Wireless protocol 802.11 is now simply called Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi Alliance has changed its name. 802.11 you can delete, because from now on everything will be called Wi-Fi with a version number behind it. For example, 802.11ax is now called Wi-Fi 6 and each new iteration will have a new number in the future.

Wifi exists for more than two decades under the name Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of IEEE 802.11. Not really a sexy name, but after 20 years we’re used to it. Now the Wi-Fi Alliance has decided that the name is not interesting enough for consumers. From now on, any standard Wi-Fi with a number behind it is called.

The latest new specification, 802.11ax, is now known as Wi-Fi 6. The naming is applied retroactively, so 802.11ac becomes Wi-Fi 5, 802.11n Wi-Fi 4, and so on. Edgar Figueroa, CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance, is pleased with the change. For almost two decades, we have used technical names to refer to devices around WiFi standards. With the new names we want to bring more simplicity to the industry.

Wi-Fi 6

According to Intel, Wi-Fi 6 should increase peak speed by 40 percent. The first aircraft have appeared in certain markets with a theoretical maximum speed of 11 Gbit/s. Wi-Fi 6 was specifically designed to increase efficiency and reduce latency in environments where many devices are connected.

Read this: Wifi 802.11ax competes at 5G speeds

Wi-Fi 5 introduced Multi-User, Multi-Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) that allows four data streams at once. That was only possible via downlink. Wi-Fi 6 supports full-duplex (up and down) MU-MIMO with 8 data streams so it can deliver data to multiple devices simultaneously.

There are already a number of routers on the market that embrace the latest standard. We expect that next year will be an important growth year for Wi-Fi 6. Now remember that we are not allowed to write 802.11ax from now on.