect to remote work, distance learning, telehealth and more," wrote Google.

"Huge announcement from @AjitPaiFCC on the plan to make 1200 MHz of new spectrum available across 6GHz for #WiFi. This is clearly one the most important wireless announcements in a long time and will redefine the way we understand and use #WiFi and it will be a booster for AR\VR," Facebook's director of wireless technologies, Bruno Cendon tweeted.

As the buzz around the 6GHz Wi-Fi increases, one obvious question that comes to mind is what is 6GHz Wi-Fi and what does it do?

So, here is a list of six things that will answer all your questions on the 6GHz Wi-Fi:

-- Modern Wi-Fi systems use 2.4GHz and 5GHz brands for transmitting airwaves for anyone to use. Now, a third 6GHz band will be joining the group. This additional bandwidth will give Wi-Fi routers more space to transmit signals.

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-- Additional bandwidth also means that your home Wi-Fi, once upgraded, won't slow down as much when more devices join in the network.

-- The 6GHz Wi-Fi is also going to be a lot faster than the existing Wi-Fi systems. While the 5GHz Wi-Fi offers a top speed of around 6Gbps, the 6GHz Wi-Fi will offer speeds of up to 9.6Gbps, which is a lot faster than the former. That said, these are top speeds and it is highly unlikely that users will get to use them in their homes.

-- The 6GHz Wi-Fi will also consume low power and offer low latency. Simply said, lower network delays.

-- The caveat is that users will have to buy new routers to use this additional bandwidth.

-- FCC is a US government body and so the 6GHz Wi-Fi will be available only in the US. As far as India is concerned, there is no word on when this technology will make its way to Indian homes.